Courtesy docks: which ramps have one, and how to use it without holding up the ramp
A courtesy dock makes a single-handed launch straightforward. It is also the most abused structure at any ramp.
out of 2,667 ramps that publish a dock field — 1,776 explicitly state there is none
Where agencies answer the question, 33% of ramps have a dock. Note that 1,776 records say so explicitly: a stated "no dock" is real information, and it is the reason our ramp pages never show a dock badge unless the record affirms one.
The distinction agencies actually record
- Launch dock: alongside the ramp lane, for holding the boat while the driver parks. Minutes, not hours.
- Staging or courtesy dock: set away from the lane, intended for loading gear and passengers so the lane stays clear.
- Fixed versus floating: on any water with a range — tidal, or a drawdown reservoir — a fixed dock is unusable at the extremes and a floating one is not.
- Seasonal removal is common in freezing states. A dock published in a GIS layer may spend December through March on the bank.
The one rule that keeps a courtesy dock useful: it is for a boat with someone in it. Tying up and walking away turns a shared structure into private parking, and on a single-lane ramp it stops everything.
Figures on this page are counted from the agency records behind this site each time it is built, and every count states the population it was computed over. See the sources.