Anglers Avenue Marine Center
Dania Beach, FL
This marina near the heart of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida was in poor condition. The majority of the boat slips had been constructed in the late 50s, and many of its docks and pilings were in need of repair or replacement. In November 2006 a new owner took over and began the process of updating and modernizing its facilities to attract new customers.
Because of fixed bridge height restrictions, center console or express cruiser designs of between 30 and 40-feet are the ideal types of boats for this facility. The marina’s own work crew began a two-year project of rebuilding all 125 slips using Pearson Fiberglass Composite Pilings.
The Right Choice
Mark Gelders, the marina’s manager, explains why Pearson Pilings were chosen.
In these waters wood pilings will last only about three years because of the worms. We figured that with Pearson Pilings, we could do it once and be done with it. In the long run, they’re less expensive than wood.
Stronger Than Wood
Gelders also points out that because Pearson Pilings are stronger than wood they can better support the new hurricane boat lifts he is installing.
We did our homework and found that the lateral strength of a Pearson Piling is about five times that of a wood piling. This means we can use 10″ Pearson Pilings instead of 12″ wood pilings.
The marina installed both 16,000 lb. and 27,000 lb. lifts which allow boats to be backed into the slip against the dock or wall for security reasons.
Another advantage to using Pearson Pilings is that they’re lighter than wood, so my crew has an easier job driving them.—Mark Gelders, Marina Manager