How to Determine the Number of Floats on a Boat Dock
Determining the number of floats for building a floating dock is a straightforward process. But it requires preparation, including designing your floating dock, doing a "takeoff" for materials -- developing a materials list based on a design -- researching flotation systems available commercially, then doing the actual calculation for flotation. This will ensure that your dock is positively or neutrally buoyant, rather than negatively buoyant.
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Instructions
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Design or purchase a plan for the floating dock. If you purchase a plan, the materials list will be provided, including the number and size of floats.
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Create a materials list. If you design your dock, develop the materials list by examining the plan and making note of what materials you will use, the dimensions of the materials and the numbers of individual units of the materials.
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Determine the total weight of the materials.
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Check information for flotation materials, including syntactic foam and expanded polystyrene foam floats. Purchasing pre-manufactured floats ensures uniform flotation.
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Divide the total weight of materials by the flotation capacity of one float. The result will be the number of floats needed to float the dock.
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