Figuring out Fenders: A Design Project

[Tranona]

If I was doing this project - & i know... I am not!!- i would start by asking if there was actually a problem to be solved in the first instance.

I know one might be looking for a job in the EU, or just a minor government post, so solving a problem that does not exist is of real importance, but !!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course there is a problem - just look at the many different ways fenders are used and stowed and the number of gadgets made over the years to make them easier to use and stow. We all find our own way of dealing with the things.

Whether it is a big enough issue to be worth a structured investigation or even looking for a solution is for the OP to find out.

 

[Wansworth]

Seems to me that fenders are an integral part of a yacht and I am sure that when the designer with his artistic sensibilities sees his design with a mountain of fenders lashed to the stern rail must feel distraught.certainly a problem that needs solving.

 

[Daydream believer]

Of course there is a problem - just look at the many different ways fenders are used and stowed and the number of gadgets made over the years to make them easier to use and stow. We all find our own way of dealing with the things.

Whether it is a big enough issue to be worth a structured investigation or even looking for a solution is for the OP to find out.

But the point is, the question does not appear to have been asked, so one does not have a structured starting point..
Groping about in the dark to find the issues is not how one would solve any problem whether it be fenders or some manufacturing issue.
At the end of the day university projects are not really about improving fenders ( although if that is a sideline then great) it is about teaching how to go about dealing with the problems of improving design etc. But you cannot improve anything until you know where it might want improvement. If this later leads to other things like the size of lockers then ok; or if you find that the problem was really the number of times people went sailing Ok but you need to start from the correct place

 

[JumbleDuck]

But the point is, the question does not appear to have been asked, so one does not have a structured starting point.

We don't know anything about the project. A student has come here and asked us, politely, for some information which would be helpful to him. Give the information or not as you wish, people, but there is no call to get all pompous and superior about this.

Sorry, OP. Sometimes the sailing community is deeply embarrassing. Just ignore the loudmouths, please.

 

[Daydream believer]

We don't know anything about the project. A student has come here and asked us, politely, for some information which would be helpful to him. Give the information or not as you wish, people, but there is no call to get all pompous and superior about this.

Nothing pompous about it at all. A discussion arose about the project & comments made. I just suggested how I would approach the thing.

Does not mean that i cannot add input to a discussion. Or does it?
The is no rule that says the thread has to stick rigidly to the subject. If it did the forum would be somewhat boring I suspect.

 

[Seajet]

JumbleDuck is right, and I think comes from the right sort of background to judge.

I was happy to add my two pennarth, though I don't think there's any solution beyond that which seamanship and common sense has already told us; have decent sized cockpit lockers - aft cabins tend to mean tiny lockers - and as mentioned hanging fenders over the transom on a pushpit or sugar scoop shouts ' designer didn't think of fundamental real world items like fenders in rush to fit boat show suitable lardarse aft cabin '.

 

[Daydream believer]

I am glad you qualified that with "tend" because my 31 ft boat with aft cabin has a locker that I can easily get into, plus one that a smaller person can squeeze into. However, I actually PREFER to hang my fenders on the aft rail.
Perhaps other do as well.

 

[Seajet]

There's no accounting for taste...

 

[vyv_cox]

There's no accounting for taste...

Not only taste, sailing mode has a lot to do with it. I recall the outrage on this forum arising from Tom Cunliffe's statement that nobody needs more than four fenders. That may be sufficient for occasional marina berthing for a boat that primarily uses a mooring or its own anchor, and when I had a boat in that situation I had about the same number, easily fitting in a locker. These days I carry about a dozen fenders, including two large balls that would not even fit in my cockpit locker. Hanging at least some of them over the transom is the only option.

 

[NormanS]

Yes, being either anchored, sailing, or on a mooring, we hardly ever need fenders. We only carry four large sausage type, and yes, we lash them to the taffrail.

 

[Seajet]

I carry 8 fenders, 2 ball type the rest are various sausage types.

