Fender questions

[david_e]

The week-ends weather has, for me, illustrated the need for good fenders. I put my new boat in on Friday and was greeted with the storms on Sunday! It was supplied with 6 from the manufacturer which, at 6.00am on Sunday, I put all, more or less, together on the pontoon side and they seemed to just about do the job with the really strong winds coming an hour later.

On speaking with the Marina manager later he suggested that the ideal solution are much wider ones with a length of aprox 3/4+ the depth of the freeboard to prevent them going under/poping over the pontoon. Also learned about the problems of fenders with metal in the neck which can, under pressure, gouge into the hull.

So what do you think;

1 What type are best, round, sausage style etc?
2 How do you best secure them, is the top guard line best?
3 Which knot?
4 Which brand?
5 Do prices vary much?

Sorry, no dimensions, but boat is 32'.

 

[ccscott49]

I use fat sausage ones, amidships and two round ones at bowish and sternish, where the beam lessens, I use a clove hitch and a round turn or two.

 

[sailbadthesinner]

i would go with csscott on that
we were in falmouth and saw an oyster 5 weeks old burst all its fenders with wind pushing it onto the pontoon (Admittedly 76 knots)
he ended up with big suasges and round fenders at end
see conditions at http://www.ethan.me.uk/challengephoto/oyster3.JPG

we burst thre of oours and ended up with the tender and all sorts out over the side

Seeks woman with boat, for sailing only arrangement, send photo of boat.

 

[david_e]

what's the reasoning behind the mix?

 

[tome]

Boats aren't straight sided so the sausage fenders go at the widest part and the big round ones go fore and aft to take up the curve, that way the load is spread amongst them.

 

[timevans2000]

I to was in Pwllheli Harbour this weekend. I spent the night on my boat on the pile moorings on Saturday night moored along side a boat yard launch. Not much sleep! I registered 56 knots on my wind instruments in a typical gust. I saw dozens of fenders float past our boat during early Sunday morning as well as life rings,etc. We have a mixture of all shapes and sizes of fenders on board (17 in total). I tie mine on with a round turn and two half hitches. I have never lost a fender so it works for me. One trick I have learnt with fendering is if you tie 2 sausage shaped fenders end to end and then hang them horizontally over the side of the boat you can then position a third sausage shaped fender vertically in the pinched bit of the sausage where the 2 fenders join together. This seems to stop the vertical fender from popping out.

 

[Roberto]

I have sausage fenders as well, one thing I found useful when mooring alongside a quay which was barely above water level is to tie a rope on the lower ring of the fender and make it turn around the bottom of the hull to come out on the other side, no risk of the fender popping out

 

[nicho]

Max - can't get into the site suggested - can you pls check it's correct (I've tried various changes to the basic, but it 'don't want to know'!)

Thanks

 

[sailbadthesinner]

nicho try this
there a re about three photos of the oyster all named
plus various others of the trip

http://www.ethan.me.uk/challengephoto/

Seeks woman with boat, for sailing only arrangement, send photo of boat.

 

[kingfisher]

lowest guardrail or stanchion base: fender has less leverage on the post, so if it ever gets stuck on exiting or mooring, it doesn't rip of the stanchion.

Group of people on the pontoon: skipper is the one with the toolbox.
http://sirocco31.tripod.com

 

[Miker]

I'd second that. I have a big bottle fender fore and aft (worth their weight in gold) and sausage fenders between. I found the bottle fenders particularly good for keeping the boat off the wall of a deep sea lock. And at Port St Mary.

 

[david_e]

17 fenders! is it a cat? I was speaking with one of the cat owners on a hammerhead berth and he had popped quite a few fenders as he was taking the brunt of it.

Could see the forward end of the piles from my cabin and at one time some of the boats rafted together were mounting the other next to it, although can imagine it could be a little safer in that direction.

The marina office have a programme that measures the gusts and gives the average, it was about 8.45 when I had a look at it and the 72 mph gust was about an hour before that, aprox.

 

[Johnjo]

When moored to a pontoon,when you can expect large wash or rough weather,
Atrick I use is to place fenders as normal, plus some others left floating on the water on longer lines, so as the boat rocks these lift off the surface and protect the hull lower down.
well I think its a good idea anyway!

mike

 

[peterb]

You can also try fixing your fenders to the pontoon, rather than to the boat.

 

[halcyon]

When we were pontoon based we had normal fenders, and pontoon windy fenders, biggest ones we could get, also if the wind was blowing us onto the pontoon we ran lines to the other finger to hold the boat of the finger.
Last weekend we were gusting 90, years ago (85/90) in one big storm it went off the scale at Pendenis CG, if I remember correctly this is 120 or 130 knots. Don't worry still a long way to go /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

Brian

 

[LadyInBed]

I carry eight sausage fenders about 10"Dia.
I've often thought that a couple of flat rectangular fenders would be useful, as they could also double as cockpit loungers. No one has owned up to useing these, arn't they any good?

 

[Gordonmc]

I use four big fat sausage type fenders midships and smaller sausages on the quarters... but the notion of round ones there is good. Plus a corner fender on the bow and stern (canoe) Its a 30 footer.
However, when there's a blow predicted I believe the best policy is to ensure the fenders aren't tested too much by holding off the pontoon with extra warps to windward.
Last time a let the fenders do the work there was a force 8 pushing the boat onto the pontoon. By the time I got to it but there was a chunk of pontoon rubbed away and a patch of the hull was down to bare wood. The damage had been done by the fenders, only one of which had deflated.
I use a double-eye fender on both windward bow and stern warps with the line going round the girth a couple of times to act as a shock absorber... more effective than a snubber.

 

[vyv_cox]

I have one flat foam fender, about 3ft x 1ft 6in x 4ins. We mostly hang it horizontally amidships. Very useful at times for a variety of reasons:

1. When coming alongside a pontoon in crosswind it stays in place if the boat slides a bit, whereas round fenders invariably roll up over the pontoon.

2. It never bursts or collapses in strong cross-winds

A little difficult to stow but well worth it.

 

[spark]

This is probably heresy for white plastic topsides but the traditional fender hereabouts is the motor car tyre.

They seem to hold their position much better when there is a bit of motion and, with a drain hole cut in the bottom, a proportion of the fender will hang below the waterline which is handy for low jetties or pontoons. When used with a fender board up against pilings the board doesn't move fore-and-aft like with the sausage type. When under pressure they don't burst.

The old Mini tyre is a perfect size. They are easy to stow on deck in piles of 2 and provide a great place to put the bucket.

They don't work well where the topsides overhang (i.e. for'ard and aft - where a bouy shape is better) but in most cases they are a far superior bit of kit.

Somebody is making a white yachty inflatable version - can't remember who.

 

[timevans2000]

Yep its a cat. Opposite Partington Marine.
Apparently Gimlet Rock Caravan Park measured 94 mph on their wind equipment at the height of the storm.
I too spoke to the skipper of the Kelsall cat. He eventually got holed against the marina pontoon. He only had a few fenders out that had been squashed completely flat by the force of the wind.Once he was flat against the pontoons he could not lever the boat clear to insert any more fenders. Lots more fenders would probably have made all the difference.