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Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Gal
What a storm! We have been on The Broads side of Rattlesnake Island for 15 seasons now. We have been through countless storms, even hurricanes and had less damage and debris than this beast left behind!!! We lost a bunch of trees, thankfully they all missed the camp and walkways. We did, however, lose our two wooden seasonal docks. On a happy note, we recently submitted an application for slightly wider welded aluminum docks. With luck, the permit will go through with the new changes we wanted to make, so Mike Metcalfe, of Winnipesaukee Island Services, can install it first thing in the spring.  Our neighbor has a similar dock setup to ours that Mike put in a few years ago and they weathered the storm much easier than our old woodies did. Funny that we were hesitant to remove the docks before we had the permit. Mother Nature took away our choice. Lol.
Be careful out there! Our dock panels that were screwed down with 3' screws are all gone. Likely they are smashed on the shore somewhere. I am kinda sad about that because I had plans for them.  The docks are tethered and we will sure them up even more this Saturday. Mike and his crew will be dismanteling them as soon as he can get to it. |
Hurricane Irma came up through central Florida, and dismanteled dozens of docks on my lake. I've recovered neighbors' decking that washed up on my shoreline, and could build my own dock out of them.
Insurance (less a significant deductible) is replacing some of those docks with new ones, but I think the choice of fasteners would have made a big difference.
This year, Central Florida's lakes were kept at an unusually high level.
Analyzing RG's use of 3" screws, most 3"
nails were pulled out here, making for very hazardous debris on shore. Torx
® screws snapped off.
Composite lumber simply pulled-through inadequate screw heads.
Old and weathered 2-inch PT yellow pine boards stayed together, but it was the failing of fasteners that resulted in docks that "disappeared".
More than you wanted to know about dock fasteners.
Twenty-five years ago, to build a 150'-long dock—common among Florida's shallow lakes—I bought a gazillion 4" stainless-steel lag-bolts at 50˘ each. When I moved from there, I unscrewed all those pricey s/s lag-bolts and replaced them with fasteners that cost 90% less. Less than a year later, the new owner had the entire dock replaced—and added a boathouse at the end. (Phew).
Meanwhile, I'm still using those same s/s lag-bolts.
Since they're like man-cave jewelry to us homeowners, I'll take the time necessary to straighten out those that get damaged. When the use of a three-inch lag-bolt is unavoidable, I just lop an inch off the end and grind a new point.
If I'm reading Winnipesaukee's lake-level correctly, was Lake Winnipesaukee at an unusual level for Autumn? (Like Florida's lakes—"high").
Had the lake been at its customary
low level, would there have been less destruction?
Photos of a neighbor's post-Irma dock and composite lumber failure below.
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