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Boat ramp construction

2,410 Views | 8 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by Gunny456
Jbob04
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AG
Has anyone had any experience putting in a small private boat ramp on a lake lot?
Jbob04
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Bump for the morning crowd
ghollow
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We have had one at our lake house that we poured when I was a kid. I am almost 60 now. It was made with 5" of concrete with wire mesh reinforcement. Still use it today.

It was poured in four stages. When we did the last stage, the lake was down about 4' or so. We ran the forms probably 10 feet out into the water. We poured the concrete underwater and just kinda let it run out the ends of the forms. It fans out past the forms. It is still usable today. It may be the deepest ramp on the lake. I have seen the lake down 14' and we can still get a boat in the lake.
Jbob04
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ghollow said:

We have had one at our lake house that we poured when I was a kid. I am almost 60 now. It was made with 5" of concrete with wire mesh reinforcement. Still use it today.

It was poured in four stages. When we did the last stage, the lake was down about 4' or so. We ran the forms probably 10 feet out into the water. We poured the concrete underwater and just kinda let it run out the ends of the forms. It fans out past the forms. It is still usable today. It may be the deepest ramp on the lake. I have seen the lake down 14' and we can still get a boat in the lake.

Awesome, thanks for the info. Do you know how much ground they dug out before they poured to get the proper slope angle into the water?
agnerd
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Never done a project like this on a private lot. When building in the commercial industry, you have to dam up the site, pump the water out, then keep a pump running for seepage during construction. If you use sheet piles, they can be difficult to get out after you're done. Also, the permitting can be really lengthy depending on which city, county, and lake you're on. Screwing up could also end with some very big polluting fines. For a private ramp, I'd start with figuring out the permitting requirements from your local city or county.
Gunny456
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Jbob. Here is what we did at our lake lot at LBJ.
We were shown this by a guy who builds ramps for a living.
First we excavated the site for our slant. Can't remember the pitch. We excavated out into the water as far as we could with a small D-3 dozer we rented. We then hauled in a load of distressed granite and smoothed that level and out into the water about 2-3 feet. We then built the form on the excavated site but just to the water edge. The total length was about 3 ft longer than the length we wanted the ramp to reach in the water. We put plastic down in the forms first then installed rebar and highway mesh. Rebar was done longitudinal and horizontal about on 16" centers. We put small wood blocks to hold the rebar up off the surface about 1.5 inches. Then poured the slab with concrete. We let it cure two weeks. We took all the forms off. Then we got two 2x6's nailed together to make a 4x6 and put them along the uphill edge of the slab. This was to protect the concrete edge from the dozer blade. ( see next sentence) We then had a guy with a larger dozer come and just push the entire slab into the water to the depth we wanted. Then we poured another slab from the edge of that one up the bank as far as we wanted concrete to drive on.
We then drilled some 3/4 holes through the first slab and ran3/4 rebar through them into the earth below it to insure it would not move.
We would cut the rebar with a cut off wheel flush with the concrete.
It worked like a champ and is still working great 28 years later. Doing it this way we did not have to get permits as we did not pour wet concrete into the lake.
They did this exact thing to extend the large boat ramps at lake Hubbard during the bad drought a few years back. They built large slabs that were wide enough for two trucks. Took two dozers to push the slabs in the water.
I had never seen this method done before but it worked really well for us.
The guy who did it said the most important thing was to have the slab well reinforced so it would not crack when pushing it.
Slab was 5-6" thick.
Jbob04
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Thanks for the respond, very good points on the permitting
Jbob04
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Gunny, that sounds like a great plan. The few people who I've talked to did it this exact way and had great results as well.
RCR06
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Interesting idea gunny. Makes a lot of sense, but I dont know if I would've ever come up with that on my own. You can buy prefabricated concrete slabs that could work for the pieces you slide in the water. Used them a few times on construction projects, but never had to buy them. Probably more expensive than pouring your own.
Gunny456
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Good idea.
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