Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I'm probably reaching a bit here....... but here goes anyway.
Would like to refoam my dock.
Here's my question,
How does a person get the old encapsulated foam out and the new in? Especially if the knew foam is thicker by 8"s. I have a 6000# poly lift for my tritoon and was wondering if that lift could be used in some fashion to raise my dock. Like maybe placing a board or something over the lift while submerged then raising the lift till the board contacts the bottom of the dock and then continue to raise the lift and see what happens. Other than that I can't think of any way to do this myself without some kind of hoist that I don't need.
My wife says I'm crazy and to have someone do it for me but I WANT to do it myself.

I had to rebuild my 10 x 10 floating dock several years ago. Replaced the bare Styrafoam with encapsulated foam. But I waited until winter when the lake was down enough for me to do it on dry (well, actually very muddy) land. Jacked the deck up and put cribbing under each side so I could get under it. Still a difficult, messy and probably dangerous undertaking.

I don't know how you'd replace the foam while the dock is floating. And because you are planning to use a different configuration foam block, you'll need to modify the structure to accommodate it.

Take some pics and let us know how it goes.

I'll get some pics when I get back down to the lake, probably next weekend. Here's my plan (and hoping I can confirm this with some dock guys at the lake). I'm not exactly sure what height my current foam is. I think 8"s and I want 16"s. But maybe my current foam is 12"s---I'm hoping 12"s. Then my dock only has to be raised by 4"s. I think 4"s is doable.
Process:
1. lower my lift and remove my boat
2 with lift lowered place a strong board on the lift. Position board to be under the dock. Will need a 12' board or boards.
3. raise the lift until board is contacting the underside of the dock. Continue to raise and see how far the lift raises the dock.
Hopefully around 4"s.
5. remove (maybe should do this first) one of the foam containers.
6. wrap a strap around the new foam and pull the strap under the dock where I want the new foam located. Connect strap to a
come a long secured on opposite side to dock.
7. push down on front of new foam to get started under dock.
8. reel in the come a long and hopefully if all goes well I will be pulling the new foam under the dock. Have to make sure I don't
puncture the new foam container.
9. Repeat for other foam containers.

I think this might work. It all depends on the lift ability to raise the dock some. I have know idea how much my dock weighs but my lift is a 6000lb lift.
What do you guys think?
Troy

I did that several years ago also. A local dock guy sold me the floats and was very helpful. My float part is 12x12. I had planned on using 4 big 4x4 floats on the corners. He advised to go with 4 inch thicker floats on the ramp side to support the ramp weight without the dock leaning. It looks great and level. He also had me bolt the floats to two flat 2x6 and then slide the module under the dock. I did three modules with the middle module having two floats turned sideways. I used a come along to jack up the dock in shallow water and block it up to attach the three float sections by screwing the float up from the bottom. I removed a few top deck boards to get to the bottom of the modules to screw the boards together after lowering the dock back down on top of the floats and aligning with some buddies.

First, you need to determine how the floats are attached to the dock. Most likely, some type of J-hook with a bolt. You may need some spares depending on how rusted they are.

I'm not sure if the lift has the capacity, but with a single well dock with no "party" area, it may work. Most of the dock guys that I have seen use a "barge" with a hoist to lift the corners to do the swap out. The middle ones done afterward. I have also seen some using what amounts to a car jack on steroids. Basically a mud pole with a flat end plate and then jack up one corner and work their way around the dock.

Have you given any thought of how to get the floats to the dock? And how to get rid of and selling the old ones? I fished out a decent float a couple of months ago that had two 2x4 bolted to it (maybe a ramp float?) that I will use to keep one of my dock lines out of the water.