Floating Docks are ideal for deep or fluctuating water conditions. A big advantage of a floating dock system is it stays at a constant height above the water which is ideal if you keep a boat moored to it.

Choosing a Floating Dock Size

When choosing a floating dock it is important to have an idea what you plan to use it for. Just looking for a small dock to get out to your boat and do most of your relaxing on shore? You may be content with a 6′ wide system. If you are planning to spend some of your relaxing time on your new dock you will want to consider one with more stability such as an 8′ or 10′ wide dock.

The way to think about it is like this: Think of the difference between standing up in a canoe, and standing up in a pontoon boat. The pontoon boat is always more stable and this is mainly due to the difference in size.

Choosing a Design

When it comes to designs, you are really only limited by your imagination. Most clients, however, find one of a few common designs to be very practical for their needs.

Straight – This simple design allows for multiple mooring locations and keeps cost and complexity to a minimum

P Shape – Our most common design, this is great if you want to have an area for some chairs but only need a smaller walkway back to shore. The P Shape allows you to save some money closer to shore and spend it where it will have maximum use.

L Shape – Similar in design to th P Shape, the L Shape creates up to 3 spaces for mooring boats

T Shape – Commonly used in smaller rivers where you don’t want to extend your dock too far out into the water. The T Shape allows one bigger mooring location with easy access and a couple protected locations for smaller craft like canos & kayaks.

U Shape – This design offers great protection to your boat and leaves two other spots open for additional boats or visitors. Typically one side of the U is small and used just for boat access. The other side is large enough for chairs and entertaining.

Winterizing Your Floating Dock

Floating docks can commonly be left in the water over the winter, but not all locations are suitable. Every dock built by On the Water Designs is capable of being frozen and thawed but damage may occur if your dock ends up down the lake, or up on shore in the spring.
The key is to understand your ice conditions. If you are in a somewhat sheltered area like a bay where the ice just freezes and thaws you shouldn’t expect any trouble. If, however, you find a lot of ice movement in the spring either flowing past or piling up on shore you would be best to relocate the dock or remove it.

Dock Installation

A typical floating dock installation includes securing the ramp to shore using either bedrock hardware or attaching to a concrete pour or an existing structure. Anti-sway cables are attached for additional stability. Each floating dock section typically has a set of anchors and chain crossed below the dock in an X to reduce side to side sway.
Many clients choose to have a floating dock installed professionally the first time but find they can maintan their systems on their own after that.

Wooden docks have been built for centuries and survives today in our Classic Series Wooden Dock. Traditional construction techniques matched with extruded aluminum structural hardware creates a system that will blend with the beauty of your shoreline for years to come. Our Micro Pro Sienna Treated Docks are hand crafted by experienced carpenters using quality Canadian materials at our factory in Muskoka. Every Classic Series Wood Dock utilizes very reliable foam filled plastic PermaFloat dock floats. Our full range of float sizes allow us to choose the right float to fit your design.

High Performance Box Floats

Box floats are the industry standard for dock floatation. They are more durable & longer lasting than blue foam floatation, and more stable than pontoon style floats due to the flat bottom design keeping more material in contact with the water and creating more stable displacement. Add in the flexibility to build with over 50 standard float sizes and you have the most suitable flotation for almost any conditions.

Pressure Treated Wood Frame

Our Classic Series Floating Docks are primarily constructed from Micro Pro Sienna Pressure Treaded Lumber, chosen for its durability and suitability for use with our specialized steel & aluminum structural hardware. For those interested in the most natural looking dock, Western Red Cedar is also available

Decking & Skirting

While our internal frames are most commonly PT lumber, decking & skirting can be PT, Cedar or PVC materials to give you the best look to fit your unique shoreline.

Warranty

Classic Series Floating Docks come with a 3 Year warranty and are expected to last 10-15 years under typical conditions. The Box floats are warranted for 15 years

Want to get an idea of pricing for a Classic Series Floating Dock? View the Classic Series Floating Dock Price List

Not sure what type of dock you need? Contact Jim Lawrence he will be happy to help you out!

Contact him at (705) 498-0721 or harpersmarina@yahoo.com

Our Designer Series Floating Docks are hand crafted by experienced welders using the highest quality Canadian materials at our factory in Muskoka. Each section utilizes marine-grade aluminum framing and stainless steel fasteners to ensure a completely rust free design. Decking choices include Western Red Cedar, Solid PVC or Aluminum. A Designer Series Floating Dock from On the Water Designs makes a very durable and elegant centerpiece to any waterfront.

Every Designer Series Floating Dock utilizes very reliable foam filled plastic PermaFloat dock floats. Our full range of float sizes allow us to choose the right float to fit your design. Most residential applications are designed for 25 lbs / SqFt, while docks typically holding more people are upgraded to 40 lbs / SqFt. Our standard designs float at 14″ off the water, but we also have designs that can float at 18″ to make it easier to step from your dock to a pontoon boat.

Designer Series Floating Docks come in a variety of standard sizes including 4′, 6′, 8′ & 10′ Wide and 10′, 15′ & 20′ Long. Custom sizes and designs allow for additional flexibility where needed. All frames include decking support stringers every 16″ allowing for almost any choice of decking both now and in the future. Our exclusive deck panel clips clamp decking securely to the frame.

Best Warranty In The Business

Your dock is exposed to the harshest conditions mother nature has to offer. Hot, Cold, Storm Winds and High Waves. All before your family arrives for a weekend of swimming, skiing and relaxing on the water.

