ALUMI-SPAN HISTORY

Alumi-Span began in 1956 as a division of a larger company called Metalloy Foundry Company. The Metalloy founder, Dick Berlin, was an avid boater and also a mechanical engineer. He decided to develop an improved dock system that would use aluminum castings and poles and rather then the heavy and rusty iron and steel supports that were the standard of the day. The most important feature of the new pier however was the use of an all aluminum deck made up with three 1’X 10’ interlocking aluminum scaffolding boards that sat on the aluminum supports. It made a much lighter dock then any in existence at the time. Some of these early Alumi-Span docks are still in use.

It was in the late fifties that Berlin developed a new version of the all aluminum dock that was to become the industry standard. Using “F” shaped aluminum side stringers as beams, interlocking aluminum boards could be inserted transversely into these stringers creating a very strong and lightweight dock. The Alumi-Span system was born!

While the original dock was successful, the newer version was less expensive and even lighter in weight. You could also substitute pine or redwood for the aluminum to create an inexpensive dock that was still quite a bit lighter then an all wood dock. Alcoa, who worked with Metalloy in the development of this dock named it one of the top new aluminum products and the new design was featured in over 20 industry publications.

Rex Hoover was Dicks’ cousin and the CFO at Metalloy. He became the manager of this division and within a few years over 200 marinas all over the northern states were selling this unique product. Many other companies started copying the design but Alumi-Span remained the leader by constantly improving the product. In 1964, Rex Hoover bought the company from Metalloy and continued to manage it until 1982 when Rex’s son Mike took charge. Mike along with his wife Kay successfully managed the company for many years. By 2002 however a long term illness caused Mike to sell the company. Coincidently, Dave Berlin (Dick’s son) was coming to the end of a long career with Metalloy. He talked to Mike, and after a 40 year absence, the Berlins owned it once again. Mike continues as a consultant and Mike’s wife Kay now coordinates sales and deliveries. Rex still comes in once in a while.

Dave Berlin, also an engineer, has continued the tradition set by his Father and the Hoovers, which has always been to make the best engineered dock in the business and sell it for a reasonable price.

Today many 40 year old Alumi-Span docks are still in use and many of our original marina customers are in their 2 nd, and 3 rd generations of management. The company is making numerous improvements to many components while being careful not to obsolete any old products. New products, many with patents pending, include the new easy installing Series B sections that weigh as little as 45#, a new Vinyl deck that is great looking and comes in 3 colors, the industries most complete line of bumpers and all kinds of options to facilitate easy installation like our new “ Perma-Augers”. While there are many other engineered docks out there to chose from these days, the “F” stringer style dock remains the most practical design for vast majority of applications and Alumi-Span is the clear engineering leader for this type of dock. These innovations should allow Alumi-Span to continue their 50 year success story for many more years.