BDP9: The Boat Dock

This article in our series of those those written by designers of projects in BrickLink Designer Program series 9 has been contributed by HeavyLobster:

For this round of the Bricklink Designer Program, I wanted to build something that I would want for my own city, and something that would help others build their cities: a boat dock.

The Inspiration

Some of my favourite designs from the BDP have been those that are things LEGO normally would not make, especially infrastructure. I thought to myself, “What’s something I’ve seen around me that I haven’t seen in LEGO form?” I remembered a time when I went to a dock at Cape Cod, and saw that the boats were stacked on shelves, where a forklift would move them into the water. I found that incredibly cool, especially as my own city has a heavy emphasis on the waterfront. So, I decided to give it a try!

The Build

The central feature of the build is the forklift that has a working boom. It is able to lift boats off of the shelf, and place them into the water. This “double arm” technique was the most challenging part of the build to engineer, but the end result is excellent! The boom is now able to move below ground level, and above the forklift itself!

In order to give the forklift enough room to manoeuvre around, I built a dock raised above the water. Eventually, I had the idea to make the platforms modular. This allows for dozens of different combinations! (and even more if you move a few tiles to reposition the dock platforms).

Check out a few of my favourites:

The boats were inspired by the parts I had available. I wanted each to feel distinct, with unique colours and purposes. I also tried to put a few niche homages into the two bigger boats. I wonder if anyone will notice.

The end design sits at just 1,702 pieces, but a couple hundred of those pieces are tiles for the water, so I assume the price would be more generous than a set usually at that price range.

I hope you all enjoy my design! I welcome any feedback you may have, as well. You can vote for it here. Voting is from now until the 17^th, so you’ve got until then to help make this design an official LEGO set!