www.iFourWinns.com

This is something I had to figure out. We live on Lake Lewisville in Little Elm, TX. There was a time when the Corp of Engineers allowed new slip construction. That ended several years ago and all permits were issued at that time, even if they were not built at that time, they issued them. Since then, they have of course not issued anymore permits. I have called and was given a long run down of the reasons why, which is a WHOLE ton of political red tape, citing the decision was made based on the interest of public safety on the lake. Apparently, in the early to mid 90's, there were a LOT of injuries and deaths on the lake and it led to this. The flaw in this logic is that I use the lake 99.99999% of the time since we live right here on the water. Regardless of having my own slip behind my house, I still use the water the same amount.

Anyway - on to the project...

1. Buy two 5 gallon plastic buckets.
2. Buy 3 bags of redi-mix quickrete. Each bucket takes about 1 1/3 bags of concrete when mixed in.
3. Buy 2 metal dog screws. They are in the pet area...used to tie out a dog in the grass.
4. Buy 2 pieces of rope, appropriate in lenth for your water depth.
5. Buy some proper fasteners from Lowes/Home Depot to secure the rope to the dog screws.
6. Find 2 suitable buoy's. I used to old boat fenders.
7. Buy some proper fasteners from Lowes/Home Depot to secure the rope to the boat fenders.

Mix the concrete in the buckets, one at a time. When thoroughly mixed, insert the dog screws while the concrete is wet. Allow to dry a few days. When dry, secure rope to dog screw shank. Do not use the cheesy ring attached to the dog screw. Secure the boat fenders to the rope. Take these out to the water and drop in the right spot. The boat fenders will float, allowing you to always see them. I have mine secured about 25 feet apart. The water where I dropped them was about 5 feet deep and I used 9 feet of rope on each bucket to allow for water level changes. Now all I need to do is drive the boat in between the buoys and secure each side of the boat with dock lines to the buoys. This keeps my boat off shore just far enough. Since its a temporary solution, the Corp of Engineers cant bust me for having a dock without a permit. Its probably not anything that I would use as a permanent solution, but in a case like mine where we use it a handful of times a year, its sufficient.

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Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

Now I know where to hook my boat up when I'm trolling through the rich part of town!

Yeah....right!!! Seriously though....tie up anytime and come get a beer. Its only about 200 yards from the back door to the water.

I have actually considered hosting a tie up behind the house and grilling etc...

We are here, right to the left of "My House":

_________________
Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

Says this guy:



Hmmmmmmmmmmm

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H210SS 6.2
F150 Platinum

Yeah - no joke!!! I can see his house in the background...WAY nicer than mine.

_________________
Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

Have you ever considered putting in a marine rail system? Your boat would be on your land high and dry when not in use and don't think they could say much about it. You could launch in less than 5 minutes so putting it away every night wouldn't be too much bother.

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Marc, Kathlin & Nathalie


'89 Chaparral Laser 32

'93 Vista 245, 5.8L w/ King Cobra

Former Boats
'01 H260, 7.4 VP Duoprop
'98 H200, 5.0 GL w/VP SX drive

What is that???


***Nevermind....I found some examples on Google. Problem with this is the Corp of Engineers owns the land up to a certain elevation. So, ANY access is techincally not permitted. Its a strange set of rules they have, but since I have not specifically asked about this sort of system, I will give them a call to see what they say.

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Current Boat:
2004 Sea Ray 320 Sundancer "Nauti Luvin'"

Previous Boats:
1999 298 Vista "Seas The Day"
2008 H200SS "Nauti Luv"
2006 Tahoe Q4

I've used such buckets before. Used re-bar rather than dog screws. also ran an x patern with re-bar through the base of the buckets 6 inches on a side to prevent dragging. Saw one of those buckets about a year back - it's going on 20 years old, so not too temporary a solution.

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Here in the salt pond we use big old cast iron moorings which look like a mushroom inverted with chain attached to it. There is a mooring ball which is then attached via lines to the chain and the actual line that you tie to the boat has a floating pick up stick so you just drive the boat up to the stick, pick it up and put the mooring line on your cleat. But something like this weighs 200 lbs for a 20' boat, not something you can just drop in yourself, it takes a work boat with a winch to do it. They hold great though, my boat has been on it with 40 mph gusts with no problems.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Up at our lot on Bear Lake (northern utah/so idaho) everyone uses an old tire filled with concrete with a loop of rebar sticking out of the cement mix for the chain or rope to attach to.
These are used for anchoring boats, floating swim docks, PWCs, ect...

Very similar to what your planning, but a little lower center of gravity. I am sure your 5 gallon bucket will work as well.

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2000 248 5.7L DP
'92, '94 SXI 750, '08 STX 15F, '12 Ultra LX 300
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