PVC boat pilings make an excellent protector to add around your property to prevent boats from getting damaged from a steel seawall. I have found 6” pvc to be adequate to keep up to 30’ vessels protected on a protected canal. This system against ’open water’ would probably require larger pipe.
Many lakes and municipalities may require permitting prior to doing this DIY project.
I installed 8” poly boat cleats on the face of the seawall to secure the vessel more securely than tying off to the pvc pipe alone. I installed them to the face after stubbing my foot against a surfaced mounted cleat.
A 10’ x 1” steel pipe (possibly the most expensive tool on this job) w/a 90 degree adapter to a sump pump hose and a sump pump is used to ‘jet’ a hole in the lake bottom prior to installing the pipe. As a kid we used the pipe to jet in wood pilings before pvc was so popular.
My other trick is to take an adapter from 6 inch PVC to sump pump hose, also in a 90° fitting (another expense tool) to add weight and water flow through the pipe to help it drill into the lake bottom. As you can see in the video I used a circular saw to cut teeth into the end of the PVC to allow it to cut into the soil quicker and easier.
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