Right. Since I posted, I think I've narrowed it down to three - 2 hanging (here and here) and 1 floating (here). The floating one is large enough and has a lip so I wouldn't worry about the water getting up on the actual basking platform. The only reason I'm considering a floating one is for convenience - it changes with the level of the water whereas the other two require manual intervention.

Any thoughts on those three I'm currently looking at?

Also, I assume my turt will be fine a for a few days for one of these to arrive if she can't get to a basking area? She goes days without basking anyway, so I figure it would be ok.

When I picked up my RES, Walter, his previous caretaker gave us a Penn-Plax Floating Turtle Pier, that I feel is unmatched. It's large, and easily supports Walter's weight and size (roughly 5 & 3/4 inch long shell - I believe he's about 5 or 6 years old now)

I actually recently replaced it with the exact same thing, because it was time to go higher and the one I was given was incomplete, missing the center column pieces to go the full 16 inches high it will support out of the box (so it only went about a foot vertical). I'm toying with the idea of going higher, or letting it free-float, because the only draw-back is the amount of space it takes up under neath the water's surface. He can still swim between it, but I think it would make it cleaner looking if it float.

Another idea is to look for a large piece of cork, which could be anchored, like a pond-basking platform, or let float freely. But it's not easy to find quality cork around me, and I don't want to trust purchasing one online sight-unseen.

Good luck!