The Dock

 

   If my father ever heard anyone say they were tied up to a dock he would say to them, "A dock is a hole in the ground," or something to that effect. He was referring to a drydock which is a hole in the ground alongside a harbor. When full of water, a ship can enter the hole, doors are closed behind and the water is pumped out. In this dry situation the ship's hull can be painted or repaired. 

  My father was not being pedantic. He was an old merchant marine and liked precision. If you said dock to my father, in his mind you were tied up to a wharf or a pier. Save "dock" for drydock. By the time our son Matthew got one of those metal contraptions that stick into lakes, my father had gone to the big drydock in the sky. I know he'll forgive me if I say dock for the duration of this post. 

   So last week Matt called from his tug and barge in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. He had just gotten a call from a neighbor at his cabin on South Center Lake near Lindström, MN. A terrific rainstorm had raised the lake level. His pontoon was banging against the dock and the dock planks were floating away. The neighbor pulled the planks onto shore but Matt was worried about the pontoon. The pontoon is on a lift but the high water level allowed it to bang around in the wind.

  Matt and his wife Heather were planning to fly out from Massachusetts in October to put the pontoon in the marina and pull the dock and lift up into the yard for winter. But now Matt wanted to take care of business ASAP. He would be getting off his tug in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday. Normally he'd fly to Boston for his two weeks off. Now he planned to fly to Minneapolis, rent a truck with a trailer hitch and take care of his dock. Teresa said "You can't do that alone," and immediately volunteered me to help which I was fine with. Matt protested a bit but soon relented and our plans were finalized.

  I would drive the six hours to Lindström on Thursday. That morning before I took off, fellow almanac contributor Joe Stenzel texted that he wanted to help too. He said he could only come for Friday. He would drive down and back six hours each way on his own. I tried to put him off, but he just asked for Matt's cabin address. Ok. The more the merrier.

  Joe arrived at 7:30 Friday morning and Matt pulled up an hour later. He had landed at MSP at midnight and taken an Uber to White Bear Lake. He spent the night at his friend Dave's house and picked up his rental truck in the morning. Job one was to get the pontoon to the marina for storage. Matt drove to the marina to get a trailer then met Joe and me at the boat landing across the lake. I drove the three of us back to the cabin in my car. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed a 15 minute cruise across the lake to the boat launch.

  Once on the trailer, Matt drove the pontoon back to the cabin so he could winterize the motor, then we dropped off the pontoon at the marina. After lunch we tackled the dock. Now this was where I was glad Joe was present. Dock removal worked best with two people in the water wrestling with the dock while a third person (me) drives the truck. 

  First the lift had to be disconnected from the dock. Matt put on googles and dove down to remove the U bolts. Joe and Matt loosened more bolts then Matt tied a retired tugboat hawser to landward end of the dock and looped the other end of the hawser over the truck hitch. There was a three foot ledge of riprap along the shore that the end of the dock had to get up. Matt laid planks over the riprap. Very slowly I drove ahead as Matt and Joe pulled and pushed the dock to line it up with the planks.

  After about twenty feet, the truck was getting into the road in front of the cabin. I backed up and Matt retied the hawser. After four of these pulls, the dock was up in the yard. Now it was the turn of the lift. This squarish unit had to be manipulated in line with the planks. Pull Joe! Push Matt! Once it was lined up, the hawser was tied on and the truck did its four pulls and soon the dock and lift were ready for their long winter's nap.

  It was now 4:30. Joe did not want a shower or a nap. He hopped in his car and took off. He said he enjoyed his day out and we certainly appreciated having him there to help. Matt and I returned the truck in White Bear Lake and had supper with friend Dave and his wife. Next afternoon I took Matt to the airport for his flight home. If I was smart I would have gone into drydock myself for the night at Matt’s cabin, but instead I drove home. I had promises to keep.

Late summer cruise