Dock Construction - Writers Forum

Nola · 07-21-2005, 08:16 PM

I don't know if anyone here can help with this, and I know it's a bit off the wall, but I'm desperately searching for someone to help me with one of my lead character's profession. He owns some lakefront property in Missouri and builds custom docks. He has to use the encapsulated foam for flotation, but it's things like tools he'll use, where he'd go for certain supplies, in what order he'd assemble things, the lingo involved, how much, if any, help he'd have to have, etc., that I really need. If worse comes to worse I can give him another profession, but I'd really hate to have to do that. The story requires my character have a job that allows him to live fairly isolated, and this should work well for that.

Thanks for any input

journyman161 · 07-21-2005, 09:05 PM

Can't help much with tools etc, but why does he have to live remotely to do his dock building? Would seem to me he'd be travelling to wherever he had the work anyway.
He might or might not have his own dock, but location of his home wouldn't be mandated by his profession would it?

Nola · 07-21-2005, 09:20 PM

Dock construction is generally not done at the destination home. It's done offsite and the finished dock is either pulled in by a tug or brought in in sections on a truck. Since he lives on the lake, it's easy for him to do his construction at his home and then arrange for delivery from there. In this way he's able to have very little interaction with people, which is really important to my storyline. I needed a profession for him that allows him to take advantage of where he lives and provide a decent living without him having to work with or deal with a lot of people on a regular basis.

journyman161 · 07-21-2005, 10:57 PM

Ahh! That makes sense. But I can't really help with the details; the only things I know are about the pier-type not the floating kind.

Nola · 07-21-2005, 11:02 PM

I don't know much about pier types... is it all done on site? If it's not, is there any part of it that is brought in as a finished product *the treated lumber, framework, etc.* that could work for what I'm looking for? See, my character enjoys working with his hands and being outside, and I thought something like this would be perfect, but if you've got any other ideas, I'm open to suggestions. The location is firm, though. He lives on the lake in Missouri, so that narrows down my options somewhat. He's not an internet person, so nothing computer related. General carpentry wouldn't work, because that would mean dealing with so many customers and being in their homes, etc.

I'm willing to listen to anything at this point

journyman161 · 07-21-2005, 11:18 PM

He could be making all the bits except for the piles but it would still make more sense to bring the lumber onsite & build it all there.

Also, I'd hazard a guess the floating docks would require regular contact with others due to the technicality of things like injection moulding the foam etc. I could be wrong, it may be simpler than I think to build them.

I'd think you'd want him to be doing something as close to nature as possible, as the further up the chain you come the more outside involvment is needed.

Maybe he's producing royal jelly for the health market?
How about he's learned to grow truffles (depends of tree types in the area but they're were thousands per kilo) & goes collecting them with his dog?
Perhaps he raises an animal that priovides something needed? It could be snakes for their venom, some animal for musk, bees for honey or wax or perhaps birds for pets.

Have you ever seen a Whole Earth Catalogue? Go to the library & have a browse through one. There's all kinds of things people do from home & it could also be how he does his business without the internet.

Hope that helps a bit.

Nola · 07-21-2005, 11:52 PM

I did some site searching on the encapsulated foam flotation, and it appears that that can be bought already prepared to be installed, in various sizes and everything. The way I understand it from my father, who owns some property on the lake and recently had his dock replaced, the encapsulated foam is effectively just like the standard styrofoam but placed in a form fitting case... but I could have misunderstood and will try and find out more information on that part of it. However it's built, it appears that my character *his name is Alex* could order the flotation modules to insert in the framework that he builds himself. It's just hard to find this kind of info online. There are all kinds of sites about purchasing docks or the flotation modules, but not many that I've managed to find *so far* that tells the various stages of assembling a dock of the type I need. Missouri has a new law that all docks bought/built must use encapsulated foam from this point forward, and all existing docks have 3 years to convert to encapsulated foam.

I thought about some of the other things you mentioned, but the thing I kept coming back to is the old saying about 'write what you know', and I know nothing about the other things mentioned, and I'm afraid that would show in the writing. I grew up spending a lot of time at our summer house watching Dad build things and tinker with this and that, so while I may not be on top of the new specifics with dock building, it feels more real to me than other things I've considered so far. Plus I guess I have this mental image of Alex as a builder. He enjoys it. He likes to see what he pictures in his head taking shape in his hands.

Maybe I need to reconsider how flexible I thought I was

I really appreciate the input and the help

Nola · 07-22-2005, 12:35 AM

My husband just said something that made me think of a new possibility... boat restoration. I know there's a market for both restoring antique boats and also restoring heavily damaged boats, so this would allow me to both have my guy still working on his own property and also building/creating like I pictured for him.

What do you think?

mammamaia · 07-22-2005, 09:55 AM

makes a lot more sense than the dock-building thing... he'd have to deal with a lot more people in the dock business than in the boat restoration trade... in the latter, he only has to deal with the owner, and only once or twice... the rest of the time he can be all alone with his [and their] boats...

and he doesn't have to go anywhere... the boats are brought to him and he can order all his supplies, equipment, etc. by phone...

Nola · 07-22-2005, 11:46 AM

Well, I thought he could do pretty much the same with the docks, since he builds on his own property, can order the flotation modules and other various materials, and he has a friend who acts as middle man for him for both contracting the work initially and setting up delivery of the final product. Boat restoration would actually, more than likely, involve a lot more human contact, especially since most people *myself included* can't stand not to get underfoot and annoying when someone is working on our vehicle, whether it be car or boat.

There's a big boat and marina supply place near my house that I just found online. Now, the irony is that I live in the desert *laughs*, but I guess there are enough bodies of water somewhere nearby to make this worth someone's while. Anyhoo. I'm going to go over there today or tomorrow and do some investigating... grill some poor, unsuspecting men until their brains turn into primordial ooze. Maybe then I'll have enough solid information to make a decision. One that hopefully won't leave me looking like an idiot.