Adding soft fendering for a tender

[sarabande]

I've moved the boat to a new AYR mooring, and have been given a tender (it's only 100 yards from the pontoon to the boat, so no need of an outboard - hooray ).

The dinghy had a standard plastic buffer fender, but half has come adrift, leaving a sharp GRP edge, which I need to cover.


There is no need for smartness (the reverse, in fact) but I want a soft, non-marking, low density, easily fixed, UV resistant material that I can attach with cable ties and bits of binder twine, and which could provide a bit of reserve buoyancy.


I was thinking of pipe insulation like this

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/Building-Materials/Insulation/Pipe-Lagging+Jackets/c/1000275

but would prefer something thicker. Any sources please, or suggestions for a better idea or material ?


TIA

 

[Sandyman]

40 or 50mm hemp

 

[andygc]

40 or 50 mm synthetic hemp. Works very well on my dinghy. Cable ties poked through the lay so they don't show or get abraded on the outside of the fender. Pipe insulation is pretty fragile stuff - is it UV resistant? You might want to screw a wooden batten to the sharp edge.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Pipe insulation isn't UV resistant and is very vulnerable to attack from birds pecking it (I don't know why). Also it would't add much buoyancy. You could use some small fender strung horizontally, this is a solution I've seen often and seems to work well and offers good protection to your topsides. Ask Dylan Winter how he attaches his.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I have synthetic hemp that goes well with the traditional look.
I made my tender unsinkable; however, if modifying an existing one I would consider fastening old fenders under the thwarts or even, at a pinch, empty mineral water plastic bottles. You don't need many of these because each bottle will give you around 2 kilos of buoyancy and you only need to support the submerged weight, not the weight of the dinghy on land.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I've fitted small fenders all round, the smallest you can get, a bow fender, two corner fenders then 5 small sausage fenders along each side. Works well and have lasted for about 15 years. My dinghy has wood all round the edge so I fixed the fenders with small eyes on the wood then lashed to the fender eye.

 

[Seajet]

I fitted clear plastic ' food grade ' hose from a caravan shop, about 1" + dia as I recall; drill a hole big enough for the screw or bolt head to go through on the outer face, smaller hole to attach to boat on the inner face.

Goes all around the tender inc transom quarters, works a treat and looks quite neat.

 

[LittleSister]

I bought rubber D fendering (not cheap), spent ages fitting it, only to find it had insufficient 'give' in it to provide any real 'fending', and it left black marks on the hull of the yacht. :roll eyes:

I was planning on removing it and replacing with proper small fenders (though I've never found small corner fenders for the transom), but we're currently in a marina so the dinghy's is not in use.

 

[Pye_End]

and which could provide a bit of reserve buoyancy.

Sounds like a good idea - you never know when somebody is going to ram you and send you into the drink.

 

[ex-Gladys]

I put small fenders all the way round a 10' dinghy once. The fenders were cheap enough, but what wasn't was using boaty lacing eyes at about £4 each to lash them to. Finished up using copper water pipe brackets from B&Q. If you go the fender route, make sure they're tied on tight so that they stay against the rubbing strake, and don't flip inside

 

[lw395]

If the gunwhale is wide (deep) enough, you could do what I did.
I glued muliple layers of camping mat foam to the gunwhale, then covered it with fabric recovered from an old cover.
I only did one side, so the dinghy had a 'shore side' and a 'yacht side' to avoid grit from the dock wall meeting the yacht.
Perhaps the better answer is to carry a fender or fender mat in the dinghy and hang it from the toe rail of the yacht. some people make that work.

 

[LittleSister]

Perhaps the better answer is to carry a fender or fender mat in the dinghy and hang it from the toe rail of the yacht. some people make that work.

I used to leave a couple of fenders tied onto the yacht, and lying on the deck ready to pick up and drop down when coming alongside in the dinghy and transferring people and supplies to the yacht.

What it doesn't do is protect either boat when the dinghy is then let out on its painter astern, and a change in the wind, tide or a passing vessel's wake brings it back into contact with the yacht.