What's the big deal with fenders?

[Grumpybear]

Is there any reason not to tie fenders horizontally like you often see in water taxis? I've thought that doing this would minimise the risk if tangling and give a larger area of protection.

We do this with a big fender when rafted. It seems to prevent fender squeak, but not necessarily entanglement.

 

[Seajet]

The snag with having fenders horizontal is that one needs to get the height just right, so it doesn't work alongside walls considering the tide moving the boat up & down; fine by pontoons once one has worked out the level.

 

[Johntheyachty]

I have never even been close to hitting the other boat at a pontoon. I don't see the need to have fenders every inch and making sure the pontoon is the target rather than another boat has always seemed relatively straight forward.

How wonderful it must be to be perfect!

 

[pmagowan]

How wonderful it must be to be perfect!

If you think that makes me perfect I would hate to be out on a boat with you! I don't see the need to criticise someone for their fender positioning when, as it happens, they end up having enough, in the right positions, for the job. I also don't see the need in instructing others in the 'right' way to do something when it is entirely up to the skipper to determine what is right for his boat. Sometimes we all make mistakes but I don't think we need every inch of our boat padded just in case. As someone else pointed out, more usefully than your post, this may be a problem for inexperienced charters as they have no choice over the number of fenders they have, although many charterers are probably very experienced.

 

[ricky_s]

If you think that makes me perfect I would hate to be out on a boat with you! I don't see the need to criticise someone for their fender positioning when, as it happens, they end up having enough, in the right positions, for the job. I also don't see the need in instructing others in the 'right' way to do something when it is entirely up to the skipper to determine what is right for his boat. Sometimes we all make mistakes but I don't think we need every inch of our boat padded just in case. As someone else pointed out, more usefully than your post, this may be a problem for inexperienced charters as they have no choice over the number of fenders they have, although many charterers are probably very experienced.

No offence but that does come over as a bit arrogant. You may well be confident with your skills as most of us are but sometimes things do go wrong and having fenders to protect your neighbour is not only common sense but common courtesy.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

No offence but that does come over as a bit arrogant. You may well be confident with your skills as most of us are but sometimes things do go wrong and having fenders to protect your neighbour is not only common sense but common courtesy.

Blimey! I use fenders when I think they are needed not because someone else deems them to be "common courtesy"

The one exception is when I am tied up on a public mooring/pontoon and it is likely that people will want to come alongside. In that case I sometimes put fenders out as a "you're welcome to come alongside" message, rather than to make doing so any easier. It doesn't; if fenders get tangled up they are a nuisance. I'm never sure what the best thing to do is, but I dislike the "don't come alongside me" brigade.

 

[pmagowan]

No offence but that does come over as a bit arrogant. You may well be confident with your skills as most of us are but sometimes things do go wrong and having fenders to protect your neighbour is not only common sense but common courtesy.

Each to their own. I do not feel it is necessary to fender the side of my boat against a risk I think is negligible and easily avoided. I might as well fender the stern every time I leave the pontoon just in case I hit the boats on the pontoons opposite. Some people may consider these things a risk that requires fendering against and that is their decision, I won't criticise them for it. I have running fenders for any unexpected or dynamic situation. If it is common sense and courtesy to protect against risks which have, in my experience never occurred or seemed likely to occur then I am afraid I am going to have to remain ignorantly discourteous. I have never felt it a lack of courtesy when people have moored opposite me without fenders on my side. I show them the courtesy of assuming they are competent. I am not going to suggest to other skippers how they should arrange their boat, perhaps that makes me arrogant.

 

[KellysEye]

>I make sure I've got a decent number of fenders down on both sides

You don't say how many you have but we had five fenders each side, that keeps the riff raff off your non pontoon side. The reason we did it was although it costs more it's better to do that than risk of the boat being damaged and losing your insurance no claims bonus.

 

[flaming]

I think it also depends on if it's your home berth or one you are visiting.

A few years ago my dad had a berth where when the two boats were in there wasn't actually room for a full size fender between the boats, so there was no way you could possibly enter the berth with fenders out on that side if the other boat had fenders out. We came to an agreement that we would not put fenders out, but he would because his fenders were thinner. This was pretty stress free berthing actually, as if you were being blown off the pontoon you couldn't exactly go far...
Came home one time and there was a visitor in the berth who had an absolutely massive fender out. I had to throw it over his guardrail onto his deck before we could actually get into the berth.

I also think that if you are fendering your offside, then it's not actually right to put them in the same places you would if you were planning to come alongside that boat, as that's not what's happening. You need to think about what could go wrong for you to hit the other boat. Assuming that you are halfway competent, then the most likely thing to go wrong is either your bowline or your sternline not getting attached. So then you will swing that end of the boat towards the other boat. So fenders at the bow and stern make a lot of sense.

If however both boats are manned and it's a planned coming alongside, then I personally prefer only the arriving boat to be fendered to avoid the fender snagging problems with a less than perfect approach. However I did try asking one boat to pull theirs in once, and it didn't go well. I think he thought I was mad.