Fenders Which colour?

[djk]

One thing I've learned in the Med is you can't be precious about your fenders! We have white fenders with a blue top and bottom. My original fenders were blue with a black top and bottom.The black seems to perish with the heat and starts melting and leaves marks on the hull. Over time I've bought local Spanish and they seem to stand the heat etc. Plastimo are expensive and seem no better then fenders a third of the price. We have 9 fenders for a 42 ft yacht. I position the fenders bearing in mind yachts either side but don't rely on their fenders.The biggest problem leaving your yacht in the marina is the yachts either side. Long term mooring types are OK but visitor's berths or sailing school spells trouble. We have seen a Spanish motor boat motoring in one evening totally pi**ed and crashing into 4 boats. We use 4 fenders each side, 3 sausage type and a ball fender towards the stern. I also use a round turn and 2 half hitches to tie up. A clove hitch can come undone unless you put a turn in it. Then you might as well use a round turn etc. Never had a fender stolen. Incidentally if I see a yacht with say 8 fenders down one side coming in I get twitchy!

 

[Marsupial]

Incidentally if I see a yacht with say 8 fenders down one side coming in I get twitchy!

If we come alongside you I suggest you take some vallium! Swimbo will have deployed everything we have on board that roughly satisfies the description "fender", so perhaps on second thoughts a large scotch and some vallium!

 

[gonad]

fender colours

found some coloured fenders can MELT with heat and leave a ghastly mess on the topsides

 

[DecaDance]

I like the look of the Seago fender which doubles as a ladder in this month's PBO. Think I might buy about twenty - ten each side should do it

 

[jeremyshaw]

1. Conventional fender socks are a liability. They trap grit from the dock. Don't use them. We had covers made from Sunbrella, which is a much better and longer lasting idea. I recommend grey to hide the dirt.

2. White fenders are unquestionably best if you are heading south of Biscay. The smart blue tops and bottoms on the fenders you buy in the UK just bleed in the heat and are a liabilty. So cover them with Sunbrella or buy white. Preferably, do both.

 

[vyv_cox]

I like the look of the Seago fender which doubles as a ladder in this month's PBO. Think I might buy about twenty - ten each side should do it

Not sure if we are talking about the same one, but I bought a 'ladder fender' from Force Four several years ago. It proved to be extremely poor as either a ladder or a fender and I disposed of it at a boat jumble within a year. It was far too heavy to lug around the decks, floated so could not be set below water level and distorted badly with a person's weight on it.

 

[vyv_cox]

1. Conventional fender socks are a liability. They trap grit from the dock. Don't use them. We had covers made from Sunbrella, which is a much better and longer lasting idea. I recommend grey to hide the dirt.

Not my experience at all. I have owned the same boat for 15 years, kept for seven of them in a marina with fenders always rigged. The fenders have always worn socks, initially made by ourselves from towelling, latterly with the purpose-made DIY ones advertised in the mags. Our hull shows absolutely no evidence of wear by grit or anything else, whereas I know several boats whose topsides are permanently damaged by the use of un-socked fenders.

The problem with Sunbrella, agreed to be an excellent material, is that it has no stretch. Socks would need to be tailored to each individual fender, which presumably would need to be inflated to a standard size. My fenders are a very motley collection, 10 or 11 of them, almost all different sizes. Standard stretchy fender socks fit every one.

 

[Fourbees]

Tyres

Perhaps your boat is an old, battered work boat with a darkly painted hull that doesn't show the dirty streaks they make.

Doubt if I could be called an "up-your-nose yachty type" but for sure they deter me. The carbon black used in in tyre manufacture will mark topsides big time.

I was at the refuelling dock in Zadar harbour a year or two ago where the sides were liberally hung with old tyres. I was an entire day subsequently at anchor in the inflatable scrubbing off the filthy carbon-black marks.

I have heard that if you paint your tyres white, they are more socially acceptable. I haven't tried this, and don't know what sort of paint would be best, but it might work!

 

[TNT]

thanks

Thanks for all your input guys we now have nice new shiney polyform white fenders which we will take across to the boat with us. I also bought a kingsize navy terry sheet for £12 which will cover all the fenders and my spare spherical ones too. for that price if I have to replace them each year wo cares. FYI the fenders were from boatfendersdirect.com very good service and very reasonable too. Alot less than most chandleries.

 

[DecaDance]

Not sure if we are talking about the same one, but I bought a 'ladder fender' from Force Four several years ago. It proved to be extremely poor as either a ladder or a fender and I disposed of it at a boat jumble within a year. It was far too heavy to lug around the decks, floated so could not be set below water level and distorted badly with a person's weight on it.

It had a good review in PBO so maybe they've improved recently. However, I will bear your comments in mind and will now just buy one and test it out before I commit to the other 19!