how many fenders is enough/too much?

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Coxsimon

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I recently bought a new (to me) sailboat, 32 feet. It came with 4 fenders only. In my view, with my manoeuvring skills, not enough.
so it made me think, apart from the obvious answer of “you can’t have too many”, what would be an acceptable number and would a big ball fender be necessary?
 
I use 6 on a 31 ft boat . I do not put them all down one side but always enter port with 3 each side set with the bottom of the fender a couple of inches clear of the water. That fits most pontoon heights as a starter. I also have a 300mm diam ball fender . This I put under the stern quarter, when leaving a lock if the prop wash is likely to push my stern into the wall. It is also handy in my home berth as the one alongside is for visitors & I find the need to protect the stern quarter. Some seem to think that my boat is there as a spare pontoon.
If going in the Dutch canals or perhaps the Calledonian canal I would take 2 extra fenders. as being single handed I can be a bit clumsy. Plus some of the walls can be rough. Some of the Dutch marinas have poles & the pontoons are at the bow. In this case I like to be well fendered in case I get a bit one sided as I do not want to damage other boats when docking.
 
I carry eight fenders plus a step fender.

My nice new blue ones for the side against a pontoon, the old white ones to protect me from a boat on the other finger.
 
On 36 feet of motorboat I have six regular fenders three large ball fenders...plus...fenders on rope that a crew person can pick up to walk the side of the deck with...one or two stern fenders...and a bow fender...plus a few small fenders for various jobs such like tying the tender up. A large step fender which is good for protecting the stern quarter and useful when anchored.
But I am parking Med style where we are packed in like sardines...and where you always have to be on the lookout for old yachts with only two semi deflated old fenders per side (all in the wrong places) that enjoy crash landings.
A bit of inland waterways travel taught me that there can never be too many fenders
 
On my Snapdragon (24'), I had four for regular use - two to take the strain amidships and one near the bow and the stern in case I got things wrong. It worked out that there were stanchions in the right places, so I attached them forward of each stanchion. Then there were a couple of old. scruffy ones that I could put offside when appropriate or add to reinforce the others as appropriate.

Jazzcat's roughly rectangular, and a fair bit bigger and heavier, so we have 5, scattered along the side - again. plus a few old ones to be deployed as needed, but one as far forward as practicable, and one as far aft as practicable.

If you have nimble crew and a difficult approach, you want them to have a big fender in hand. ready to deploy between you and whatever expensive or destructive object wind and tide are pushing you towards. Note: a simple approach is automatically rendered more difficult by the presence of an audience - the bigger the audience, the more difficult it becomes.

One final thought: Milady doesn't do knots, so I fitted snap shackles to the lines, and numbered the fenders 1-4 so she could get them in the right place easily Since most pontoons are roughly the same height out of the water, this worked in almost all situations, especially as the fenders were long enough to cover most of the topsides. It works for me too - far quicker than tying knots! Just click and done, which is great when single handing.
 
Six good size cylindrical fenders works for me in most situations but I also have 9 large fenders (all Hypalon and bought secondhand) of the types designed to be inflated/deflated quickly for when I need more - just a few seconds with a foot pump. This means that I have ample fenders without having to hang any over the rail which I abhor. Oh yes, and a fender step too.
 
I have 10 on a 28-foot yacht.

4 each side plus a roving fender bow and stern.

I have to transit Arzal lock,and when you enter you have no idea where the lock-keeper will tell you to go. Port/starboard to, alongside the wall or rafted up. There isn't time to be faffing about shifting fenders.
 
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I have 6 fenders which are used on my 25‘ when on my fore and aft mooring, four long fenders and two ball fenders, normally they are not in action, but I am sandwiched between a ‘mobo‘ with yacht legs on the stb side and a larger yacht on the port side, however if there has been heavy rain the river swings around below us and can push us against each other.
Our harbour ‘landlords’ the local council seem intent on cramming too many boats in on each line so we are all too close together for optimum separation.
 
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38' cat

Fender boards cover a multiple of sins.

I made one from a long beam of marine ply with 20mm closed cell foam, glued, on one side..

The length of a fender board, or a combination of same depends on the size of your yacht

we also carry 4 fenders and one ball buoy fender

We moor to our own swing mooring, we don't use marinas - our only need for fenders is picking up crew (and a lot of our piers have poles - hence fender boards) or refuelling (and normally we refuel with jerry cans (its cheaper).

Jonathan
 
It might depend on the size of aforesaid fenders as I have seen French yachts sporting micro fenders but assuming a decent size by likes of compass marine at12.8m we have roughly 4or 5 per side plus a random ball fender on stern and a random found fender in black plastic on other stern quarter and a couple of small French size fenders for dinghies etc,a bow fender and a fender step. If we were travelling to med I might invest in a few of the sort you deflate to store in tender etc . We don’t carry a fender board though at least not on board or any blue plastic sheet for side where fenders rub. I guess if you have an awlgrip or wrapped hull you might be more careful coming along side.
 
On a 44ft boat we carry 3 large cylindrical fenders, 2 medium cylindrical fenders, a fender step, 4 large Avon pump up fenders that are easily deflated for stowage when not in use and one 5 foot long Avon fender. That one is our emergency fender. We use the hard fenders on the pontoon side of the boat, with a rash pad and the Avon fenders between boats as they are kinder on the paintwork.
 
When I first had my new boat I hung the main 6 fenders on the stern, The wife said it made us look like some charter yacht--- & was annoyed :eek:-- So that is where I have stowed them for the last 18 years?.
I always find that women need something to niggle about & a few fenders on the rail is safe & predictive.
Besides being SHanded it is much easier to just pull the slip knot on the aft wire than root around in a locker for fenders.
 
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