Ameren lowers the lake every winter. Appendix B, section 5.4, says the lake usually reaches its lowest point in the winter to early spring. A floating dock can stay in on the main lake. It gets damaged when the hardware and the wiring are still set for a summer pool, or when ice pushes a frame that cannot move.
You can do a large part of this yourself if you can reach the hinges, the shore disconnect, and the loose gear safely. Cable work under tension, new wiring, and a dock that has already shifted belong with an Ameren-certified dock builder. This site collects the request and refers it to one independent builder. It does not winterize docks.
How far the lake drops, and when
The numbers Ameren publishes
Ameren’s documents do not all use the same “normal” elevation. Quote them side by side and rig for the lower number. Do not pick a favorite.
- The December 25, 2025 Ameren release says the winter drawdown goes to about 654 feet, and it lists the homeowner steps: free hinges and pins, loosen or extend cables, inspect electrical equipment, shut off power, remove loose items, and check cables, anchoring, and flotation.
- Lake Expo’s December 15, 2024 account of Ameren’s earlier release recorded about 658.3 feet on December 14, 2024, and a guide curve to 654 feet by mid-February. That article is here. The matching release is Ameren’s December 10, 2024 note.
- Ameren’s dock requirements page says the license allows the lake to fall to 650 feet under normal conditions and 645 feet in an emergency, and that designers should factor those elevations into the dock.
- Appendix B, revised June 30, 2025, section 5.4, says 654 feet normally and 645 feet in an emergency.
The lake-level guide keeps both citations. A cable, a hinge, or a float planned only for a July pool is the thing that fails when the water leaves. Plan the hardware for 645 feet, the emergency figure both documents share, and do not assume the winter will stop at the higher of the two “normal” numbers.
Where to check today’s level
Ameren posts the level at AmerenMissouri.com/Lake. The Lake Level Daily Report phone line published with the 2024 drawdown story is 573-365-9205. That is Ameren’s line, not a number for this website. Forecasts a few months out are a poor way to decide whether a hinge is free. Look at the level you have, then look again after the next cold week.
Shallow coves feel it first
The same drop that still leaves water under a channel dock can set a cove dock on the bottom. This page will not invent a depth for your cove. If the outer corner touched mud in a previous winter, say so on the quote. Flotation that is already waterlogged will sit down first. That is a refoam question as well as a winter question.
The winterization checklist
The steps below follow Ameren’s 2024 and 2025 winter releases, plus the electrical installation requirements for anything the drop will stretch. “DIY” means a careful owner can do it without new wiring or a tensioned cable. “Pro” means send it with the quote.
| Step | Why it is on the list | DIY or pro |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Free hinges, pins, and seawall connections so the walkway can pivot down. | A stuck hinge holds the dock up while the water leaves, then loads the frame. | DIY if the pin moves by hand. Pro if it is seized or the walkway is already twisted. |
| 2. Loosen or extend cables, and check stiff-arm pivots. | Ameren says lengthen cables so the dock can drop. A pivot that cannot rotate becomes a pry bar. | Pro if the cable is under heavy tension, frayed, or one-sided. See cable and stiff-arm repair. |
| 3. Check flotation. Look for waterlogged, cracked, or missing floats. | Low freeboard plus a lower lake puts the frame on the bottom. | Looking is DIY. Replacing floats is a permitted flotation job. Refoaming. |
| 4. Shut off power at the shore disconnect, unless a thermostat-controlled de-icer is the reason it stays on. | Ameren’s winter list includes shutting power off. A de-icer is the exception, not a reason to leave every circuit hot. | The disconnect is DIY. A new de-icer circuit is not. De-icers and bubblers. |
| 5. Test the GFCIs. | Ameren’s dock requirements page recommends a monthly test. Winter is not a reason to skip it. | DIY using the button on the device. If it will not reset, stop and say so on the form. |
| 6. Look at the wiring where the walkway hinges. | The drop changes elevation at that joint. Flexible conduit and the bonding jumper need slack. | A visual look is DIY. Opening conduit or adding wire is a permitted electrical job. |
| 7. Remove loose items: furniture, kayaks, and PWC accessories. | Ameren lists this. Loose gear becomes a projectile or a weight the floats were not carrying as a permanent load. | DIY. |
| 8. Raise or remove the boat. Secure the lift and the canopy. | A boat left in a lift is weight and wind area. A canopy left up is more of both. | DIY for a working lift. Lift repair if it will not raise. The lift overview is the sizing context. |
| 9. Blow out or drain dock water lines. | This is common practice on docks that have a hose bib or a sink line. No Ameren specification is cited here for the method. | DIY if you know the line. Otherwise ask the builder to include it. |
| 10. Arrange a watch: a neighbor, or a dock builder, while you are away. | Ameren’s 2024 tips say to ask someone local to look at the dock. | Either. Put “owner away” on the quote if you want a builder’s visit. |
| 11. Osage River docks below Bagnell Dam: remove the dock before freezing. | Ameren’s winter releases single out the river below the dam. The main lake is not that instruction. | Pro if the dock is large or the bank is steep. Do not wait for ice to make the decision. |
A checklist by calendar
November. Read the level, free every hinge you can, and decide whether the cables need length. Book a de-icer and a winter watch before you leave town.
