Fenders today ????? failed when really needed.

[Refueler]

Yesterday marina called me to Anisette ... she was being forced onto the pontoon by broadside storm wind ... even though the marina appears to be sheltered on 3 sides - the wind tends to drop in and still have all its force.

The side of Anisette is now scarred where the Fenders - well known brand - collapsed under the force of the boat being buffeted by the winds ...

All my fenders previous boats / years would have survived this .. but these failed ...

I have added some of my older fenders I have spare in the store - kept for home pontoon. They are resisting the force far better than these newer ones.

I shall be lifting those failed fenders and seeing what makes them bad ...

Now I have a boat that was pristine - with scraped sides .... the paint used is no longer produced ... International Perfection (Rochelle Red) ... so it may mean a light cover of the scraped sides which show white Gel in some areas ... sand all back and then recoat whole boat in new paint. We will see if possible to just make up the scarred area - I do have small tin of original paint ... but as we know - patching always looks just that - patches !

 

[Halo]

Tough luck! Please name the brand

 

[Frayed Knot]

Tough luck! Please name the brand

Ditto

 

[lustyd]

Could they have been under/over inflated? If overinflated the valve can pop out.

Also wise to put most fenders in the wide part of the boat rather than spread out evenly as most people do. If in a finger pontoon then also try to tie the boat so it's impossible for it to touch the pontoon. Our fenders just hang loosely on the boat and never touch the pontoon - not that I'd remove them, but they don't do much

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Ours are the usual Majoni, we have a high windage boat moored on the SW side of a pontoon. They withstood 100mph gusts last winter. Can’t say we ever pay much attention to inflation, they just do what they're supposed to. Kick them every so often I guess to check they have some air.

 

[lustyd]

Majoni are designed such that the valve will pop out when over pressure, so proper inflation is important. They will withstand high winds easily if at the right pressure and enough of them to take the load.

 

[wombat88]

Over inflation can cause a fender to pop. They should be inflated to feel a bit softer than you think they should.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Over inflation can cause a fender to pop. They should be inflated to feel a bit softer than you think they should.

Excellent technical specification! Reminds me of a 1960's drilling derrick drawing, which had the bolt torque specification as "the weight of one man on a flogging spanner".

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Majoni are designed such that the valve will pop out when over pressure, so proper inflation is important. They will withstand high winds easily if at the right pressure and enough of them to take the load.

Mine are relatively soggy, yes. In winter we use a load more, usually 10, plus our dock fenders, Stands to reason if they can squash a bit they are spreading the load.

 

[Refueler]

Tough luck! Please name the brand

Anchor

They were only slightly .. I mean very slight underpressure ...

Today now wind has decreased - they are full bodied again !

Here you see the common Anchor Blue Top branded Fenders ....

General damage :

Individual :

It looks worse than it is .... at least Gel is not affected - its scraped the paint away ... so general sanding back and paint in .. sand / buff should be OK - till later when I may consider a total hull job.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Bad luck

I have the same issues with deflation of fenders, I have been looking for some tine of a way to fill my fenders with a closed cell foam to stop then going flat but not found and suitable product yet

Mine have tended to split and not blow the valve out

 

[Daydream believer]

Unfortunately red is not a good choice of colour for a boat hull. Probably one below blue & harder to touch up
Tough luck on the damage though.

 

[Refueler]

It makes you wonder about what you don't see when a boat hull is white Gel !! Here you see directly the abrasive effect of storm surge on pontoon ..

It has crossed my mind as to removing the red and taking hull back to its original white .. but that's a lot of work ..

I never liked red hulls ... OK small dinghys are fine - but not larger boats. But this has grown on me and I sortta like it now !!

 

[Irish Rover]

It's not clear to me what happened. Your boat is bow onto a pontoon. Was it this pontoon caused the damage or is there a finger pontoon? The damage on the first photo looks to be below the level of the fenders. Could she have been lifted by a surge, such that the fenders were lifted above the level of the pontoon.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

It's not clear to me what happened. Your boat is bow onto a pontoon. Was it this pontoon caused the damage or is there a finger pontoon? The damage on the first photo looks to be below the level of the fenders. Could she have been lifted by a surge, such that the fenders were lifted above the level of the pontoon.