You want a dock that is ready when you are.

Every company claims to build the best, most durable dock available but the truth is easy to uncover.

Just ask about the warranty

At On the Water Designs, we warranty our dock frames for a full 10 Years. Our warranty is NOT Prorated meaning you aren’t responsible for 10% of the cost in year 1, 20% in year 2 etc. like some of our competitors. With On the Water Designs, you have the same great coverage at year 10 as you did the day you bought the dock. We are able to offer the best warranty in the business because most of our clients never need to use it. To us, that is the mark of a great quality dock system.

Want to get an idea of pricing for a Designer Series Floating Dock? View the Designer Series Floating Dock Price List

Not sure what type of dock you need? Contact Jim Lawrence he will be happy to help you out!

Contact him at (705) 498-0721 or harpersmarina@yahoo.com

Perfect for commercial applications, or a lifetime at the cottage! The Titan Series Floating Dock combines the best features of all our docking systems into a single, long lasting, high performance dock.

Your choice of Wood or PVC Decking sits above a durable aluminum frame. Our rugged reinforced pontoon system ensures the dock stays safely above the water and waves. Like all On the Water Designs docks, our Titan Series Pontoon Floating Dock is fabricated by skilled welders and carpenters to ensure your dock lasts a lifetime. Our aluminum frames come complete with a 10 year warranty and our reinforced pontoons carry a warranty that is more than a lifetime – 100 years!

Durable Pontoon Floats

Pontoon floats create a rigid structure underneath your dock frame creating great structural support for rough conditions like consistent wave action from boat traffic or mother nature. The rugged nature of this style of floatation is not simply due to the materials used, but also in the design. After thorough design, testing & redesign at our onsite testing facility we landed on the ideal welded box style design which includes cross members between the main pontoons. This not only makes the frame much more durable in rough conditions but also adds flotation where it is needed most—at the outer ends of each dock frame. Walking on a dock with separate individual pontoons is an entirely different experience which, while much less expensive to produce, created a much less stable experience we were not comfortable providing to our clients

Aluminum Frame

The 100% unique feature of the Titan Series is our welded aluminum upper frame. During development, we asked ourselves “why match a pontoon float with a 25 year warranty with a wood frame that might last 15 years”? Our aluminum frame answers the need for a low maintenance, long lasting docking solution. This frame was modeled after our proven Designer Series frame but beefed up with thicker, heavier supports to ensure ideal performance in rough conditions.

Best Warranty in the Business

Your dock is exposed to the harshest conditions mother nature has to offer. Hot, cold, storm winds and high waves. All before your family arrives for a weekend of swimming, skiing and relaxing on the water.

You want a dock that is ready when you are. Every company claims to build the best, most durable dock available but the truth is easy to uncover.

Just Ask About the Warranty

At On the Water Designs, we warranty our aluminum dock frames for a full 10 Years, and 25 Years on our Pontoon Floats. Our warranty is NOT prorated meaning you aren’t responsible for 10% of the cost in year 1, 20% in year 2 etc. like some of our competitors. With On the Water Designs, you have the same great coverage in the last year as you did the day you bought the dock. We are able to offer the best warranty in the business because most of our clients never need to use it. To us, that is the mark of a great quality dock system.

Want to get an idea of pricing for a Titan Series Floating Dock? View the Titan Series Floating Dock Price List

Not sure what type of dock you need? Contact Jim Lawrence he will be happy to help you out!

Contact him at (705) 498-0721 or harpersmarina@yahoo.com

Our Commercial dock line is the latest innovation in commercial quality pontoon floating dock systems. Our unique frame paired with rugged 18″ or 24″ fully welded HDPE pontoons provides maximum design flexibility and durability. This is achieved by our exclusive designed and engineered crosser platform found only on our Commercial docks.

The Commercial platform is designed using the most durable, products and materials. Our goal is to create a commercial level quality design, customizable dock system for residential and business use.

HDPE Pontoon 18″ vs 24″ and Crossers

We measure both these sizes into 4 critical categories, it’s Capacity, its Wall Thickness, the Weight it can manage and the Freeboard.
The 24″ Pontoons offer additional capacity, higher freeboard, weight per square foot and has a thicker wall (please see price list link below for these details)
Our pontoons have a Double End Cap Bottom giving a 1″ thickness and is double welded to prevent ice damage.
Proprietary HDPE crosser system creates a rugged connection between upper and lower structural frames without sacrificing the flexibility to create limitless designs.

Warranty

Our Commercial docks offers a wide range of customized sizes to accommodate even the most unique design layouts.
Our Pontoon Frame comes with a 25 year warranty and our Upper Frame comes with a 3 year warranty.

Options and Accessories:

Deck Trim Colour

Available in 9 standard colours, the Commercial dock offers a deck trim to match your boat, water toys, plane or your dock furniture. For marine/business use, this can be used as an identifier for clients as to what block of docks they can park (ex: Red section, slip 12). This small premium detail will make your dock truly unique.

Wood Frame Designs

You have 2 natural wood frame designs available, Standard and Picture Framed

Trim Rail

Installing Yellow Trim Rail along the length of the pontoon gives visibility to the dock perimeter while also doubling as a safety handle when in the water.

Want to get an idea of pricing for a Commercial Floating Dock? View the Commercial Floating Docks Price List

Not sure what type of dock you need? Contact Jim Lawrence he will be happy to help you out!

Contact him at (705) 498-0721 or harpersmarina@yahoo.com