how many fenders is enough/too much?

[Poignard]

(...) Also useful when arriving, need just a bit of judgement for the distance bow/pontoon bow against the pontoon and engine left in forward +rudder against the finger, attach mooring lines at leisure, then turn off engine
Found a link
Défense d'étrave PVM1 Ocean

That's exactly what I used to do, and it always worked perfectly.

The only problem I used to encounter was helpful people rushing up and trying to keep the bow off the walkway while shouting "Arrière, arrière, Monsieur!"

 

[wingcommander]

Are these things any good?

View attachment 192746

I have 8 normal sausage-shaped ones down the side plus two spares and two round ones hanging off the back at the moment. Haven't got anything for the bow but was debating one of these or one off the y shaped buoys

Thats very similar. Not yet had to use it in anger . Its ht. Is set for my own pontoon to be two thirds up the fender. However I do hope I will have scrubbed off enough momentum that I'm not climbing onto the main pontoon lol

 

[john_morris_uk]

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.

We also carry eight plus a step fender. Our eight are all identical though.

 

[ingenious]

Did a run up a bit of a canal today just to see how it was handling the boat through locks like the typical oval ones here like this.



Put all of the fenders on the wall side and left ropes lightly slack and a pole to push back slightly (used the joystick on the one where we were port side to) and it was OK but still a bit worried about fenders riding up and my shiny gelcoat hitting stone so I thought about adapting the former walkway 2m length of scaffold board as a fender board.
Then met a German in a yacht, mast down, coming the other way who had an even better one - a length of HDPE gas pipe. It bends enough to follow the shape of the wall and slides over it easily. He had it on two of those adjustable fender hangers and tweaked it up and down while holding to boat on a single midships line. It looked really professional too as his pipe was while unlike the yellow which I think is compulsory in UK. Wish I’d got a pic but I’d left my phone in the cabin.
Edit:
Just did a search and I see this is actually fairly common although this is a shorter, rigid piece of pipe

 

[Chiara’s slave]

We have a lot. Having a lightweight foam sandwich boat makes you slightly paranoid perhaps. We also have a lot of storage for stuff like fenders, we cruise with 10 usually. We leave all but 3 in the tender on our mooring to go racing. Along with the miles of soggy mooring lines.

 

[vyv_cox]

In Mediterranean berthing we need fenders on both sides. At the height of the meltemi in typical Greek badly protected ports there can never be too many fenders. We carry 13 conventional ones plus two big ball fenders.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

I have lots, I can't remember how many. That's because I use both the Caledonian and Crinan canal.
Coming alongside I normally use 4 large ones, around mid ships. But if it's blowing old boots I extra fore and aft.
Full fender set for going through the Crinan Canal last October.
Same on the other side, and I think that I'm missing one on the bow.
I go port side too in the locks, so you can't see the bigger fenders.

 

[ChathamSailor]

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?

 

[ChathamSailor]

I go through a lock to get to my berth so carry 4 long ones ( F6) two on each side so at both high level for lock and lower level for pontoons at the same time. I also carry 6 to 8 conventional cylindrical ones ( F4) plus one large ball one for forward quarter and roving plus a fixed bow fender plus 4 small ones for rigid dingy tender. So 15-17 in total. This is for a 34 ft heavy weight ( 11.5 tonnes) long keel ketch.

 

[Daverw]

Have 3 available for each side and two larger ball ones for use at the stern, these are very useful when locking in and out, also we raft up quite a lot and they easily live on the sugar scoop ready for deployment, 30ft boat

 

[Stemar]

Coming alongside I normally use 4 large ones, around mid ships. But if it's blowing old boots I extra fore and aft.

There's an old joke that a pessimist is an optimist in full possession of the facts. One of the facts in my possession is that Murphy was an optimist, so I always want fenders as far forward and as far aft as I can get them when coming alongside.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

8 regular fenders and 2 ball fenders on our 44ft sailboat. Always feel like I want more!

snap .... on all counts.

 

[CrossedThreads]

I’ve got 11 on a 38 foot boat. Writing it down feels like a lot but never does in the heat of battle. For locks and docking we deploy 5 on each side (bow to stern) and have one roving ball fender. When I bought them I bought 4 large ones for the bow and stern and 6 medium ones for midships. This helps have as many in contact with the dock when alongside to spread the load if we are blown on.

 

[dunedin]

I have lots, I can't remember how many. That's because I use both the Caledonian and Crinan canal.
Coming alongside I normally use 4 large ones, around mid ships. But if it's blowing old boots I extra fore and aft.View attachment 192908
Full fender set for going through the Crinan Canal last October.
Same on the other side, and I think that I'm missing one on the bow.
I go port side too in the locks, so you can't see the bigger fenders.

Good set of fenders - but aren’t they much too high for the Crinan - where in some places the edge of the lock can be extremely low?

 

[Refueler]

OP of course dates back to 2022 .. but its as relevant today as was then.

For me - whether its my 24ft MoBo .. my 25ft Motor sailer or my 38ft racer ... the answer is - what you have + 1 !!

Like many things in life - never enough.

But my usual setup ? 3 per side in unknown locations ... in home location as I know it well - 2 each side. That applies to all the boats ....

I'm not a great lover of Ball fenders ... after buying one and it failed .. daftest valve system I've ever seen ... and it was a well known branded one .. I also hate Fender Socks .....

What I do like though .. is two sizes of fender ... one smaller diameter which go along the midships of the boat at its widest .. anlarger diameter out nearer the boat ends ... this then gives a better overall fender contact effect .. instead of just the midships fenders taking it all ... and the others hanging doing nothing.
Recently I added a bow U fender - we baltic moor here and that stops me breaking the bow nav light when bad weather goes though and boat rides pontoon ... believe me - you can winch that stern buoy in as hard as you like - but Mother Nature is more powerful !

 

[The Q]

4 ball fenders each side of the motorboat, three linked tube fenders on the stern.. if you've seen many Norfolk broads tourist hire boats behaviour you'll know why...

The little sailing boat has 3 fenders, only deployed when moored as a vertical tube fender fore and aft with a horizontal one between. Mostly to protect the boat from the quay heading as the tourists speed by creating waves.