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Scrapin’ paint.

Marie took this photo for me, at my request. (She chuckled when I asked her and said, “You need photographic proof of your hard work, I guess!”)

Because of my paint prep, schoolwork, occasional blog writing and speaker building, and plans for a bouldering trip with a friend (that have been materializing over the last couple weeks), my parents and I decided that it would be best if I didn’t tackle the dock by myself this summer. Instead, I’ll focus on finishing the painting and my studies and have fun with whatever time I have left (I haven’t even gotten out on the lake save for that one kayaking trip.) I did devise a plan for repairing the dock, however, and arranged to have a local handyman/contractor do the job for us.

After talking with neighbors about their own dock experiences, I came up with the following solution: Because the dock is supported along its length by the four train tracks, I’ll only need to support the tracks at the end sticking out into the channel. It would be simplest by far if I could only use two supports at the corners, so I’ll sink concrete-filled 8-gallon pails into the sand at the bottom of the channel (with a pressure washer to blast the surrounding earth away) and have 6×6 supports resting freely in these (so the ice can pick them up and set them down again every winter and spring without doing them any damage). Those 6×6’s will be notched and bolted into a beam that runs under the train tracks from one corner of the dock to the other, constructed of three 2×10’s screwed tightly together along their length. The remains of the last concrete-filled drum holding the dock up now will be smashed out with a sledgehammer, letting the dock lower onto its new supports.

The contractor I had look at our dock with me actually really liked my plan. He’s been doing this kind of thing for decades, though his usual approach consists of 8×8’s laid in opposite directions like a log cabin then filled with rocks, and took to the new solution right away. I trust him – he’s tackled much, much larger jobs (think jacking up entire boathouses and rolling them back into place on greased logs then building them new foundations, or moving entire cabins on highways) – and he can get it done this fall, after I leave for Stanford. I’m a little disappointed that it won’t be me out there figuring out how to do it myself (I was looking forward to it – the painting and scraping was something I took on knowing I’d get to do something actually interesting when I finished) but time has become an issue, and mom was seriously worried for my safety when I described the plan to her initially (understandably, though I would have thought the steps through thoroughly enough to keep myself safe and I know I have the strength and coordination for it). It’s for the best, though.

(PS – I know there is still a lot of paint on the house. If it all came off when I scraped, it would be much, much easier. The point of scraping is to go at it hard enough for the loose paint to come off but for the really well-adhered stuff to stay on. It’s indescribably frustrating to go over the same board again and again with a flat scraping blade, though, when obviously loose pieces of paint in slight depressions in the uneven wood refuse to be torn off.)