Personal Project Journal: January 7, 2012

Today was a cold and rainy day. I started off by measuring the water temperature, 44 degrees Fahrenheit. This would be useful later because me and my dad were planning on measuring the profile of the rock that my dock needs to go out over. Here are the steps that I took to figure out the profile:

1.  I hammered a stake into the ground at the approximate point where the dock would begin on the land. the post had a 1' offset, meaning that I marked a line 1' above the ground to tie the string to. This is helpful as it lifted the string out of the water and  made it easier to measure. In the final measurements this would have to be subtracted.
2. I used a 4' level held by my dad at the 1' offset line on the stake to measure a drop of 22 1/2" drop at 4'. Minus 12", I got a 10 1/2" drop at 4'.
3. I took a thermometer down to the pond and measured the water temperature at a brisk 44 degrees.
4. Since it had been rainy today, I checked weather.com to look for a break in the weather in which we could go into the pond to take our measurements. It was cloudy at 1:00pm, scattered thunderstorms at 2:00pm, and thunderstorms at 3:00pm. It was now or I would have to wait until tomorrow.
5. We went back to the garage to ready the materials and enlist the help of my mom because my dad would be holding the stake in the water and I would be taking the measurements so my mom was supposed to take pictures and write down the measurements that I called out to her.
6. We gathered a pencil, pad of paper with the numbers 1-18 marked out, a string level, a bunch of string, a stake, tape, two tape measures and a towel. 
7. I marked the string in 1' increments with the tape so that it would make it easier to measure accurately.
8. Down at the pond I tied the string to the post already in the ground and my dad took the string, the larger stake, and a tape measure out into the water to the edge of the rock. We measured the distance to be 18' and 3".
9. I added a string level to the string in the middle and my dad raised his end until it was level.
10. I then took the tape measure and at the 1' marks that I had marked earlier, I measured down as far as I could go and called out the numbers to my mom who wrote them on the pad of paper.
11. I repeated this once more but there were major discrepancies so my dad said to go over it again and the third time the measurements were more precise and I picked which one was the best.
12. After this was done I wound up the string and my dad brought the stake in and we dried off with the towel.
13. Back inside I gathered the measurements we had taken, graph paper, a ruler, a pencil, and a calculator.
14.  I first subtracted 1' from all the measurements to account for the offset. 
15. I got graph paper and drew a line that would represent the bottom of the dock. 
16. I used a scale of 1 squared equaling 6" and measured down the appropriated amount and marked a dot.
17. After this was down for the 18 points, I took a ruler and connected them to the ones next to it and this gave me an approximate profile of the rock.
18. I used other measurements that I had taken and determined the water depth at the stake was 25". I marked this on the graph and drew a line over representing the water level. The water hit land at 4' 6".

After this I went to Hobby Lobby and bought supplies to build a scale model of the dock. This would not only help me visualize the dock, it would also give me a back up in case my idea gets rejected by the Home Owners Association in my neighborhood. I would also be able to present it to the IB people to show them what it looks like, since they would not be able to visit it in person.

Later that evening, I was talking to my dad about how to connect the floating section to the stationary section. Originally, I had planned on have there be another section that would angle between the two and allow the floating section to remain level with the water. He suggested I take 4 planks and connect them together with rope to make sort of a swinging bridge effect. I would also have the floating section tethered to the stationary section so it would not float away. The dock would be able to move up and down and it would not float away. The planks would allow for something for the people to walk on to get to the other section.

We also talked about taking 4x4 posts and connecting them in a H style. The two vertical pieces would rest in special blocks and the dock would rest on the horizontal piece. The post would then be cut flush with the bottom of the planks so that no one would trip on them.

I also researched dock floats and found that Home Depot sells 4'x4' floats, the perfect size for my project. They are made of durable plastic and are water, oil, UV, and marine life resistant. They come with brackets for instillation. On the inside they are filled with an expanded polystyrene that is also water resistant.

I will have pictures of working in the pond soon and also the notes that I took and the diagrams that I drew.