Waterfront Projects Done Right
Trent Hollis Trent Hollis · June 28, 2026
Two summers back, a shade sail tore loose from a dock a quarter mile up the canal. The homeowner had fastened standard eye bolts directly into pressure-treated 4×4 posts that were also supporting his dock canopy structure. One afternoon brought a squall, and suddenly two of those posts were bent nearly 15 degrees off vertical, … Read more
Trent Hollis · June 27, 2026
That moment when you spot a fresh gouge in your gel coat hits different when you know what it costs to ignore it. A neighbor of mine put off fixing a dime-sized chip for two seasons — moisture worked underneath, delamination spread, and when he finally called a shop, the quoted repair ran $1,200 and … Read more
Trent Hollis · June 27, 2026
Stand over the waterline of a neglected boat and you’ll see it immediately—rust-colored streaks bleeding down from every fastener, a chalky white bloom across the hull sides where salt crystals have etched themselves into the gelcoat grain. Run your fingernail across one of those streaks and you feel the texture, roughness where smooth gloss used … Read more
Trent Hollis · June 26, 2026
You’ll hear this one at the marina bar more often than you’d think: “Just drain the water and kill the breaker — that’s all winterizing amounts to.” It’s fast advice, it sounds reasonable, and it lands you with $4,000 in repairs come April. Salt water finds its way into every space you leave unprotected. Corrosion … Read more
Trent Hollis · June 26, 2026
Hurricane season along the Gulf reminds boat owners of something basic and hard to ignore: a hull fouled with growth becomes a liability. What starts as a thin slime coat thickens into weed and barnacle buildup that slows your boat, burns extra fuel, and eventually puts stress on your engine and steering systems. For twenty … Read more
Trent Hollis · June 26, 2026
Right now, kneeling beside a section of piling I’m examining, I can see the spiral fractures running down the grain — the telltale signature of ice damage that nobody prepares for until it’s too late. Back in 2011, when an unusually harsh freeze gripped the Panhandle, I watched a client’s treated pine pilings split straight … Read more
Trent Hollis · June 25, 2026A marine contractor will quote you $3,000 to $5,000 for pre-storm dock reinforcement on Lake Monroe. That same work—anchoring, bracing, fastener replacement—runs $300 to $800 if you handle it yourself on a Saturday morning. The gap isn’t about complexity; it’s about knowing which three or four interventions actually matter, and which don’t. I spent two … Read more
Trent Hollis · June 25, 2026
Most waterfront property owners operate under a fundamental misunderstanding: they believe that freezing temperatures pose minimal risk to dock equipment because they live on the Gulf Coast, not in Minnesota. This assumption is dead wrong. Ice doesn’t need weeks of subfreezing weather to inflict serious damage — it needs only one hard overnight freeze, the … Read more
Trent Hollis · June 25, 2026Mixing incompatible metals underwater will destroy your fasteners in months—and once they fail, everything holding your dock together fails with them. That lesson came home to me in September 2017 when Hurricane Irma forced me to drive to Estero, Florida to assess a 40-foot residential dock that the owner had secured with standard rope and … Read more
Trent Hollis · June 24, 2026
You’ll see two seawalls on the same street that tell completely different stories — one looks solid after a dozen years, the other is crumbling after five. The difference almost never comes down to material or the original builder’s skill. It comes down to whether someone made the right call about fixing what was broken … Read more