Waterfront Projects Done Right
Trent Hollis Trent Hollis · July 7, 2026
Boat slippage under load during a tidal swing will wreck your entire afternoon — and your insurance claim. Over two decades installing and repairing dock infrastructure from Pensacola to Port Aransas, the single most frequent question I field is: “Which adjustable knot should I be using when I tie off my boat?” My standard answer … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 7, 2026
How to Tell a Piling Actually Needs Replacing Before any of this method matters, be sure the piling is genuinely done. Replacing a sound piling is expensive, and leaving a failing one is worse. Treated timber pilings tend to look far better than they are, because the decay happens where you cannot see it. The … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 6, 2026
Eighteen months into running my own marine contracting business, I hauled a brand-new aluminum dock frame out of the Gulf that looked like it had been through an orbital sander. Pitting scarred the entire surface. The structure was already weakening. Galvanic corrosion had done the damage — and the owner hadn’t spotted a single warning … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 6, 2026
Thirty miles out of Pensacola, my fishing partner watched a 40-pound yellowfin tuna take his line to the backing. The fish struck, the drag sang, and his connection simply separated at the knot. He’d threaded a basic clinch directly onto his double-line leader, and under load it gave way completely. That fish never made it … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 5, 2026
The first detail I inspect when walking out to check on a shoreline stabilization job is whether the toe is still holding. Standing knee-deep in Gulf Coast mud after that client’s storm surge, I watched his riprap installation from two years prior come apart — half the stone had migrated, the filter fabric lay exposed, … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 5, 2026
Most waterfront property owners don’t realize that composite decking specifications—particularly color selection and cap technology—are classified differently across manufacturers, and those differences create substantial barefoot comfort disparities. Here’s what actually happens: you step out onto your new dock after 11 a.m., and within seconds you’re doing an involuntary barefoot shuffle back toward the cabin. Not … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 4, 2026
Watch a 24-foot center console tear loose from its moorings and collide with a neighboring vessel, and you absorb a lesson that reshapes your entire approach to dock rigging. The owner had picked the wrong rope material and paired it with insufficient diameter — two compounding errors that turned into a genuinely bad afternoon. If … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 4, 2026
A boat drifted from its mooring into a neighbor’s slip at 3 a.m., leaving a $2,000 gel coat repair bill and a very awkward conversation. The anchor line was attached with a simple half hitch. One properly executed anchor bend fisherman’s bend knot would have prevented the entire mess — and the owner would have … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 3, 2026
Run your thumbnail across the oxidation bleeding from a cleat where someone wrapped a bow line three weeks back, and you’ll feel the grit—that chalky corrosion that forms when salt air meets steel. In twenty years of marine work along the Gulf, I’ve developed opinions about a lot of things, but few are as rock-solid … Read more
Trent Hollis · July 3, 2026
Picture this: 2019, Perdido Bay, a new dock build where the property owner wanted to economize on fastener costs. I sourced 304 stainless hardware and laid out the technical distinction. His response was immediate—”stainless is stainless.” Eighteen months passed. Then came the phone call. Orange discoloration had claimed the decking screws. Bracket bolts wept rust … Read more