How do i put concrete footings in a lake for a small dock?

Question

How do i put concrete footings in a lake for a small dock?

Answer 1

You should not.  You should use pilings.  Drive pipe, treated wood posts, or non-rusting I-beams into the lake bed.

To use concrete pads, you would have to either drain the lake or erect a cofferdam, then excavate to bedrock.  The cost would be prohibitive.

Answer 2

We used floating drums and anchored the dock to wood walkway on the land.  No footings needed.

Answer 3

The traditional way would be to build a cofferdam around the area you want the footers placed and pump out the water, dig your footer, then form & pour the footer. This is probably way too expensive for a small lake dock. Better option would be to drive pilings and mount the dock off of that, or make your dock floating and dig in some anchor footings on the shore that you can keep the dock tied to.