Brilliant tender / Jet Ski chock system

[PEJ]

FWIW here is my hydraulic platform. Newly retrofitted to my boat. I used it for the first time last week and I was delighted by it. Solid wood chocks and 4 flush fittings for tying down. The chocks have a "mushroom" hole underneath them and screw down with a big knob. Easy to take them off if you want. Actually, the biggest bonus for us was the big 5 tread bathing ladder with hand rails. It made getting on to the platform so much easier than our previous "slide out" ladder.

 

[Chris H]

Porto…….But this looks far better to my eyes

 

[jfm]

FWIW here is my hydraulic platform. Newly retrofitted to my boat. I used it for the first time last week and I was delighted by it. Solid wood chocks and 4 flush fittings for tying down. The chocks have a "mushroom" hole underneath them and screw down with a big knob. Easy to take them off if you want. Actually, the biggest bonus for us was the big 5 tread bathing ladder with hand rails. It made getting on to the platform so much easier than our previous "slide out" ladder.

PEJ, that is EXACTLY how chocks should be done on Hi-lo platforms. Solid teak about 600mm long, a mushroom-in-keyhole fitting at the aft end, and big knurled ~M12 screw/bolt at the forward end. Absolutely perfect.

 

[henryf]

Part of the reason for holding off on a tender purchase is enjoying the clean lines of the aft end. We haven’t maxed out on tender choice so as not to swamp the bathing platform.

I do understand what you mean @Hooligan and will do the same. We’ve got a learning curve for launch & recovery but as a finely lubricated and balanced precision crew we will find a solution

@jfm the locking nut is just designed to stop the stainless chock moving backwards (as you no doubt already know).

The whole tender thing is interesting. A garage is cleanest visually but I see loads of people gaffing about trying g to launch & recover including some who have to partially deflate the boat. If you want the convenience of an outboard motor you seem to be very limited as well.

 

[jfm]

My pet hate, seeing tenders strapped to the back of a boat as an afterthought .

Me too. I hate straps over the top of tenders. Much better to pull the tender's transom and bow eye down at c.45 degrees to the deck. Looks more elegant, and strap tension becomes independent of tender tube inflation which is how you want it.

 

[jfm]

the locking nut is just designed to stop the stainless chock moving backwards (as you no doubt already know).

I get it but it's still lousy design. Offensive to an engineer.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

FWIW here is my hydraulic platform. Newly retrofitted to my boat. I used it for the first time last week and I was delighted by it. Solid wood chocks and 4 flush fittings for tying down. The chocks have a "mushroom" hole underneath them and screw down with a big knob. Easy to take them off if you want. Actually, the biggest bonus for us was the big 5 tread bathing ladder with hand rails. It made getting on to the platform so much easier than our previous "slide out" ladder.

This looks fab, love the ladder solution. What a change from March!

 

[Parabolica]

Porto…….But this looks far better to my eyes View attachment 164985

All well and good Chris if you just have a tender in the garage. Sadly, with three teenage sons to keep occupied we need both but once the jetski is off, mine does look pretty again as the chocks are removable and stow in the garage.

 

[Portofino]

Porto…….But this looks far better to my eyes View attachment 164985

Each to there own a garage or lack of garage in my case indeed Henry’s case and many more was low down in the pack of 52 cards deck .In fact never made it into the top 10 preference cards .We have a nice guest cabin with en-suite instead .

Theres only one ratchet strap to pop and that carabiner strap from the tenders eye to the ladder .The ladders bolted through btw .More of a safety thingy so after a rough ride out ( we do go out when others stay in port ) I don’t want to look behind after docking and find the tenders not there !
Kinda heading that one off at the pass .

The point of my post #20 was to illustrate ( with a rapid release ) that the tender could be deployed in a emergency as well as the life raft with a sinking boat .

Doubt very much if tenders in garages full of crap esp semi inflated ….assuming some one can get the door open in the panic will ever be deployed .

Also mine over hangs …….not saying it’s a fender or intended as a stern fender but in reality it is a huge stern fender FWIW . Not necessarily your home berth which you can park blind folded , but arriving short handed at a windy visitors berth in some good forsaken marina with numbties on shore supposedly handling the lines .

