Fender Socks/Covers

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The boat has never had fender socks before. It's rarely alongside as it lives on a swinging mooring. Question is - are fender socks/covers worth it and if so what is the preference of material/colour/manufacturer/price?

Their purpose is not to cover up tatty fenders, but to try and keep fairly new fenders looking just that - fairly new!

Thanks

ink
 
We have had fender covers for the first time on the advice of the harbourmaster - double trot. Since we installed them on 1 April, one of six has been ripped off and one damaged and found hanging on by a thread. We won’t be replacing them - I believe anyway there is a train of thought that they do more harm than good because the fabric retains grit etc that wouldn’t stick to plastic or would be washed off by the weather.
 
They are the work of the devil & if anyone rafts to me & have fender socks I ask them to remove their fenders & use mine. I have semi circular gouges in my gel coat where some idiot rafted to me & the grit scratched deep into the gel.
They retain grit & inspite of those claiming that they wash them regularly I just do not accept that as a solution.
Some pontoon edges are dirty & any fender socks would pick up sharp shell pieces in an instant. I do not want to be the next boat rafted to the fenders thus inflicted.
 
We use fender covers, mainly to protect the fenders from UV, which is a problem in Greece. Our fenders are stored in the open so need the covers. We make our own out of cheap fleece of eBay: they take a morning to make once every two years. First year one side out, second year turned inside out, third year binned: that’s mainly due to the UV bleaching and weakening the fabric.
You do have to keep an eye on dirt: if we spend time against a quay, as opposed to stern or bow to, and get the covers dirty, then we will trail the fenders for a couple of miles to clean them. We also wash them at the end of the season.
Some bought covers, made using stockinette type material, are dreadful at retaining dirt and will give rise to the sort of problems mentioned above. They’re also very expensive for what they are: ours cost £10 for a set plus a mornings work on the sewing machine.
 
I use fender blankets.. Tough fleece plus wear strip on top.. I have 3... 3/4 the length of boat. Generally last about 5years as a liveaboard. Work perfect. Can be a bit of a flap when trying to put out in a bit of a blow being solo ???.
 
We berthed in Tilos for nearly a week in surging conditions. Our fenders all have socks but our neighbour did not. When we left we found considerable scuffing of our topsides where his fenders had been but none where ours were.

The best guide is to look at superyachts. The crew on these vessels have one over-riding rule: keep the boat looking good. You will almost never see one that does not have fender socks. We have used them for more than 20 years. Our topsides look great.
 
vyv_cox said:
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The best guide is to look at superyachts. The crew on these vessels have one over-riding rule: keep the boat looking good. You will almost never see one that does not have fender socks. We have used them for more than 20 years. Our topsides look great.
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Well, they will wash their socks every other day.

Us normal plebs will maybe wash then once a year at most!

Pointless and we go in and out of the not overly clean Crinan Canal every other week and still have a shiny hull.

Fenders are disposable protection for floaty things. Toss them when they become past service. Or how about buying covers for the fender socks protecting the fenders to keep them clean and how about... :rolleyes:
 
Daydream believer said:
Buy the cheap washing up liquid & squirt it on the hull above the fender & let it run down between hull & fender as a lubricant. makes a big difference. But needs doing every night before bedding down. The soap solution will wash off once sailing.
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You think it's acceptable to squirt washing up liquid into the sea?
Do you think it does the other guy's waxed topsides any good?
 
TernVI said:
You think it's acceptable to squirt washing up liquid into the sea?
Do you think it does the other guy's waxed topsides any good?
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Yes I do.
When you wash your dishes in your boat sink do you pull a plug & let the water enter the sea?
When you are sailing do you collect ALL your efluent & return it to a collection point at a marina?
Do you shower & wash on board & collect the water-
Or do you not have such luxuries?
Because if you do then perhaps one might take an inward look at one's habits, before "suggesting" an objection to those of others
As for the topside--Washing up liquid does no harm to the topsides. I know because my topsides are generally every bit as well waxed as those of the boat alongside. I do NOT have a scruffy looking yacht. However, I did not suggest getting soap on another yacht. It is quite possible to use the stuff when alongside a pontoon.
 
Although fender blankets are the ideal answer, we have never used them. I think that it doesn't especially matter whether you use socks or not, so long as you keep either clean. Our worst gelcoat experience was in southern Sweden where we tied alongside a quay with other yachts overnight. During the night the wind got up and it rained, washing grit from the quay onto the fenders of our 2-yr-old boat. The marks eventually polished out, but would have appeared whatever fenders we had used, without a blanket.

It may depend on what kind of sailing you do. The locks in the Dutch canals are unkind to fender socks.
 
duncan99210 said:
We use fender covers, mainly to protect the fenders from UV, which is a problem in Greece. Our fenders are stored in the open so need the covers.
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Interesting I had heard that about UV and fenders 11 years ago when we bought a boat in Croatia but have cruised it from Greece to the Canaries since then, with fenders always exposed and apart from a couple of them bursting the valves they are all in good nick, not sticky, not deflated.
 
Because our boat stays in the canal we carry two sets of fenders, naked ones for the locks and jetties and fluffy socked ones for contact with other boats, when not deployed they all live inside the Avon tied across the transom.
 
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