Whether it's a floating dock, a bathing island, a jet ski dock or a boat platform, you can build virtually anything with flexible pontoon cubes.

In our pontoon and floating dock workshop we would like to present the different solutions to create swimming platforms, jetties, jet ski dry docks, working pontoons, water bridges and much more.

All components to create such a project yourself can be found in our pontoon store.

Our floating pontoon project

Our research started with the fact that we had to solve two problems on the water. First, we needed a floating dock to bring our jetboards and eFoils into the water. We had to bridge a height difference of 1.80 meters in order to get the boards, some of which weighed 50 kg, into the water and, above all, out again 😉

The pontoon solution should also be able to serve as a boat dock and then also be used with a swimming ladder as an entrance and exit into the water. Quasi a bathing platform. In fact, our children use it for this 😉

The second problem was parking our 4.85 meter rigid hull inflatable boat that we use daily for eFoil & Jetboard training. Our BRIG 485 with a 60 hp outboard is not a watercraft. However, daily slipping is also out of the question for us. Therefore, we were looking for a pontoon boat platform, so that we can transport the boat in the evening without much effort, the dry dock.

In addition, such a solution has the advantage that we can do without a winter storage for our boat. This saves us again really money, because we had to pay the summer and winter berth separately.

As soon as available, we will also get an electric jet ski and it will also need such a solution - a jet ski pontoon.

Pontoon overview

In order to get an overview of the different pontoon and floating dock solutions, we researched for weeks on the internet and got offers from all well-known suppliers. Maybe this article can do the job for you.

Pretty quickly you realize during the pontoon floating dock research that there are both complete solutions, as well as modular floating cubes to implement your project. It was clear to us pretty quickly that the cube variant is more suitable for us. It is simply much more flexible, easy to assemble and can be rebuilt or expanded at any time.

Ready-made floating dock solutions are usually not only very expensive, but above all very unwieldy. They are long and heavy and therefore difficult to transport and assemble. In addition, one is very limited to make remodeling or modifications later. This is due to the fact that the finished floating pontoon solutions are often produced or delivered in only one piece or only a few float components.

This also applies to jet ski platforms. While it seems simple to just order a ready-made jet ski drive on, what do you do if you need to customize something later? For example with a new bigger water motorcycle or with a second one?

It is much easier to assemble a customized floating dock project from small handy cubes. It's almost like playing Lego and even fun. There are now so many accessories (if you start at the right pontoon cube supplier) that almost everything can be implemented.

Pontoon Cube

So, for those who have read the whole article so far, you know that we decided to go with cube floats. Now it's a matter of finding the right supplier. Of course, we also looked at the price. Therefore, we have implemented our first project (Jetboard platform with height bridging) with a cheap solution from China.

There are these China pontoons relatively cheap on platforms like Alibaba. However, they are not as cheap as they seem at first sight. We have experienced some surprises with the German customs and paid our dues. In addition, the customer service after such a purchase is virtually non-existent.

But the China floats are also available from local suppliers. This may make customer service easier (not always), but it does not change the quality. Unfortunately, it is difficult for the layman to tell whether a supplier is simply buying cheaply in Asia and placing its logo, or whether it is a high-quality product developed in Europe.

Boat platform made of cubes

Large projects are also possible without further ado. Actually, the size is unlimited. For example, there are solar plants on the water, which are supported by pontoon cubes. Some of these are 100 meters long.

Our boat platform or drive on is not quite as big, but has to handle a heavy boat of several hundred kilos. For our E-SURFER Youtube channel we made the following video of our Dive On floating dock:

China floating dock test

As mentioned above, we implemented the first pontoon project with cubes from China. At first we were also quite satisfied. One major difference from brand name suppliers is the bolting of the connecting bolts. In simple models, the bolts are simply "snapped" into place by a quarter turn. With this method, the connecting bolts come loose easily and the overall stability suffers. Brand name suppliers screw the bolts and thus they sit bombproof.

We could hardly find any accessories for the cheap China floats. The German manufacturer tDock, on the other hand, has a lot of accessories in its range. From swim ladders to the most diverse connection solutions, everything is there. Therefore, we have implemented our second project with a tDock solution.