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Product Description

In order to provide you with a better understanding of our unique design, following are some of the significant features of this system. We are very proud of the development growth our design has undergone since the early seventies. We have of pioneered several concepts that have become pace setters for floating dock standards. We hope you are favorably impressed with this information and that it will be of benefit to your ultimate decision.

Monocoque

Monocoque describes the premise of our product design - one that is entirely unique to the industry. Identical to the construction format of large aircraft fuselage and wing sections, a closely spaced arrangement of exterior framing walls, interior bulkheads, and upper and lower bodywork are fastened together in a highly dense format. The end result offers the strongest and most forgiving structural shape known to our engineering principals, thus the reason behind its application to the aircraft industry as well as the world’s fastest racecar designs.

Dissipation of Energy Forces

Of the many unique characteristics that the monocoque system carries, energy forces from wave, impact, wind, and anchorage loads are dissipated throughout the thousands of fasteners - translated and received as tensile forces on the upper and lower sheet steel body work - or as compressive forces over the network of timber framing and bulkheading.

Materials

Our hybrid construction format is a marriage of pressure treated #1 dense southern yellow pine exterior framing walls and interior bulkheads, heavily oversized galvanized structural steel components, and galvanized sheet steel, all joined together through an aggressive network of high strength fasteners. (Note: For water conditions that are not compatible with galvanized sheet steel, we offer a High Density Polyethelene substitute.)

Attention to Detail

Our attention to detail represents a significant feature of the Flotation Docking System design. While this is readily identifiable from a cosmetic point of view, it is also indicative of the not so visible quality controls that we impose on each unit we produce. All exposed edges of the deck boards and fenders are routered to a 1/2" radius round, our decking nail lines are “laser straight”, and our lumber quality is second to none. Due to a unique arrangement with our lumber supplier, we successfully intercept the premium productions of southern yellow pine typically earmarked for the truss manufacturing industry. Also in demonstration of our quality controls, all of our fastener torque loads are closely monitored, and our welds (performed with the newest high-tech equipment) are consistently stress tested. These features are the main emphasis of massive design principles, specialized professional engineering, and quality control.

Flotation Support

With virtually every square foot of an FDS pier receiving flat-bottom flotation support, our system offers two sources of superior stability. First, superimposed live loads are counteracted by the buoyancy support of every square foot resulting in a comfortable, consistent, and predictable freeboard loss. Second, the bobbing reaction to wave and swell activity is much subtler than that of any intermittent support design. Much like the bobbing difference between a heavy steel navigational aid and a small barge of similar weight, any total support flotation system inherits superior stability.