At a guess the first photo has been taken when he has moved the boat from an alongside pontoon berth after the damage to a fore and aft "Baltic" mooring

 

[Refueler]

It's not clear to me what happened. Your boat is bow onto a pontoon. Was it this pontoon caused the damage or is there a finger pontoon? The damage on the first photo looks to be below the level of the fenders. Could she have been lifted by a surge, such that the fenders were lifted above the level of the pontoon.

Two distinctly different times ... the Baltic Moor bow to berth is before incident and her move to the only long alongside pontoon berth that was made vacant and offered to me.

The damage photos - taken once weather had reduced and I lifted fenders out of way so I could photograph the damage.
The fenders in place are spot on that damage ...

What obviously happened :

Gale force winds pushing and surging boat on the pontoon ...
Fenders flatten out and get pushed along ...
Boat side grates on the wood of pontoon
When wind allows - boat rides back
Next wind again pushes and surges boat on the pontoon...
Fenders flatten etc etc.

This went on from very late night - through morning till call from Marina boss.

With the fenders flattening out and boat hull curved .. its easy to see why the widest part of hull suffered.

 

[Irish Rover]

Two distinctly different times ... the Baltic Moor bow to berth is before incident and her move to the only long alongside pontoon berth that was made vacant and offered to me.

The damage photos - taken once weather had reduced and I lifted fenders out of way so I could photograph the damage.
The fenders in place are spot on that damage ...

What obviously happened :

Gale force winds pushing and surging boat on the pontoon ...
Fenders flatten out and get pushed along ...
Boat side grates on the wood of pontoon
When wind allows - boat rides back
Next wind again pushes and surges boat on the pontoon...
Fenders flatten etc etc.

This went on from very late night - through morning till call from Marina boss.

With the fenders flattening out and boat hull curved .. its easy to see why the widest part of hull suffered.

I understand and thanks for taking the trouble to explain. My marina is well sheltered from the prevailing west and north wind and more particularly from the big waves and surge these winds bring. We rarely get much south wind but when we do it blows hard and brings a strong surge in through the entrance. Boats alongside, at the furthest wall of the marina, get the worst of this and can be risen very high. As a matter of course the marina staff go around to all unattended boats and drop the fenders until at least some of them are are touching the water at the widest part of the boat.
I'm sorry for your trouble and I hope you get it sorted.

 

[ghostlymoron2]

Yesterday marina called me to Anisette ... she was being forced onto the pontoon by broadside storm wind ... even though the marina appears to be sheltered on 3 sides - the wind tends to drop in and still have all its force.

The side of Anisette is now scarred where the Fenders - well known brand - collapsed under the force of the boat being buffeted by the winds ...

All my fenders previous boats / years would have survived this .. but these failed ...

I have added some of my older fenders I have spare in the store - kept for home pontoon. They are resisting the force far better than these newer ones.

I shall be lifting those failed fenders and seeing what makes them bad ...

Now I have a boat that was pristine - with scraped sides .... the paint used is no longer produced ... International Perfection (Rochelle Red) ... so it may mean a light cover of the scraped sides which show white Gel in some areas ... sand all back and then recoat whole boat in new paint. We will see if possible to just make up the scarred area - I do have small tin of original paint ... but as we know - patching always looks just that - patches !

Make a claim on your insurance.

 

[Refueler]

Make a claim on your insurance.

Under consideration..... asking yard about cash price to repair (I have a small tin of the original paint) .... which is likely to be less or near to what Insurance increase might be if I claim !! I'm already paying a high premium .. don't want it higher !!

 

[Aeolus]

The same thing happened to me in Brighton marina 2 or 3 years ago. I replaced my fenders with these Category: Vortex Series

They claim, and do indeed seem, to be much stronger than the normal culprits.