The new Wolfeboro town docks have Ipe wood. In my mind it would be the gold standard for decking on a permanent dock, and will be at the top of my list when we need to do ours in a couple years. Ipe is extremely heavy, about 2x the weight of PT pine, so you wouldn’t want to use it on any type of dock where you have to pull the dock board “trays” every year to lift or remove the dock.
But for a permanent dock, it would be a good choice. It goes in looking like mahogany, and you can let it weather to a dull gray over time (probably 4 or 5 years) if you don’t want to keep up with oiling or staining it (which would be very difficult to do on a dock over the water without dripping into the lake anyway). Many boardwalks use it and let it weather, and it lasts practically forever for a natural wood. It is so hard that it has a Class A fire rating (the same as brick), and you must pre-drill all screw holes.
It is also very strong. Compared to Trex or other composites, you can have more space between joists, which can be an issue on some docks.
We have had Ipe on a couple decks for almost 15 years. We stained it for a few years, and then have let it weather and just lightly powerwash it yearly. It looks good and is as solid as the day it went in. We also have used Trex on a deck, which we really like for no maintenance. The main downside in my view on the Trex for a dock is that it gets unbelievably hot in the sun, to the point the kids can’t walk on it with bare feet if its in the direct summer sun. Ipe will be even more expensive than Trex, and because of pre-drilling, will be more expensive/take longer to install. But once one put it in, you won’t need to touch it.
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