New dock for M'boro boat launch
 

Recently I noticed that Moultonborough has a new dock at the boat launch at the town beach on Long Island. It looks like four 8' sections, same length and width as the old wood dock, but with a plastic surface. It has a solid, stable feel to it. The outer two pipes on each side have plastic boat rub bumpers.

That old wood dock was maybe in use since 1962 and still has plenty of useful life in it. Real wood docks and decks have something an aluminum dock will never have and that's the weight, strength, and great looks of natural wood that can get painted, stained, sanded, and renewed. Plus, a wooden dock will float in the water making it easier to move it to position.

A wooden dock has character, beauty, and yearly re-staining or repainting while an aluminum dock is just there to use but not to admire. Even under a coat of paint, the annual growth lines of natural lumber show through the paint on a wood dock.

It's like the flasher buoys on Lake Winnipesaukee. The old pre-2010 flasher buoys were yellow and flickered long like a burning candle. The new post-2010 flasher buoys are very white and very brief with a super fast, fluorescent white flash. The old flashers were a shaped tree trunk painted white, and the new flashers are a 4"-diameter pvc pipe. They get it done but are not much to look at.