How DockMats Came To Be

In 2015, a Texas couple bought the lake cottage next door. They said they needed a place to get away from the East Texas summer heat and humidity; sort of reverse-snow birds, I guess.

Being from the Lone Star State, they wanted a “big” new roll in dock, even though they didn’t have a boat. (They did buy a purple Plymouth Prowler however, which made up for not having a boat). 

Their new, Texas-sized roll-in dock arrived, and not being familiar with Michigan mucky lake bottoms, Mr. Texas tried to roll a section into the lake. You can imagine what happened, of course — he sank the wheels of his fancy new dock right up to the axle in muck. To make matters worse, he kept trying to push it out, which only made it sink further. 

Though it was entertaining to watch, the Texan, was a good guy, and clearly needed help, so we pulled his dock out of the muck with a 4-wheel drive, Michigan-made, Chevy pick up. Obviously, he needed a long-term solution. 

I thought we could solve the problem. Having developed Boatlift Mats to support heavy lifts and boats — all we needed was a skinnier version for docks. 

This new “Dock” mat would create a stable, submerged path, to roll or carry a dock in and out without sinking and getting wheels stuck in muck. During the summer, it would be a solid platform to set the dock on. It would prevent lake weeds from growing under the dock. 

At our factory, Christine, the “Queen of All Sewing Machines,” sewed up a 6’x14’ version using our Boatlift Mat fabric, (there’s also a 9’x14’ for wider docks up to 8-feet wide). We framed it and put it in the lake. It worked perfect! My Texan amigo was delighted. 

So the DockMat was created to help out a neighbor, which this yankee was happy to do… even if he was from Texas.