Coves and points alternating, so neighbouring docks often need different advice.
This shoreline folds in and out, and the consequence is that exposure changes property to property. A dock set back in a cove and one out on the adjacent point are in meaningfully different conditions despite sharing a road.
Because of that, the useful first question is not how old the dock is but how much open water it looks at. That single fact predicts whether the likely problem is mechanical wear or timber and flotation.
Calls from here split fairly evenly between the two, which is unusual and follows directly from the shape of the shoreline.
How much open water the dock faces, which varies sharply between neighbouring properties.
Deeper water and bigger boats mean bigger lifts, and bigger lifts fail differently.
Flotation fails quietly and then all at once. The warning sign is geometry, not sound.
The part of the dock that moves every time the lake does, and the part most often ignored until it will not.