The RIGHT way to tie on fenders

[Amulet]

The recent post about fender ropes stimulates me to get this off my chest.

On many boats that I've sailed on skippers have insisted that fenders are tied on the RIGHT way. Trouble is that they all have different ways.

The right way on my boat is a clove hitch around the top wire of the guard rail just behind a stanchion - easy to adjust in height, and gives the fender a sporting chance of sliding rather than breaking something in the event of a fender tangle with another boat.

The right way on some boats is a turn round the lower wire and a clove hitch around the top rail - spreads the load and thus diminishes the pull on the wires and lessens fractures at the surrounding stanchion holes.

A PBO article some considerable time ago favoured over the top of the wire at a stanchion and then a clove hitch around the stanchion and rising rope - gives the fender a strong support diminishing the likelihood of damage in a tangle. I favoured this in a previous life until one wrenched a stanchion plate loose in a fight with a pontoon.

And... with respect to the fender ropes debate. Use braid of some kind (even though three strand is easier to splice). Clove hitching small three strand around a wire soon cripples it.

Also... while I'm ranting about doing things the right way. A YM article by St Tom Cunliffe insisted that the RIGHT way to finish off the coil on your mainsheet to hang it up is a bight through the coil and over the end - the tail through the coil being slovenly. Of course on my boat this is the WRONG way. The tail through the coil is much tidier and easy to undo without a tangle.

Oh and also.... I have come to the conclusion that you might as well fender both sides no matter what the marina says a about port or starboard side to on the radio. Sometimes they get it wrong, and there's often scope for a cock-up which will be ameliorated by the ability to raft up either side. (Cock-up amelioration is a recurrent feature of my sailing.)

 

[Firefly]

Don't know about the RIGHT way to tie a fender but for me the BEST way is a round turn and two half hitches around the top wire, preferably on the bight (easier to undo)

 

[Blueboatman]

Now here's a thing ( that could be complete bolleaux).
If you tie a fender off strongly at deck level surely the lead of the tie is too angled. At the top lifeline conversely the fenders have more up and down surge against the fibreglass ( but more elastic shock absorbtion)..
So, I dunno either.
I would rather use 8 fenders and lose one than tear out a stantion base tho..or load it to within a whisker of its ( unseen) fatigue point perhaps . Paranoid, moi?

With judicious springs and a box-like mooring it is often possible to keep most of the boats weight away from the pontoon?

I used to have a mooring between four wooden poles, no fenders at all!

 

[Amulet]

Don't know about the RIGHT way to tie a fender but for me the BEST way is a round turn and two half hitches around the top wire, preferably on the bight (easier to undo)

I could live with that, as long as it's not just in front of a stanchion.

 

[nigelmercier]

Don't know about the RIGHT way to tie a fender but for me the BEST way is a round turn and two half hitches around the top wire...

This is how I leave my boat, usually more than two half-hitches. It also must be the top wire to reduce chafing. But overnight I use a different bend that I figured out for myself. I'm sure it has a name, but I have no idea. Will post picture later...

 

[prv]

My "right way" is initially a slipped clove hitch around the lower lifeline (to avoid introducing sag into the top one). This is easy to adjust length, and also easy to quickly undo and move a fender elsewhere. Once we're fully moored up and all the fenders are in their final position, I take the loop in the slippery clove hitch and use it to make a half-hitch around the standing part of the rope, preventing it being released accidentally.

My dad seems to use some variation of a clove hitch with lots of extra loops and turns to no extra benefit, and I have no idea what my mum's doing except that it's a bugger to get undone!

Pete

 

[xeitosaphil]

Not sure about the right/wrong way to tie a fender, but for me the best and fastest way when coming along side is a clove hitch on top wire – slideable but with the clove hitch made off with a loop not a bight to finish - quick to undo should you need arise to change sides. Once moored up re-adjust fenders for height etc, change to proper clove hitch with a half hitch to finish opposite side of clove hitch bight. Two fixed to stanchions, two slideable.

 

[nigelmercier]

Bight.

 

[RobbieW]

TC once opined, in one of his YM one page articles, that there is no right way to do anything on a boat. He also said that some methods of doing things will get you into trouble more quickly than others. That there is no right way to tie fenders is amply demonstrated by this thread, sorting out which will keep you out of trouble is usually an exercise left to the user

 

[aquaplane]

I use a round turn and 2 half hitches on the top guard wire. The crew uses a cross over affair with 2 half hitches, it's not as easy to adjust the height 'cos it has to be completly undone instead of just the half hitches. Anything other than a "splosh" knot works, so long as it unties easily.

 

[Zagato]

As a single hander I leave mine tied on to the base of the stanchion permanently and just flick them over the side when needed. Luckily the lower guard rail wire keeps them in place when heeling. An alternative depending on boat design is to buy fenders with tie on holes at either end, and link/tie them together with a rope leading back to the cockpit so you can just raise and lower at will.

 

[johnalison]

I don't know about the "right" way but there are several things on the boat that I like done consistently, if only so that I can deal with them quickly in the dark.

We don't always know what level to set the fenders at when entering harbour, so ease of adjustment is important. We use a round turn and a single slipped hitch when entering and add a second hitch after tying up. I hadn't thought of using a slipped clove hitch and might give it a try.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

I do occasionally get a bit exercised about this not because I think there is a single right way but only better and worse ways. What alarms me is when (certificated) competent crew tie on fenders with a 'knot' that is not a knot. We always check all the fender knots for security after visiting crew have done them and often have to retie wierd and wonderful arrangements. Less of a problem now we are on a swinging mooring most of the time.

 

[Bobc]

On my boat, the "right way" is any way that means they don't fall off.

 

[Salty John]

On my boats I tie fenders with a clove hitch on the top line when docking and then, when docked, move the fenders to a stanchion base using a round turn and two half hitches. This is how I was taught and is one of the few practices I haven't changed over the years. I cringe when I see fenders hanging off lifelines permanently; all that stretching and relaxing must wear the lines and weaken them.

 

[Boathook]

On my boats I tie fenders with a clove hitch on the top line when docking and then, when docked, move the fenders to a stanchion base using a round turn and two half hitches. This is how I was taught and is one of the few practices I haven't changed over the years. I cringe when I see fenders hanging off lifelines permanently; all that stretching and relaxing must wear the lines and weaken them.

I agree about at the stanchion base.

 

[wipe_out]

I secure mine to the stanchion base with a clove hitch and a half hitch.. Very secure and easy to undo.. I always use the stanchion base to minimise the leverage force should one get a bit of a tug..

 

[CreakyDecks]

A YM article by St Tom Cunliffe insisted that the RIGHT way to finish off the coil on your mainsheet to hang it up is a bight through the coil and over the end - the tail through the coil being slovenly. Of course on my boat this is the WRONG way. The tail through the coil is much tidier and easy to undo without a tangle.

I have to agree with St Tom (and Ray Mears).

 

[25931]

Two points 1. I like to invite ladies to visit and therefore release the pelican on the top wire to enable them to board more easily so don't hang fenders on it.
2. I also like to sail single handed and find that with a patent plastic clip that allows instant removal by tugging the tail I am prepared to swap sides rapidly when necessary.

 

[Amulet]

On my boat, the "right way" is any way that means they don't fall off.

Hard to argue with that.