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Old 01-09-2019, 06:52 PM   #52
fatlazyless
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Yes, that was a very serious piece of do-it-all-by-myself dock removal, done on Sunday, and it would be, as of Tuesday, a serious piece of a frozen icy mess of a 30' dock and boat lift problem. I usually do it over three days, in three steps doing different difficult and challenging parts one day at a time. But not this year, what with old age, senility, general laziness, and leaky waders all adding up for me to keep putt'n it off until I got a-round tuit .....and, oh yes, on Sunday, January 7, the dock was seriously surrounded by a thin, sorta soft 1" ice, all around.

Hurray for those waders ..... they hit the spot .....best 99.98 I spent in a long time.

At the very outset, at about noon ...... standing out on the far end of my dock ..... a big huge sheet of wind driven ice slowly, slowly snuck in and then, all of a sudden ..... the big boat lift starts slowly moving along, toward the dock......when I wasn't look'n ...... what a shocking event! ...... it snuck up on me ..... Next thing I know, the dock is sort of folding up and twisting, and then the shore ramp falls into the lake ...... omg ... and then my next door neighbor comes out of his mega-million dollar house ..... walks to his shoreline and shouts down at me ....... "why don't you leave it in for another two months!" ...... oh well ..... at the end of the day ....about 7:30 at night, with seven hours, going up & down the steep 6' rocky embankment maybe 50-times in & out the icy water ..... I did a hell of a job with how it all went .....thanks to my Walmart waders which didn't leak even a little bit ........ because leaky waders would have made it a total no-go …. even a tiny leak makes it very cold, and very wet, very fast ……. so's ……. hip-hip-hip-hip-hip hurrah for the Walmart Hodgman $99.98 waders from the Tilton NH, Walmart!

Looking at all the five large, different, aluminum docks sections, all with big legs still attached, and the 10x10x6' 450-lb boat lift, all sitting in the side yard there, it makes me scratch my head and wonder how I do it? Using two come-a-longs and a ten foot wood ramp, built with three 2x10"x10's and two 2x4"x10's all held together with three 3 1/2"/ outside deck screws per/meet-up, I manage to inch these big bulky items up and out, across a rough, rocky, 6' high, steep, embankment with the two come-a-longs. And, for a really good come-a-long, go to the ServiceStar Hdwe in Lakeport, and get a Maasdam Powr-Pull, which is a much better come-along than what you get at Walmart or Lowe's. By the end of the day, lever'n all this stuff up and out, my right arm and wrist were ready to fall off .... very sore!

And, all things considered, probably a Powr-Pull is a better, more descriptive name for these devices than a come-a-long, plus the Powr-Pull is definitely more powerful, better quality, easier to use, and it costs more, about $50 vs the $28 big-box item.

In my not so humble opinion, I do believe I deserve the Presidential Medal for Dock Removal ...... except, not from this president ....... and thank you very very much!
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... down and out, liv'n that Walmart side of the lake!

Last edited by fatlazyless; 01-13-2019 at 09:03 AM.
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