Joel,

Feel free to contact me offline. As for where I am from....the other side of the St L! I have only done some swimming in it so am not that familiar with it, but dock cribs are a way of life in Canada for cottagers. I would seriously take a look at how many cribs are used in your area.

The concern is iceflow come spring and have seen many a dock twisted by a sheet of seemingly 'small' ice float on by with the wind or current only to demolish anything in its path. Cribs, piles, pillars can all suffer the same fate.