Watts Bar Lake Dock Builder

Watts Bar is big water. The main channel is a working river, with commercial barges moving through the locks at Watts Bar Dam and Fort Loudoun Dam, and open stretches see more wind, waves and boat wake. A dock that suits a sheltered cove may be undersized on an open point, so we size the pilings, framing and roof structure to your lot’s exposure. In a cove, the width and depth of the water off your bank set how far the dock can reach, which way the slips face and how the walkway meets the shore. We look at your lot and how you use the lake, then design from there.

The lake also reaches up two rivers. According to TVA, Watts Bar forms a navigable channel more than 20 miles up the Clinch River and 12 miles up the Emory River. The Clinch joins the Tennessee at Kingston, and the Emory meets the Clinch there too.

Boat docks and shoreline work on Watts Bar need a TVA Section 26a permit before construction starts. We prepare and submit your TVA permit paperwork at no charge. You pay TVA’s application fee. Some neighborhoods and jurisdictions require their own approval before a dock can be built. It’s the homeowner’s responsibility to know what their subdivision or jurisdiction requires and to let us know, and we’re glad to assist with any additional permits.

According to TVA, Watts Bar is kept at a minimum winter elevation of approximately 735 feet, with a typical summer operating range between approximately 740 and 741 feet.

On open water, wakes from passing boats and wind-driven waves wear away an unprotected bank a little more every season. We install riprap shoreline stabilization, either as part of a new dock project or on its own for a lot that already has a dock.

Our Watts Bar work below is in Kingston: a timber-frame boat dock with a rust-red roof, board-and-batten walls, exposed trusses over the center walkway, heavy timber posts along the covered slips, and a covered deck under the timber roof. Further down are two examples from Fort Loudoun Lake: a hip-roof dock with a covered lounge deck in Lenoir City, and a metal-roof dock at the end of a long walkway in Louisville.

Our own crew designs and builds every dock, and we size each one for the water it sits on. We prepare and submit your TVA permit paperwork at no charge. Our office is on Kingston Pike in Knoxville, open Monday through Friday, 8 to 5.

Licensed & insured dock, deck, pool and pile driving contractors

Call 865-765-DOCK (3625). Let’s Talk.