Floating Dock & Float Repair on Old Hickory Lake, TN
Every dock on Old Hickory Lake floats, which makes the flotation the one system the whole structure rides on. When a float fails, the dock leans, sits low, and starts dragging its frame and hardware underwater where rust and rot take over. A Cumberland River reservoir adds a twist: the pool rises and falls with Corps releases, so a dock with marginal flotation gets tested every time the level swings. Old Hickory Dock & Lift repairs and replaces dock flotation across the lake, bringing leaning docks back to level with sealed, encapsulated floats built to last.
How a Float Fails
The classic failure here is the old bare polystyrene billet. It starts as solid foam with no shell, and over the years the skin cracks, water works in, and the billet slowly waterlogs and loses its lift. You see it as a corner sitting low, a walkway that dips, or a dock leaning to one side. Because the floats share the load, one failed float overloads its neighbors and the problem spreads. Catching it early is the difference between a float swap and a frame repair.
Encapsulated Floats, Not Bare Foam
When we replace flotation we install encapsulated floats: foam sealed inside a tough polyethylene shell, or sealed air-and-foam drums. Encapsulated flotation is the Tennessee standard and what the Corps wants on the lake, so loose foam cannot break up and shed into the water, and it is simply the better float. The shell takes the abuse, resists cracking, and does not soak through the way bare foam does. Swapping old billets for encapsulated floats is one of the most common and worthwhile jobs we do.
Bringing a Dock Back to Level
A dock that has been leaning has loaded its frame and hardware unevenly for a while. We replace the failed floats, check the floats around them that have been carrying the extra load, and re-balance the flotation so the whole dock rides level again. A level dock sheds water off its deck, keeps its hardware above the waterline, and stops flexing its frame at every joint as the pool moves up and down.
Under-Floated Docks
Sometimes the problem is not a failed float but too little flotation for the load. A dock that gained a boat lift, an upper deck, or a heavier boat may simply ride too low for what it now carries, and the level swing makes that obvious at high pool. In that case we add flotation to match the load so the dock sits where it should with everything aboard. We tell you honestly whether you need more floats or replacement floats, because adding buoyancy around a sinking billet just hides the failure.
Done in the Water
Float work is done in the water from a barge or the dock itself. We jack a section, pull the failed float, set the new one, and lower the dock back onto it, section by section, without hauling the whole dock out. Because the Corps manages shoreline access, working in place also keeps your dock on its permitted spot. It is disruptive for a day, not a season.
Is a corner of your dock sitting low? Call (615) 555-0162 before a soaked float drags your frame under. A level dock is a dock that lasts.
Why is one corner of my dock sitting low?
A float under that corner has taken on water. On older docks the usual cause is a bare polystyrene billet whose skin cracked and let water wick in, slowly bleeding off its lift. One waterlogged float drops its corner, which loads the neighboring floats and the frame unevenly. We find the failed floats, replace them with sealed encapsulated units, and bring the dock back to level.
Are bare foam floats still allowed on Old Hickory?
Bare, unencapsulated polystyrene is no longer the standard. Encapsulated flotation, foam sealed inside a polyethylene shell so it cannot break up and shed into the lake, is the accepted best practice in Tennessee and the kind of float the Corps wants on its water. When we replace floats we install encapsulated drums or billets, which is both the right call and the longer-lasting one.
Does the lake rising and falling hurt the floats?
Not the floats themselves, but the level swing punishes a dock that is already under-floated or riding a failing billet. When a Corps release raises the pool fast, a dock with marginal flotation can dip a corner or bind its anchors. Sound encapsulated floats carry the dock evenly through the swing; a soaked billet cannot, which is why we replace rather than patch.
Can you just add floats instead of replacing them?
Sometimes, if the dock was simply under-floated for the load it now carries, such as after a lift or an upper deck went on. More often the call is a failed float that has to come out and be replaced. We assess whether you need more flotation or replacement flotation, because adding floats around a sinking one only delays the real fix.