need a little advice on floating dock sizes. The good news is I'm about to close on a piece of property that over the next year or two I will be building a summer home on the water. The town I'm building in will only allow 120' sq/ft of floating dock. I've been told 6' x 20'..... Friends who also own on the water in the same town are telling me as long as I don't go over 120' sq/ft. ... Another words I might be allowed 5' x 24' or even 4' x 30'......... Are those to narrow ? I just feel 20' is to short for my boat that is 35', and I plan to go bigger one day in the future. The good part is I have 100 ft of bulkhead, so I guess I can always tie off that too. Any advice is appreciated.

PS: the boat will only be staying at my dock the days I'm there...... When I'm not there the boat will be out of water at a marina very close by..........

4' is not very stable depending on how many poles you are allowed, sell 50' of the bulkhead to your wife and have her get another dock

There may or may not be an OSO member that has a large floating plastic cube "dock"...
...that has numbers and an outboard motor mounted to it, registered as a work barge.

Water patrol asks for safety equipment? It's a dock.
County hikes their ass out to his island and asks for his dock permit? It's a boat.

yes 4' would be unstable, but I was wondering if supported on both sides with pilings (or on each corner with 4 small pilings) if it would work....... and as for selling the wife half, doesn't she own half already ? then she'd own it all........lol........

something like this ?
http://www.menards.com/main/building...4422529331.htm

intersting idea to say the least......

Be careful if you have to deal the Army corp of Engineers, permit sign-off wise

Bingo! I'm going thru this exact thing right now. 197' Dock length, pile driven, not floating, and it's been a nightmare. 19 months in so far, and still not completely approved. Zoning, Building Dept., Conservation Commission, and Dept of Environmental Protection, all signed off. Army Corps of Engineers are my last hurdle, and its been a struggle. Shellfish studies, Eel Grass studies, the impact of reductions in sunlight to the crabs, clams, and fish caused by the dock.. It's insane!!!!
Good luck with your project. I'm sure it will all be worth it when complete..

yes, my consultant warned me about all of this, he feels we will get it but it will take some time..... this is why they limit size of floating dock....... incredible what they put people through. I'm lucky that property owner had bulk head permitted and built back in the 80's, with a permit to maintain 48" at low tide along bulk head......

4' wide is plenty stable if you have a single pile at the end. My whole marina is 32'x4' fingers

Trump???