Wood properties

Iliade

Iliade

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27 Apr 2005
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2,265
Location
Shoreham - up the river without a paddle.
www.airworks.co.uk
What are the optimal timbers for fender boards please?

I last used a section of garden decking but it is not strong enough for the new boat, she will need something more like 2" x 9". It will be bearing against a wooden pile, presumably green oak.

I need to be able to lift it, don't want it to rot or wear out too fast and will inevitably lose it one day. I also need to get it quickly.
 
Good quality scaffolding board. But take off the metal end protectors ("banding").

Treated boards are not permitted in construction, but you can get tanalised, or other treatments.

https://www.scaffolding-direct.co.uk/tanalised-gardening-allotment-boards/

The boards are chosen according to a standard which means that the grain runs along the full length of the board, so a point load against a wharf or wall timber is less likely to break the board.

If you really need 2 inch thick, then laminate 2 boards together ?
 
Many hesitate to ship a full-size fender board, due to stowage difficulties. There is a solution....

Consider the 'Wharram Hinge' used on the rudders of JW's Polynesian catamarans. Whatever you think of them, they last, are easily repaired/replaced, and have thousands of miles under their keels.

48085715651_d2cfd8cbc4_z.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDQu3Md-d8s


Lace two suitably-short ( say 4' ) boards together end-to-end using cord as above. Stow then folded. Opened, they'll span sufficiently to cope with timber baulks and rough walls.
You'll need more fenders in place, and support lines in the middle. Cut a D-shaped hole near each end, sized for a foot, as a simple emergency boarding ladder.

Cheap, cheerful, effective....
 
The 2" thick board that I am currently borrowing is about the same width as a scaffold plank/board and bends quite alarmingly. I would not trust a single scaffold plank.

To further establish the requirements, we are talking about a six ton fin keeled boat drying out against a wooden pier with some ten feet between the piles.

When everything lines up nicely there is virtually no deflection, but she is still settling into the mud berth, so moves each tide.
 
SAPurdie said:
The 2" thick board that I am currently borrowing is about the same width as a scaffold plank/board and bends quite alarmingly. I would not trust a single scaffold plank.

To further establish the requirements, we are talking about a six ton fin keeled boat drying out against a wooden pier with some ten feet between the piles.

When everything lines up nicely there is virtually no deflection, but she is still settling into the mud berth, so moves each tide.
Click to expand...

Without a picture I'm just guessing, but can you add more fenders? Additionally, the fender can be a variety of sizes.
 
SAPurdie said:
The 2" thick board that I am currently borrowing is about the same width as a scaffold plank/board and bends quite alarmingly. I would not trust a single scaffold plank.

To further establish the requirements, we are talking about a six ton fin keeled boat drying out against a wooden pier with some ten feet between the piles.

When everything lines up nicely there is virtually no deflection, but she is still settling into the mud berth, so moves each tide.
Click to expand...
Something that bends is much more suitable than something that breaks.
 
I debated the same issue when in a timber yard, and following the manager's recommendation went for good quality spruce, 2" x 8" x 4.8m (which we sawed in half to make two boards). I treated them with 'Decks Olje'.

jpg9eGNFgnrLZ.jpg


That was 3 or 4 years ago and they've served well both as fender boards and as gang-planks (with castors bolted to the outboard end):

jpgs9xVYw8SPQ.jpg


I think it was worth the premium for good quality scandinavian timber.
 
Last edited:
SAPurdie said:
The 2" thick board that I am currently borrowing is about the same width as a scaffold plank/board and bends quite alarmingly. I would not trust a single scaffold plank.

To further establish the requirements, we are talking about a six ton fin keeled boat drying out against a wooden pier with some ten feet between the piles.

When everything lines up nicely there is virtually no deflection, but she is still settling into the mud berth, so moves each tide.
Click to expand...

In situations like that, what the commercial fishermen seem to do is have a 'fender board' which stays at the berth.
So you can make somrthing which goes up and down with the boat when it's there, but less portable.
The rough version is something like a telegraph pole with lots of old tyres threaded on it.

You could use a scaffold board, reinforced on the pier side to make a T section?
You don't need the T section at the piles, only between.
The other thing is longer springs so the boat's position fore and aft is more fixed, so the main fenders stay closer to the piles and bend the boards less.
You can have less slack in the springs if the are secured on the pier at mid-tide level.

Or you can have some arrangement where the springs slide up and down the piles or rails.

Taken to its logical conclusion, you end up with a thing called a 'pontoon' between the boat and pier.. :-)
 
lw395 said:
Taken to its logical conclusion, you end up with a thing called a 'pontoon' between the boat and pier.. :-)
Click to expand...

Ooh, I remember the days when I could easily justify that to the accounts department, because it was just me! ;0)

I'm now thinking about a BIG board and 'sash weights' to help keep it manageable. I vaguely remember our old bosun rigging such a contrivance for his boat.
 
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