How best to protect wooden toerail from fender line abrasion?

[tudorsailor]

I have a pre-owned yacht. It has wooden toe rails. I noticed that the the lines from the fenders rub on the toe rail and with time will wear away the wood when the yacht is left for some time with the fenders in place. As the yacht is going to be an crowded Mallorcan marina this is likely to be a problem. Is there a neat way of protecting the toe-rail? I wondered about putting the line through a plastic tubing - but this does not seem very aesthetic. Can I put something on the toe rail?

Thanks for helping a yachting newbie

TudorDoc

 

[johnalison]

I have the same problem. The best solution seems to be a brass/stainless strip on the outside. I haven't got round to that, so we thread insulating-foam lengths onto the fender-lines and this seems to work as long as they don't ride up.

 

[alandee]

Hi. A cheap solution is a leather off-cut about 6" by 3" with two holes cut in it and the rope threaded through both holes so that the rope is kept off the toe rail by the soft side of the leather. Can be a colour to match your boat etc. Coloured off-cuts can be bought off E-bay. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Twister_Ken]

Also, depending on config of toerail, slice open some large dia plastic pipe and slip it over the rail.

 

[castaway]

I agree with your stainless/brass half round suggestion..my Halberdier has this on all the fairleads over the toerail and I plan to add some further strips now on my new mooring to cover where the springs chaff.

Trouble with stuff slipped over the warps ( with the exception of directly on a fairlead) is that it never really wants to stay in position.

Regards Nick

 

[pessimist]

We had some brass "rubbing strips" secured to the toerail. Looks good, does the job and saves continually having to reposition bits of plastic.

 

[Gazza]

I use white plastic ducting designed for central heating pipes, which simply drops over the toe-rail. I've cut slots for the two fairleads at the midships cleat; even without the cut-outs, it seems to stay in place pretty well.
I got it from B&Q and recall that it came it several sizes.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I don't know what type of boat you have (as in freeboard) but can you not hang your fenders higher so that the line does not contact the toerail?

 

[snowleopard]

The stuff to use is dinghy keel band. Normally aluminium these days but you should still be able to get brass from traditional suppliers.

 

[Merchant_Jack]

I'd get me palm and needle out, some canvas and a big blob of grease. I'd put them all together somehow and everything would be fine.

 

[michael_w]

IIRC seeing on a megayacht (Georgia) very neat leather bands which were slipped over the fender whips, held in position by a bullseye and a pair of cam cleats. The rail side of the leather pad was covered in sheepskin to protect the brightwork.