Dock & Piling Cleaning in Deerfield Beach, FL

Cove canal docks sit in still salt water off the Intracoastal, and their; hydro-hoists and jet ski lifts on the same lots grow barnacles on the wheels that scrape a hull at every launch.

Hillsboro River docks sit in drainage water that is home to shipworms, which bore into wood and concrete alike; enough holes and a piling snaps.

The Cove's finger canals have no fixed bridge between them and either the Boca Raton or the Hillsboro inlet, which is why its docks hold bigger boats and heavier lifts than a canal behind a low bridge would. The Kingfisher Canal is where the city installed its coastal resiliency aerators and a pollution-control device, a sign of how much attention the canal water here gets. A Cove dock on the Intracoastal side takes the seasonal slow-zone traffic; one deep in a finger canal takes almost none, and its pilings grow oysters in peace.

A Cove dock has no fixed bridge between it and either inlet, so it often carries a bigger boat and a heavier lift than the canal suggests, and the lift's hardware and the floating dock's wheels crust up with barnacle in still water. A Hillsboro River dock sits in drainage water where shipworms thrive, and the multi-point inspection after cleaning is where hollow wood shows up; a piling found going is wrapped or sleeved in place, with no barge on the river. The Kingfisher Canal's aerators tell you the city watches its canal water; the diver watches the pilings in it.

Deerfield docks are booked with the neighborhood (The Cove, the Hillsboro River or the Intracoastal near the bridge). A Hillsboro River dock sits on the county-line canal, where the year-round slow zone keeps the water calm enough to work at any hour. Sullivan Park's 11 public slips are the city's, so a boat there gets cleaned but the slip's pilings are not ours. Deerfield Island Park's shuttle dock is county property and off our list.

Deerfield Beach docks stand on the Hillsboro River and the Intracoastal Waterway, and in the Kingfisher Canal, most of them behind homes in The Cove. ZIP code 33441: no pickaxes, no chisels, inspection included.

Growth hides damage, so the inspection follows the cleaning, while the diver can see the structure.

• Shipworm holes in wood and concrete pilings: enough of them and a piling snaps.
• Oyster damage on wooden pilings, which eats the wood while hiding it.
• Floating-dock wheels and hydro-hoist hydraulic lines, where barnacles cut and jam.
• Whether a wrap or a Snap Jacket sleeve would extend the piling's life.

How often docks and pilings need it. Seawalls and concrete pilings: cleaned annually. In our experience, unwrapped wooden pilings on South Florida canals often need help after 10 to 15 years; a wrap from the mud to 2 ft above high tide adds at least 20 years.

Full dock and piling cleaning guide