Fender boards

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

After an interesting night alongside at Stonehaven I think it is about time I invest in a fender board. Is a discarded scaffold plank the best way forward or something a bit less 'agricultural'?

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I wouldn't have thought you would have needed one on a smooth wall like that. I've never used one, but I thought they were for use where the wall is of very uneven , or consists individual piles, or interlocking piling, so that you can keep your topsides from coming in contact with hard surfaces where the fenders would not suffice.

 

[Graham376]

I wouldn't have thought you would have needed one on a smooth wall like that. I've never used one, but I thought they were for use where the wall is of very uneven , or consists individual piles, or interlocking piling, so that you can keep your topsides from coming in contact with hard surfaces where the fenders would not suffice.

I would most likely use boards on that wall, a few hard critters to scratch fenders and dirty.

 

[Sandy]

I wouldn't have thought you would have needed one on a smooth wall like that. I've never used one, but I thought they were for use where the wall is of very uneven , or consists individual piles, or interlocking piling, so that you can keep your topsides from coming in contact with hard surfaces where the fenders would not suffice.

The barnacles and limpets reduced the external diameter of my fenders by about 3mm!

 

[differentroads]

Many good points above.
My rather short 1m long ex scaffold plank gets much more use as a workbench. Holes for my small bench vice and pegs for when I'm sawing, clamp board when I'm drilling, stand for paint tins, that sort of thing.

Half a metre longer would make a better fender board but its third job is as a temporary helm seat and a step when climbing in over the transom, so the length is a given, as is a paint job and protecting it when using it as a workbench, annoyingly

 

[rotrax]

I like to see a fender board multi tasking!

We had a 40 foot narrowboat in the 70's. The gangplank doubled as a seat when put across the rear deck safety rails and, like you, I used it as a mount for the vice and as a bench.

Made one last year, never got to use it, but it is at home having a coat of paint.

It will no doubt need another coat should I use it..........................................

 

[Halo]

Scaffold board is a bit thick and heavy I think. Why not use softwood. I had a pine one for 30 years and gave it a lick of gloss about every 10 years. I retired it when I decided to make a folding one that would go in the lazarette The folding one is great and avoids the clutter hanging off the guard wires.

 

[Skylark]

I made one from a discarded scaffold plank a few years ago. It’s approx 5ft long. I carefully prepared it and applied several coats of varnish. It looks a treat. It’s ridiculously heavy and has yet to move out of my garage. If/when I make another, it will be from soft wood and I’ll consider it sacrificial.

 

[Iliade]

I find that overly long boards can snag more readily as the tide rises. (I moor against a wooden pier.)

 

[AndrewB]

For many years I used an old aluminium ladder as a fender board. It also came in handy:
1) When ashore in any of those yards that are chronically short of ladders.
2) In a number of yacht-unfriendly harbours, for climbing the harbour wall.
3) As a somewhat precarious emergency passerelle.
4) As a reasonably effective emergency rudder. For this, it was inserted into the Aries self-steering transom clamps (after demounting the Aries), and a board lashed to its lower half.

 

[Leighb]

I made a fender board for our previous boat and used it also on the last one. I just bought a length of unplanned timber from B&Q, about 8' by 9" I think. I sanded it off to get rid of the worst bits, drilled some holes in it and it was good to go. Stored along the stanchions and deployed a few times. I t also doubled as a gangplank when moored stern-to on the last boat. Jan was a bit nervous about it, but it was OK.