One of the main goals this summer is to build two docks. We’ll need one for where we park the car and another over where we plan to build. I decided that floating docks are the way to go, as the level of the lake rises and falls somewhat throughout the year. Since there are a lot of salmon farms in the fjords around here, I hoped to be able to get a hold of second hand materials. At least for the styrofoam floats, we were successful (all the salmon farms float their docks and walkways on styrofoam blocks).

I spent a couple of days looking around Puerto Chacabuco and Aysen. My friend Pablo remembered seeing the pile we ended up getting the floats from and a guy he knew from one of the salmon fisheries told us of another place. That one ended up being about as close as I’ve seen in Chile to a white trash residential dump and the guy could have offered to pay us to haul the things out of his yard instead of raising the price a dollar per float from one day to the next. I almost thought we’d have to get the floats from him anyway, but we finally got a hold of Ruperto, who is probably the busiest man in Aysen, and he was happy to sell me much better floats for far less than the redneck.

Ruperto also had steel walkways, but wanted four hundred dollars a piece (1m x 5m). I figure I’ll need at least 8 pieces to build the docks I want, so that was way out of my range, though probably not a bad deal as new these things go for over $2000. Anyway, I figure it will be much cheaper to build my own, even if I have to buy a welding unit and learn how to weld. I also ended up getting a marine buoy from Ruperto.

This was actually the “hook” I used to get him to sell me the floats cheap. I had first talked to him about buying some walkways (until I found out their price) and he said that I could throw the floats in with them if I wanted. So, after I told him I’d think about it, I called back and told him I was interested in the buoy. He said sure, and that for an extra forty bucks I could load the truck up with floats. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the buoy, but it’s bigger than Alejandro’s and no doubt it will find its way into some plan or other down the line.

We ended up getting two truckloads of floats because I don’t think one would have been enough. On the second trip Chris Getz helped out. He is the first of the Antarctic crew to pass through this year on his way back from Palmer Station. He took us out to dinner and helped out with the second load of floats and in return we almost got him stuck out in the middle of the Pampa a day later, but our Forester is pretty capable and we made it back alright.

I want the docks to have spaces for two boats and plan to put a roof over them, so I’m thinking of a squared off “W” shape. On the second trip we got some double-sized floats that had to be lifted by crane. Ruperto had a crane, so it was no problem. On the other end we just pushed them off the truck. The truck, by the way, was courtesy of a guy named Omar, who Alfonso (the man who sold us our boat) introduced me to recently. Omar knows how to weld, so I may get some classes from him. I hope to have the docks built before Christmas and I’ll keep looking around for walkways before I go and build them myself. I’ve heard that I might be able to get some cheap in Puerto Cisnes, so I may drive up there one of these days and check it out.

Don’t forget to click on the image to see more photos of the floats.