Fender sox

[milfordman]

I have just moved my boat to a permanant marina berth, and I am concerned that the fenders may chaffe the topsides, as they will be left for weeks at a time. would fitting sox to the fenders reduce abrasion, or are they just cosmetic?

 

[lw395]

They should reduce abrasion and squeaking, and also keep the UV off the fenders, extending their life.

 

[Salty John]

They help with squeaking and, if they are clean, they protect the hull. They can harbour grit on their surface if they are very wooly and they will than sandpaper your hull, so be careful!

 

[Anonymous]

Fender covers (Fender Sox is a trade name?) are excellent - in our experience they help protect both the fenders and the hull though there was a suggestion here that they can trap abrasive muck and cause damage so it is important to be sure that they are clean.

Our fenders last for years with covers on. We have been using the Plastimo sock kit which is much cheaper than the proprietary Sox, although we buy the proprietary ones of ball fenders.

Someone here said recently that they buy the fleece from Ebay and make their own though I haven't been able to find the material myself.

 

[Robin]

Fendersox that are dirty and they get that way pretty quickly IMO do more harm than good. They pick up dirt from that washed off the decks by rainwater, from contact with the pontoons or other boats so if you must use them they need to be regularly washed clean. We have friends who make their own disposable ones from the tubular muslin polish cloth rolls which they cut to fit, if needed adding a piece of elastic threaded in/out around each end, these are simply replaced as needs be.

In our case we have a padded PVC fender sheet that folds zig-zag fashion for stowage (it can be used to sit on too) and have plain fenders. We have large diameter sausage fenders and use additional ones in winter as well to spread the load, including one big balloon one so in normal use 3 sausage fenders + 1 balloon then add 2 more sausage fenders for winter. We did use a plain canvas fendersheet initially but found that the wind moved it too easily, it also soaked up dirt itself and eventually rotted. The PVC padded one doesn't flap in the wind and dirty water from the decks just runs off. We bought ours from Compass (not the big mail order people) at Southampton boatshow who are based in Dartmouth. See Website here

Our berth is stern into the SW and we are mostly blown onto the finger pontoon. In addition to plenty of fenders we have an additional spring line taken from our outside centre cleat to the one on the main pontoon midway between us and the boat in the next berth. This line is pulled taut and in combination with the regular lines pulls the boat away from the finger, others have extra stern lines by agreement with the neighbouring boat between them to hold each other off. Just don't forget to remove these before departure....

 

[rich]

Fleece sox's made by SWMBO.
£5 per m, makes 3

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Mrs L is brilliant at making them from the stocking material (we order the Plastimo stuff but she sews them with elastic). But where do you source the material?

 

[rich]

First catch your sheep.......
Seriously, fleece can be bought in any fabric shop or market stall selling material and is very easy to work with - it doesn't shrink, fray or need hemming and being stretchy can be made to fit any odd shaped seat cushions pretty easily.
Also seems to last longer than conventional fender sox and can be shoved in the washing machine and dries almost instantly.

 

[milfordman]

Re: Fender sox Re :Robin

Thanks for the info, I checked out the compass marine web site you gave, but I could not find the padded fender sheets you mensioned, however I will call them tomorrow. I liked your idea of installing the second spring on the outside cleat I will try this on my berth.