Dock & Piling Cleaning in North Palm Beach, FL

A North Palm Beach canal dock sits in a year-round slow zone where the Earman River's fresh water meets the lagoon's salt.

The saltwater intrusion dam on the C-17 (S-44) sits about 4,100 feet west of where the canal meets the North Palm Beach Waterway, so canal docks east of the dam are in mixed water and anything west of it is fresh. The village shares its Wikipedia ZIP list (33403, 33408, 33410) with its neighbors, and 33410 also shows up in Jupiter's, so tell us the street. Little Lake Worth's docks sit inside a 50-foot shoreline slow zone, and the lagoon from the A1A bridge south to the Blue Heron bridge has a 300-foot one.

A North Palm Beach canal dock sits in a year-round slow zone where the C-17's fresh water meets the lagoon's salt, and the growth on it is soft on top and shipworm underneath; the multi-point inspection after cleaning is where the owner learns which. A wooden piling found going is wrapped in HDPE or sleeved with a Snap Jacket in place, and no barge has to run the slow zone. Lifts and floating docks get their hardware and wheels cleared Old Port Cove's and Anchorage Park's pilings are the marina's and the village's; our work there is on the boats, and the private canal docks are the owners'.

Village canal docks are booked by canal, because the fresh-and-salt mix east of the S-44 dam decides what the diver expects to find: a dock close to the Earman River's mouth carries softer growth, a dock out toward the Intracoastal carries more oyster. Tell us the canal, the piling count, and whether the lift is a cradle or a hydro-hoist. Old Port Cove's slips are the marina's structures and Anchorage Park's day docks are the village's, so at both our work is on the boats. The Lighthouse Drive, Earman River and Parker drawbridges are part of the drive, not the job. The North Palm Beach Waterway is man-made, dug to join Lake Worth Creek and the Intracoastal to the C-17, and its banks are dock after dock; a diver working it keeps to the year-round slow-speed rule and covers several docks in a morning.

North Palm Beach docks stand on the Lake Worth Lagoon, the Intracoastal Waterway, Little Lake Worth, the Earman River (C-17) and the North Palm Beach Waterway, most of them behind homes in Old Port Cove. ZIP code 33408: 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