After the flood floated the dock across the pond during the first week of April, it was sitting on the west side wetland area, nice as you please, with four cement block anchors, a canoe and a paddleboat still tied to it. When the water had receded enough that we could get to the dock, the mud left behind had pretty much locked it in place.
​Spring turned to summer and we were still not able to come up with a workable solution. Some good rain storms expanded the pond over the wetlands but not quite far enough to float the dock.
Towing from the other side, winching .... still too wet to use the truck or gator. Maybe if we dug a trench to get water to the back of the dock ... nope!
Then, (light bulb!!!), some good old-fashioned ancient technology was remembered and it was almost too simple! We have several used ginseng posts on hand... round posts, about 8-feet long. We unchained the canoe and the paddleboat from the dock, and lifted the cement blocks onto it. Two of us lifted the dry end of the dock while the third slid a pole under the front of the float. Same at the other end where the dock was already in water. A couple good, strong pushes and that was that! The dock rolled beautifully into the water! (Those ancient peoples were so smart!)
Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer hopped on board the now buoyant dock and used ginseng posts to pole it across. Just, really, entirely tooooo simple!
A walk back to the west side, lift the paddleboat into the water, tie a rope to the canoe, and another short trip across the pond had all the pieces and parts back where they belong. From that point it was easy enough to dig a squared off mooring spot, and anchor the two blocks on the berm with T-posts, using a post driver to pound them in good and deep.
​The summer isn't over, so we're hoping to get a lot of fun time on the water from here on ... if I can just find the keys to the padlocks!