Before the first hard freeze. Shut power off, or leave on only a de-icer whose GFCI holds. Clear loose gear, secure the boat and canopy, and drain water lines. Osage River docks below the dam should already be out.
Mid-winter. A watch looks at cables, hinges, flotation, and ice stacked on the frame. Do not walk out on the ice to check the hole.
Spring, before the lake is back. Re-tension, move the hinges, restore power, test GFCIs, and photograph ice damage. Book dock repair if the frame moved.
Ice: what a de-icer can and cannot do
Ameren’s 2024 winter guidance recommends a de-icer and, in the same breath, warns that a de-icer “may not provide protection from large ice sheets and blocks.” A ring of open water around the boats and the frame is the job it can do. A sheet of ice moving down a cove is the job it may not do.
Hinges that pivot and cables with slack are the backup when the hole is not enough. Sizing, GFCI rules, and thermostats are on the dock de-icers and bubblers page.
Electrical work in winter needs a permit
The drawdown tugs on the wiring at the hinge. Ameren’s Dock Electrical Installation Requirements (rev. 8.2017) are the rules that matter when the walkway changes elevation:
- Liquidtight flexible conduit at hinge points and on floating structures that change elevation.
- A #6 AWG minimum bonding jumper, with a loop of slack around hinge points.
- Stiff arms and lifts bonded to the equipment grounding system.
- GFCI receptacles.
- The shore disconnect within 6 feet of the ramp.
Looking at those items is part of winterizing. Changing them is electrical work. Ameren’s dock inspection contact list, and the same electrical requirements, put the permit and the inspection with the lake-area fire districts and the Village of Four Seasons, not with Ameren. Ameren does not conduct the electrical inspection. The agencies named for this work are:
- Lake Ozark Fire Protection District
- Mid County Fire District
- Osage Beach Fire Protection District
- Rocky Mount Fire Protection District
- Sunrise Beach Fire Protection District
- Northwest Fire Protection District
- Village of Four Seasons
If none of those cover your parcel, hire a qualified electrician. Do not skip the inspection because the dock is already in the water. The electrical inspection guide is the sale-transfer version of this rule, including the 12-month clock in the districts Ameren names. The Village of Four Seasons page is the shoreline that has its own village inspection.
Roofs, canopies, and snow
A roof or a canopy is weight the floats have to carry after the lake drops and after snow sits on it. Keep the load inside what those floats were built to hold. If the dock already sits low in summer, winter is the wrong season to add a cover. The covered dock and roof page is the permit and flotation context. This page does not repeat unsourced stories about particular snow years.
Take the lift canopy down, or secure it, when you take the boat out. Fabric left up is wind area on a frame that is about to sit lower in the water.
Spring: put it back before the lake comes up
Cables that were lengthened for 654, or for lower, will be slack when the pool returns. Slack that lets the dock twist into the neighbor’s slip is not “leaving it loose for safety.” Re-tension as the water rises. Run the hinges again so a pin that froze in January is not the pin that snaps in April.
Turn power back on only after you have looked at the hinge conduit and tested the GFCIs. Ice damage belongs in the notes: a bent member, a torn float, a roof panel that lifted. If that damage followed a storm and you already made a temporary repair, the 48-hour report to Ameren Shoreline Management is separate from this quote form. Ongoing frame repair starts at dock repair.
Hiring winterization or a winter watch
Ask these questions before you treat a visit as booked:
- Is the work done by an Ameren-certified dock builder? The certification guide is what Ameren requires of the company that works on the dock. This website is not that company.
- What does each visit include? Hinges, cables, a photo, a GFCI test, or a drive-by.
- Do you photograph the dock after storms?
- Do you install and aim a de-icer, or only check one the owner already hung?
Say whether you will be at the house. A watch for an empty house is a different request from a Saturday punch list while you are standing on the dock.
Send the details
Request a quote and choose winterization or winter watch. In the notes, include the cove or mile marker, the dock’s rough size, whether the frame is wood or steel, whether there is a lift, whether you want a de-icer, and whether you will be away. Photos of the hinges, the cable ends, and the shore disconnect are enough. There is no charge to ask, and the request goes to one builder, not a list.