Dock & Piling Cleaning in West Palm Beach, FL

El Cid docks sit in the slow zone below the Flagler Memorial Bridge, in water that gets fresher toward the C-51 spillway, and oysters and shipworms both tolerate the mix.

Northwood Shores docks sit in saltier, idle-speed water near the port.

El Cid Historic District is bounded by Flamingo Drive, South Flagler Drive, Dyer Road and South Dixie Highway, and Flagler Drive runs along the lagoon, so the district's docks are its eastern edge. Prospect Park and Southland Park continue the waterfront south of downtown, and Northwood Shores covers the north end. On the west side of the lagoon the water from the port's turning basin south to a mile below Peanut Island is idle speed, so Northwood Shores docks take almost no wake; El Cid docks, below the Flagler Memorial Bridge, take a little more.

A Flagler Drive dock in El Cid, Prospect Park or Southland Park stands in front of a bulkhead in the slow zone below the Flagler Memorial Bridge, and the two are cleaned together: pilings, lift and wall face in one visit. Northwood Shores docks sit in saltier, idle-speed water near the port. Currie Park's docks are the city's and closed until 2027; the private docks are the owners'.

Booking a Flagler Drive dock is straightforward: the street address, how many pilings, whether the lift is a cradle or a hydro-hoist, and whether the dock is bolted to the seawall or stands free of it. Most in El Cid and Prospect Park are bolted, which is why we clean the wall face in the same visit. Northwood Shores owners near the port should mention if the dock takes commercial wake at the turning basin, because barnacle on the lift hardware is heavier there. The City Docks downtown are the city's own structure and are not ours to clean; if you overnight there, the diver cleans the boat, not the pilings. Currie Park's docks stay closed until spring 2027, so north-end owners who used them are booking their home docks instead. Lake Mangonia's ramp serves the inland lake and the Franklin Sailing Camp, and Clear Lake marks Flagler's old town edge; neither has the salt-water docks that grow oysters, which is why every West Palm Beach dock we clean is on the lagoon side of Flagler Drive.

West Palm Beach docks stand on the Lake Worth Lagoon, the Intracoastal Waterway, the C-51 Canal and Lake Mangonia, most of them behind homes in El Cid, Prospect Park and Northwood Shores. ZIP codes 33401, 33405 and 33407: 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