If your dock is looking a little tired, or no longer meets your needs, it can be tempting to rip it out and start again. However, unless it is in a very poor state of repair, this may not be necessary. Making just a few upgrades can make all the difference to the look, safety, and usefulness of your existing dock.
Related Blog: How Can I Maintain My Boat Lift?
1. Adding Handrails
One simple way to add to your existing dock is to invest in handrails. With the wide range of options that are available, you can improve safety at the same time as putting your individual mark on your deck design. Steel cable rails and rope rails are simple to install using the existing piles on your deck.
2. Capping Your Piles
Pile caps not only protect the ends of your piles from changing weather conditions, but also add style. Choose caps that match the type and color of the handrails you install, and you can upgrade your deck in no time at all. Such a simple addition will make you the talk of the shoreline throughout the next boating season.
3. Consider a Slide Moor Docking System
Not every upgrade is about style and appearance; some are simply about safety and protection. The slide moor docking system falls under this category. Installing such a system makes tying up faster and simpler than ever before. It also affords you more protection in extreme weather conditions; meaning you are paying out a lot less in repairs, or replacement boats, over the long term. Finally, the system also makes it safer for you and your passengers when it comes to embarking and disembarking from your boat.
4. Adding a Kayak Launch
If you use your dock for kayaks and other similar, small crafts without such a lift, then the chances are you have fallen in, or at least almost fallen in, at least once. Getting wet might be part of the appeal of canoeing and kayaking, but it is better to at least start your adventure dry. Adding a kayak launch takes up very little space, and with models that can be fitted to either the seawall or your deck, you will need to change little if anything about your current dock set up.
