Rich Fields: Repairing And Staining My Florida Boat Dock

Author Rich Fields

March 9th, 2020 11:56 AM

Living in Florida is a blessing for my wife and I. We have lived in many places but we always knew that we’d came back and settle down here in Florida.

Many of us came to Florida because of it’s weather. But Florida’s weather is a killer for your home’s untreated wood. Let’s face it, it can get pretty warm here in the Sunshine State. And those blazing temperatures, along with the constant salt-air, can really tear up exposed wood of any kind.

Treating your home’s unprotected wood isn’t that big of a deal. Recently, I repaired the boat dock in our back yard. The wood slats that you walk on were destroyed by years of sun and saltwater. When we bought the property we noticed that the previous owners had covered the dock’s walking areas with a cheap blue carpet. I told my wife Christine, “I guarantee that if we pull this ugly carpet up… the wood is going to be destroyed”. And it was.

(Note: Never cover a dock’s wooden walkway with carpet or anything else. The wood cannot dry out on a daily basis and that leads to the wood rotting under the carpet.)

A good solid Stain & Sealer over new wood will keep it from aging too quickly. And with all of the color combinations available these days, you can really enhance the overall look of your property. Below are a few pictures of the dock project that I recently completed. Check out my project pictures and explanation of what I did below.

BTW… if it wasn’t for Christine shooting pictures of our Pug, Gunner… I wouldn’t have many pics of this project to show you. 🙂

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  Check out Gunner chillin' on the end of the old dock. Notice the blue carpet covering the dock-wood that I mentioned.

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  This is an original photo from the day that we first looked at the property. Notice the blue carpet again... and how bad the wood of this dock was. This sink area for cleaning fish was ready to break off and drop into the water.

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  Another pic of Gunner on the dock.
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  Hard to see... but look past the tree and you'll see Gunner lying out in what quickly became his favorite spot.

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  We love riding our wave runners... and desperately needed a new dock to operate from. Look at how bad the wooden railings are in the foreground of this picture. So we dove into the project by removing all of the surface area wood (the pilings and undercarriage of the dock were fine).

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  Here is a closer look at how bad the wooden railings really were.
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  All the old wood is gone and the new wood has been cut and screwed back into place. Christine and I cut all of this ourselves. She's great when it comes to pitching in on hard work.

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  I think we did a pretty good job.

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  This is the product I used to stain and seal the wood. It went on very smoothly. And because it's so thin, the brushing went very fast.
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  As with any outdoor project in Florida... there was a temporary rain delay. But then we got back to work.

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  BTW... when staining, be sure to cover all surfaces. Even the ones you can't see. Any exposed new wood will deteriorate quickly.

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  Notice how even the dock's undercarriage is stained and sealed?
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  Notice the sealant's sheen on the wood.

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  We even recreated the fish clean-up area and installed an old sink.

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  Gunner seems to like it.
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  We even installed a shower on the dock to use when coming back home from wave running.

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  Again, check out the surface of that newly sealed and stained wood. I am very happy with the job.

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  Another angle of the new dock.
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  Here's a nice shot right down the dock's walk-way.

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  The view through our pool enclosure of the finished project.

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  Another angle of the dock.
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  Here's what it looks like in the back yard today. To keep Gunner from running out to the dock (full speed) chasing birds... we installed a baby gate (which I stained with the same sealant). We also put up some hanging flower baskets (for that southern charm look). That's our finished product. What do you think?

Overall, this project wasn’t that difficult. Anyone can tackle a job like this. All it takes is a little bit of “sweat-equity” and a desire to improve your property.

I say… have fun!

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Author Rich Fields

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