It took 4 years of renting 2 week cottage vacations in Haliburton and a lifetime at the family cottages, in the Muskokas and Georgian Bay, for the Dock Ledge to finally come to fruition.
My time around water has nearly always been a pleasurable experience. Sharing those moments have strengthened those feelings even more.
I guess starting with the origin story makes the most sense. We’ll go from there and see where things take us.
My wife, dogs, and I have summer vacationed in the Haliburton Highlands for many years. We rented a beautiful cottage on Kashagawigamog Lake. It was there about 7 years ago that my friend Dave and I were treading water at the end of the dock. We dare not touch the gross bottom that most lakes share. You know that stuff that you sink into up just past your ankles or worse. I can’t help but think of leeches every time. I was getting worn out and Dave says to me “grab the small foot stool thingy on the dock and we’ll sink it into the mucky bottom then use it stand on.” It was about 4 feet deep off the end of the dock so we could be nearly half out of the water. Perfect idea. It was a bit tight for two lads but we took turns for an hour or so. Standing just above the gook. As we chatted the idea to mount something to the end of the dock negan to make the most sense. Built in table. Cheers!
That evening we found some spare lumber and quickly built this. We called it The Perch.
Dave and I thought we were brilliant of course but not the first to have thought of it. We were at the cottage for two weeks and for about a week of that time we had The Perch. It was a hit! Everyone used it. Even a few neighbours swam over to check it out.
In the heat of the day it was a nice place to be a part of the memories being made. Neither fully in or out, of the water, it ended up being used as a swim up bar during the day. As the sun dipped it was a beautiful place to watch it set. The ideas for its use began to pile in. It seemed everyone had another thought for its use.
My memory of those moments won’t soon be forgotten and I distinctly remember asking my wife to help me research if this kind of product existed. The search was on.
We couldn’t find anything online that matched it exactly. It was then that we realised that we might be onto something.
I did a quick sketch to help explain the idea to others.
It felt like this was something to pursue. I turned to the internet and found InventHelp. We were certain this was a good idea. They had a proven track record for bringing products to market and they would also help us obtain a patent. That’s a story all on its own.
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