Fender covers - pros and cons?

[PhillM]

My new crew is most unimpressed when paean is being blown on and she is sleeping on the same side. Apparently the fenders make noise. Personally, I find normal boat noises comforting (I wake up instantly for a new one and have to track it down before I will sleep again). Anyway, she thinks that fender covers will work.

Wooden boat, caravel construction. Topsides painted bi-annually. Comments and experiences please.

 

[Praxinoscope]

I have never used fender socks, but there are times when aI look at the marks on the hull after a while on the mooring I wonder if socks would reduce the marks/scratches from the fenders.

 

[MapisM]

In my (pretty long) experience with wooden boats, I found that what works better to avoid wearing out the paint is using ball rather than sausage fenders.
Covers make very little difference, but balls tend to rotate, "copying" the movement against another boat and/or the dock, and this does make a big difference vs. sausage fenders which are bound to scratch against the surface rather than rotate along it, so to speak.

That said, I also used covers also with ball fenders.
A side advantage, for the very same reason I just explained, is that covers can withstand much more "rubbing" on ball fenders, hence lasting longer.

 

[duncan99210]

We use fender covers, made out of cheap fleece, mainly to stop UV damage to the fenders. The covers last two seasons before we make a new set and start again... As to keeping the noise down, I’ll pass on that.

 

[Easticks28]

I have never used fender socks, but there are times when aI look at the marks on the hull after a while on the mooring I wonder if socks would reduce the marks/scratches from the fenders.

You just get a different kind of mark on the hull. The socks thend to attract and hold grit and dirt as well as if not more than 'naked' fenders.

 

[davidaprice]

In my experience (old white AWB, sausage fenders, home port marina finger pontoon, weekends and holidays mostly stern buoy and bow to jetties with other boats often snugly alongside) the bare fenders left rubbing marks, but with covers they don't. Sometimes a neighbouring boat's fatter bare fenders squeak all night as the boats gently rock, but our covered fenders mostly don't. I've never had a problem with dirt in the covers scratching the sides.

My second boat (just does day sailing from her marina finger pontoon) has thin dark blue paint over fibreglass, apparently no gelcoat, so she scratches very easily. The bare fenders (brand new) made lots of scratches and rubbing marks; once I got covers, the problem went away.

 

[TernVI]

Covers are great, but you have to keep them clean.
That means some bare fenders in case you ever go alongside a weedy or gritty quay etc.
Ball fenders are also very good, they rotate instead of squeaking.

An alternative is bare fenders and a fabric 'skirt' between them and the hull.

 

[Humblebee]

I found fender overs a bit of a nuisance. We keep our fenders in a locker and when the covers are wet they convey a lot of water into the locker whereas naked fenders just need a quick shake and they are almost dry.

 

[capnsensible]

Chandlers like fender covers. They rub through quickly and need replacing. You can see that by wandering around any marina and seeing fender covers with holes. Plus my wife spent a while once working in a Chandlers and had to handle complaints from people who's fender covers had worn through.

If you want, old t shirts work for a while. Plus on a noisy night, a little bit of washing up liquid reduces squeaky and a rub down in the morning helps clean the fenders. ?

 

[PlanB]

Also, if aesthetics are important to you, they look awful once they start to get tatty, faded and torn.

And is it a coincidence that, as I type this, there is an ad for fenders on the screen?

 

[johnalison]

As said, the ideal is fenders plus a skirt, with or without socks. We use socks, which are sometimes presentable in appearance and often rather less so.

 

[Laminar Flow]

We have found that fender covers like to hang on to every little bit of slime and grit offered by lock walls, stone docks, harbour walls etc; there seem to be a lot of those where we sail. Once embedded with detritus they are difficult to clean and after even a single lock passage will look less than bristol.

 

[TernVI]

We have found that fender covers like to hang on to every little bit of slime and grit offered by lock walls, stone docks, harbour walls etc; there seem to be a lot of those where we sail. Once embedded with detritus they are difficult to clean and after even a single lock passage will look less than bristol.

Certainly true.
We mostly live on swinging moorings so our covers don't get tatty from being in the sun 24/7.
We have some 'naked' ball type fenders for rough places.
Some places, if I'm planning to go there I will take a fender plank to keep the fenders off the wall or pile.

