Dock in a box...a misnomer

Who knew one could fall in love with a truck? Well...maybe in love is a little over the top, but it's pretty darn close to expressing how I feel about the convenience and the money-saving aspect this little hunk of machinery has brought into our lives so far. Appliances, BBQ's, lumber, kayaks, 12 foot dock ramps...none of these things would fit in the CRV, at least not easily anyway.

Temporary carry rack...some assembly required.

We really got to test the limits of love when it was time to pick up the dock ramp. To have the ramp delivered to Turtle Falls from where it was built would have cost about a quarter of the ramp's price and to rent a vehicle big enough to safely transport it ourselves would have cost even more because of the distance we needed to travel. One of the suggestions from an employee at DockinaBox was to bring a boat trailer to cart it home. I guess that's a valid assumption, since we are buying a dock ramp, that we might have a dock and from there I can see how it could be imagined that we have a boat as well. But we don't. Unless you count the tippy kayaks as boats. But they didn't come with a trailer. Enter little Nissan and a little bit of woodworking skill.

Here's the dock. Where's the box? Odd name for a dock business.
Some more assembly required, I see.

I have to mention that DockinaBox told me they wouldn't let me take the ramp if they didn't think my transport choice was safe once I told them I would be building a rack in the truck to carry the ramp. Really?! I suppose their skepticism was warranted. They don't know me and I bet they see all kinds of crazy carting ideas when people arrive at their loading dock hoping to leave with a 40 foot dock strapped to their Smart Car.


Anyway, the shear thought of being turned away at the loading dock made me switch to overkill on the build of the rack. And then I had to laugh as we arrived at the DockinaBox loading area, there were 2 guys trying to load 40 feet of dock parts into what looked like a 6-foot utility trailer. Like I said, they must see some crazy stuff. The loading crew took one look at my rack - the one in the truck! - and asked if I was available to build their cottage. I took that to mean we could start loading. Phew!

All in with room to spare. 955 kms round trip without a hitch, literally. Imagine the U-Haul bill at 70¢/km and gas mileage of 24L/100kms

Finally, we will have a completed dock at the waterfront this year and not have to walk the jerry-rigged 2x10 gangplank anymore. And, I'm pretty sure it will be the perfect place for my sister to park her new boat when she's motoring through our part of the waterway.

More later,
Mimi