A graze of the haplon ( if that happens) is better than a gel coat chip imho .

I hate dock walking seeing fibreglass bathing platforms battered to 8uggery = multiple scars , mismatched colours etc .

A stainless steel affair keeps its good looks well into old age as you can simply polish out scars easily with rotary instruments.Never needs a gel coat repair .

Your plastic bathing platform is longer than most to cover the surface drives which it needs to .

Back to the garage .I have seen countless repairs , to the rams , miss-fitting panal gaps = urgh ! And as have already said when open a tender full of crap .Also guys compromising on engine / machinery access because they can’t be arsed removing the tender full of crap and opening up the floor of the garage .So maintenance stuff gets missed .

KIS approach works for me .But appreciate everyone has a different sorting order of the hypothetical 52 card preferences deck for a boat .

I don’t have a problem with tenders on display ( BP or up on the FB ) or any reasonable strapping .

 

[Andrew M]

FWIW here is my hydraulic platform. Newly retrofitted to my boat. I used it for the first time last week and I was delighted by it. Solid wood chocks and 4 flush fittings for tying down. The chocks have a "mushroom" hole underneath them and screw down with a big knob. Easy to take them off if you want. Actually, the biggest bonus for us was the big 5 tread bathing ladder with hand rails. It made getting on to the platform so much easier than our previous "slide out" ladder.

Loving that BP ladder... But my main question is if anyone knows of a source for the mushroom head and deck plate to accept it please ??

 

[Chris H]

Each to there own a garage or lack of garage in my case indeed Henry’s case and many more was low down in the pack of 52 cards deck .In fact never made it into the top 10 preference cards .We have a nice guest cabin with en-suite instead .

Theres only one ratchet strap to pop and that carabiner strap from the tenders eye to the ladder .The ladders bolted through btw .More of a safety thingy so after a rough ride out ( we do go out when others stay in port ) I don’t want to look behind after docking and find the tenders not there !
Kinda heading that one off at the pass .

The point of my post #20 was to illustrate ( with a rapid release ) that the tender could be deployed in a emergency as well as the life raft with a sinking boat .

Doubt very much if tenders in garages full of crap esp semi inflated ….assuming some one can get the door open in the panic will ever be deployed .

Also mine over hangs …….not saying it’s a fender or intended as a stern fender but in reality it is a huge stern fender FWIW . Not necessarily your home berth which you can park blind folded , but arriving short handed at a windy visitors berth in some good forsaken marina with numbties on shore supposedly handling the lines .

A graze of the haplon ( if that happens) is better than a gel coat chip imho .

I hate dock walking seeing fibreglass bathing platforms battered to 8uggery = multiple scars , mismatched colours etc .

A stainless steel affair keeps its good looks well into old age as you can simply polish out scars easily with rotary instruments.Never needs a gel coat repair .

Your plastic bathing platform is longer than most to cover the surface drives which it needs to .

Back to the garage .I have seen countless repairs , to the rams , miss-fitting panal gaps = urgh ! And as have already said when open a tender full of crap .Also guys compromising on engine / machinery access because they can’t be arsed removing the tender full of crap and opening up the floor of the garage .So maintenance stuff gets missed .

KIS approach works for me .But appreciate everyone has a different sorting order of the hypothetical 52 card preferences deck for a boat .

I don’t have a problem with tenders on display ( BP or up on the FB ) or any reasonable strapping .

Yep we all like different things, I stopped looking at Portofino 47’s because they didn’t have a garage, its In the top 3 must haves for me, don’t get me going about the scaffolding on the back of boats……looks just as much out of place as a tender sat there………and if reversing badly into a berth ……a little scratch on the scaffolding won’t look bad but a piece of it pushed through the stern would

 

[colhel]

I started (and never finished) a little project a few years ago to make some fixings for chocks. The idea behind this design was to have the keyhole fixed to the deck with no screws showing. The mushroom bit would fit to the chock.

 

[henryf]

I remember it well Colin !

The solution I have from Rapid Marine is an interesting one. I will post it on here when I fit. I wanted to get the tender on the chocks to see where it sits and then locate tie down fixings accordingly. They have a method which allows fitting with the boat still in the water but which is more secure than screws.