Fender questions

I have two flat fenders which I use if tieing up alongside piles on a jetty. Also very handy in emergencies for quickly hanging over the side. For longer term leaning against piles it's tyres fixed to a plank hung over the side.
 
When coming alongside I get my crew to tie the fenders to the lower guard rail.Once we are settled they are retied to the perforations in the toerail.For both operations a round turn and 2 halfhitches is used on the basis that:
(a)With inexperienced crew I find that 2 knots is about all they can master during a knot tying session - usually on the car journey to the boat!.Therefore I teach the bowline and round turn and 2 half hitches.
(b) The latter,if tied incorrectly, is unlikely to capsize - just become more difficult to untie- whereas I have seen improperly tied clove hitches (especially with 'quick release' loops) cause the fender to be lost.Again with inexperienced crew this can have dangerous consequences as they try to recover the lost fender.
(c)the round turn protects the fender lanyard

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Keltman on 30/10/2002 15:25 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
Fender socks

I'm one of them, except I don't buy them, Jill makes them. When we kept the boat on a swinging mooring we didn't bother, the only minor problem with naked fenders being the annoying squeaking noise they make. This is easily solved by the addition of a little washing up liquid. However, when we began to keep the boat in a marina we soon found that the naked fenders were marking the hull, initially removing polish but later quite clearly causing wear of the gelcoat. Since fitting them all with socks we never have seen any evidence of hull damage. We could use a fender cloth instead but it's easier to fit socks and forget.
 
Re: Fender socks

I was under the impression that fender socks were more liable to cause damage to the gelcoat with ingrained dust etc creating a sandpaper effect?
 
Re: Fender socks

I suppose that if you pour sand and dust over them they would. We have three socked fenders permanently attached to our pontoon, and apart from the rain they are never washed down. We see no evidence of any abrasive wear. Our normal fenders are occasionally towed behind to clean them of slime and weed picked up in sea locks, so this may clean sand off as well.
 
Re: Fender socks

What do you make them from, I've torn so many, they start to get bloody expensive! Mind you I've found some harder wearing ones down in Spain, but they are expensive.
 
Re: Fender socks

A nice trick I have seen is to put (old?) t-shirt on the fender !! Just turn the sleeves in. Far cheaper than custom-made things, easier to replace. You can easily take them off to wash them, too.





IMHO, of course.
 
Re: Fender socks

Jill bought a big roll of stretch towelling, probably poyester with some elastane or something like, several years ago at a shop in North Wales that sells offcuts and roll ends. Only takes about ten minutes to make a cover and they last 2-3 seasons. Our boat doesn't weigh fifty tons, though!
 
Re: Fender socks

I nick stockings and a suspender belt from Tutts knicker drawer. You can do two fenders at once.

<font color=blue> [Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.
Haydn
 
Re: Fender socks

Stop prevaricating .. we all know you use your own cast offs!

Funnily enough I had (so to speak) a Radar reflector in the back of the car this morning & SWMBO said "Whats that fender doing in the car?"
 
Re: D.I.Y. Fender socks

Agree, much cheaper than buying them already made. But our material came from Abakhan, a gold-mine of an outlet for materials of all types. I think we paid about a fiver for something like 20 metres.
 
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