Our covers are home made. It's not hard to undo the drawstring and remove the cover if the situation demands.
Trouble with having nice clean fender sox, everyone wants to come alongside.

You cannot have too many fenders.

 

[mjcoon]

As said, the ideal is fenders plus a skirt, with or without socks. We use socks, which are sometimes presentable in appearance and often rather less so.

Rename the boat Nora Batty (or perhaps Boaty)?

 

[vyv_cox]

You just get a different kind of mark on the hull. The socks thend to attract and hold grit and dirt as well as if not more than 'naked' fenders.

Urban myth. It just doesn't happen. I have seen horrendous hull marking with naked fenders but in 30 years of using fender socks in a variety of marina and locations I have never once had marking by grit or dirt embedded in the socks, despite often berthing against concrete and being in Greece, which tends to be very dusty.

The best indication of the benefits of fender socks can be seen by looking at superyachts. The crew's only duty is to keep the yacht looking good. You will never see one without fender socks.

Like this for example. Fender sock free

 

[Laminar Flow]

Urban myth. It just doesn't happen. I have seen horrendous hull marking with naked fenders but in 30 years of using fender socks in a variety of marina and locations I have never once had marking by grit or dirt embedded in the socks, despite often berthing against concrete and being in Greece, which tends to be very dusty.

I do strongly suggest you give the Dutch and Breton locks a try - a veritable myth-busting experience it would seem. The slime makes a very potent glue that is more than capable of hanging on to grit and even small pieces of rock/concrete. Tidal walls also offer a wide variety of shell and barnacle just waiting for your pristine fender socks.

 

[vyv_cox]

I do strongly suggest you give the Dutch and Breton locks a try - a veritable myth-busting experience it would seem. The slime makes a very potent glue that is more than capable of hanging on to grit and even small pieces of rock/concrete. Tidal walls also offer a wide variety of shell and barnacle just waiting for your pristine fender socks.

I lived and sailed in the Netherlands for seven years, passing through locks on a very frequent basis. We cruised all over the inland canal system, Oosterschelde etc and most weekends transited the Stellendam locks. At worst we would tow the fenders astern for a short time but rarely found it necessary.

 

[greeny]

A good fender pad will offer a lot of protection to the hull. If made of non squeaky material it will quieter too. Canvas is effective. I once made one out a a large dark blue bath towel. It worked really well and lasted longer than I expected. Not as long as canvas one though. Mine are currently 2 layers of canvas with 6mm foam sandwiched between them.

 

[Laminar Flow]

I lived and sailed in the Netherlands for seven years, passing through locks on a very frequent basis. We cruised all over the inland canal system, Oosterschelde etc and most weekends transited the Stellendam locks. At worst we would tow the fenders astern for a short time but rarely found it necessary.

To be fair, we "only" did five years (consecutively, there were other times) in Holland, then there were the French canals and European rivers down to the Med, Brittany, Central America. We have done hundreds of lockings and we seem to like tying up to crappy docks as well. There is a considerable difference between fresh and salt water locks & tidal and non-tidal harbour walls.

Our present boat came with socks. Never again. I'm not given to conspiracy theories, but I have come to believe that they are simply a racket fostered by a greedy yachting industry.

Fender boards are a useful tool, but they are a dangerous menace in a lock and a source of endless embarrassment, when, as they are likely to, get caught up in ladders, floating bollards, mooring chains and, subsequently, will remove from the boat what they were tied to.

 

[capnsensible]

From what I see, it's yer standard marina berthing alongside wooden or metal finger pontoons that's a real killer of fender socks. The marina I've been in for the last three years has wooden edges and the fenders get a black strip.

For cleaning those 'melted' fender marks off a hull, an old scotchbrite and cream cleaner works. Had to do thirty something fenders several times a year on our school yachts. ? Was given a tip by some superyacht crew. They used cheapo oven cleaner on fenders.....make sure you use gloves and if needs be, a mask. Doesn't get real bad stuff off but gets it good enough for school work where the fenders get continual use.

I reckon another tip is to be a fender sock manufacturer! ?