There's no way one could get away with four for cruising, say when against a wall or even pontoon when the wind turns onshore and there's an ill equipped boat - or raft of them - to windward.

I still don't have to disfigure my boat and have Oliver Lee spin in his grave by tieing them to the pushpit though, either one can see a situation developing or it shouldn't be too much trouble to lift a cockpit locker lid.

 

[NormanS]

Well this "one" gets away with only four for cruising. But my cruising isn't hopping from marina to marina, or harbour wall to harbour wall. Try anchoring in blissfully beautiful quiet shelter, and you won't need all these big ugly fenders.

 

[Seajet]

I've rarely used harbour walls and certainly haven't gone from marina to marina in my 40 years with the A22 plus various other boats, but when you need fenders you really need them.

They may be ugly, that's why they're stowed in a locker not disfiguring the boat hung on the transom.

 

[NormanS]

I've rarely used harbour walls and certainly haven't gone from marina to marina in my 40 years with the A22 plus various other boats, but when you need fenders you really need them.

They may be ugly, that's why they're stowed in a locker not disfiguring the boat hung on the transom.

I think you may have the wrong impression. As I said before, my modest number of fenders are kept lashed to the taffrail, and certainly not left "hung on the transom". Even if they were, they would hardly "disfigure the boat".

 

[Seajet]

OK, if they're hung outside - and I take taffrail as pushpit - how are they not disfiguring the looks of the boat then ?

It's a matter of taste but I and others of my generation - I'm 56 - feel fenders should either be deployed immediately before, during and just after use , otherwise kept in lockers; otherwise it's the quivalent of a drunken tart emerging from the loos with her skirt tucked into her tights.

Just saying.

 

[vyv_cox]

OK, if they're hung outside - and I take taffrail as pushpit - how are they not disfiguring the looks of the boat then ?

It's a matter of taste but I and others of my generation - I'm 56 - feel fenders should either be deployed immediately before, during and just after use , otherwise kept in lockers; otherwise it's the quivalent of a drunken tart emerging from the loos with her skirt tucked into her tights.

Just saying.

Disfiguring? Some might say that about the arch, matter of opinion really. But the two fenders are barely visible.

 

[mjcoon]

I've rarely used harbour walls and certainly haven't gone from marina to marina in my 40 years with the A22 plus various other boats, but when you need fenders you really need them.

They may be ugly, that's why they're stowed in a locker not disfiguring the boat hung on the transom.

To start an outbreak of apoplexy on purpose, I recently saw the suggestion to leave your fenders on the toerail, but connect the lower ends with a normally slack line. When pulled, this lifts them all to the horizontal well out of the water but ready to deploy at a moment's notice...

Mike.

 

[Seajet]

That works on very short trips if single or short-handed especially for inexperienced bods, no problem.

 

[JumbleDuck]

There's no way one could get away with four for cruising, say when against a wall or even pontoon when the wind turns onshore and there's an ill equipped boat - or raft of them - to windward.

I don't think I have ever used more than four, though I have eight on board at the moment. Four sausages, two teardrops and two big round ones. One of the joys of having a boat pointy at both ends is that you need thinner fenders near the middle and fatter ones at both ends. The teardrops were a not-very-successful attempt to solve that, but the two big round ones I bought for a marina winter last year work beautifully,

However, they are far too big to stay in my single cockpit locker (another downside of pointy-at-both-ends-ness) so they live tied to the stern pulpit. Unexpected side effect: they are so handy there that in easy condition I just use them and omit the central sausages.

Memo to self: move the teardrops to the Drascombe.

 

[Seajet]

As my boat is quite wide beam I also use thinner sausage fenders at the widest bit and fatter sausages fore and aft of it. The balloon fenders go forward,

A, because that's where the topsides flare most,

B, as that's the first bit to hit if I cock it up; I don't usually use them but they're nice to have.

So that's a regular 3 fenders per side, sometimes 4.