Dock & Piling Cleaning in Lantana, FL

A Hypoluxo dock sits in still, brackish water with a 50-foot shoreline slow zone around it.

Most of Hypoluxo Island is in Lantana and its southern tip is in Manalapan, and the homes on it have deep-water docks that reach the ocean through the Boynton Inlet a few miles south. Lantana is 2.97 square miles with 21% of it water, so the island's docks are a big share of the town's waterfront. The backwaters east of the island carry a 50-foot shoreline slow zone, and that still, brackish water is where the island's pilings collect their oysters.

A Hypoluxo Island dock stands in a 50-foot shoreline slow zone in brackish backwater, which is quiet enough for oysters to coat every piling and fresh enough to keep the zinc question interesting. Sportsman's Park's ramps launch the trailer boats; the docks behind the island's homes hold the ones that stay, and those are the ones we clean.

Two things make a Hypoluxo Island dock job different from one across the lagoon. The first is access: the island's docks face the backwater on the east side, and once we have the access details the homeowner is not needed. The second is the tide range in the backwater, which is small; the diver can work a Hypoluxo dock at almost any hour, where an inlet dock in Ocean Ridge has to wait for slack. When you book, a count of the pilings and a note on whether the lift is a cradle, a floating dock or a hydro-hoist lets the diver bring the right gear the first time, and a phone photo from the seawall is worth more than a description. Sportsman's Park's ramps at the foot of the SR 812 bridge handle Lantana's trailer boats; Hypoluxo Island's docks hold the wet ones, and a wet boat's dock is where the oysters live.

Lantana docks stand on the Lake Worth Lagoon and the Intracoastal Waterway, most of them behind homes on Hypoluxo Island. ZIP code 33462: 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