fender repair......

CliffA

CliffA

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2009
4,712
Lake Norman, NC
Boat Info
2001 Sea Ray 340DA
Name: 'Happy Place'
4.5kW West. Generator
Purchased Nov. 2014
Fresh Water Use
Engines
Twin Merc. 6.2L (MPI)
640 hp (Total)
Raw Water Cooled
V-Drive Transmissions
OK, so I just had another one of my 'harebrained' ideas.....I have four 10" fenders for my boat....2 of which are leaking air.....they are not Taylormade so there is no life time warranty.......even though they are not name brand they are still pretty expensive.....

I have been thinking of a way to repair the leaking fenders and have done a lot of reading on the net....seems like there is no real good way to repair them....conventional patches will not stick to the vinyl wall of the fender...neither will any of the 'stop leak' type of products....

I was thinking why not use an inner tube inside the fender?.....I could get a small yard tractor inner tube from Tractor Supply for around $8....I could make a small slit in the fender and stuff the inner tube inside....I could drill a hole in the top of the fender for the inner tube air valve stem to stick through.....then I could inflate the inner tube as needed....the inner tube would assume the shape of the fender as it is inflated....

so shoot some holes in this idea before I waste my time and money trying it...

it is not really a matter of cheaping out and not buying new fenders...it just seems like all fenders will eventually lose their air and will need to be replaced or possibly repaired....if this works it would be a low cost solution....

cliff
 
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Hey I feel ya on this.

I got a hole in one of my dock wheels and filled it with expanding foam! (am I a redneck now?)
 
Quint4 said:
Hey I feel ya on this.

I got a hole in one of my dock wheels and filled it with expanding foam! (am I a redneck now?)
Click to expand...

yep....welcome to the club.......:wink:....
 
I would think that you'd have a few issues to contend with. 1) the inner tube will likely try to "expand" out the same slit you used to insert it, I see this all the time with bicycle tubes when you get a gash in the tire. 2) what is the abrasion resistance of the tube material? for the tire use the tube doesn't really move much as it will essentially be "one" with the tire. In this use I'd suspect that there would be a lot of movement and internal rubbing of the tube to the fender wall as the boat pushes and rocks on the fender.
 
Quint4 said:
Hey I feel ya on this.

I got a hole in one of my dock wheels and filled it with expanding foam! (am I a redneck now?)
Click to expand...

"Now"? You say that as though it took THIS mod to put you in that club! :smt001

I like trying to save things, too. Like you guys said, it's not so much about the money. But why throw something away if it can be reasonably fixed?

OK, I'll play devil's advocate...

How big of a hole will you need and will the tube squeeze back out through the slit/hole? Not so much when the fender is just hanging there, but when it gets squeezed.

With the way that fenders can move around, is there any worry that the valve can contact the boat? If it did, the cap could be worn/broken off and then the metal valve could contact the boat.
 
I don't know, for a few $$ it might be fun to try, afraid it will squeeze out of the slit once some pressure gets on it - but I've tried crazier things. Another idea that will get you admiral status of the redneck yacht club, just tie a rope to the innertube, hang it over the side of the boat and "boom" new fender!

And really it's not a "fender", it's a "bumper" and they should hang permanently down both sides of the boat from long lines so they drag in the water.
 
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CliffA said:
it just seems like all fenders will eventually lose their air and will need to be replaced or possibly repaired....if this works it would be a low cost solution....
Click to expand...

Isn't that a reason for one to buy Taylor Made fenders? I think the lowest cost solution would be to buy the fenders with the lifetime warranty. Send the old ones back...new fenders. JMHO.
 
Maybe a tape like shrink wrap tape would work to keep the slit from opening up. It's like duct tape, but it's UV stable (at least for a few years). Actually, I bet you could get some time out of the fender by ONLY using the shrink wrap tape. Inflate the fender, then cover the air nozzle with the tape, making a few wraps around.
 
Why not fill it with expandable foam?? It would be a more firm of a bumper.
 
BillK2632 said:
I don't know, for a few $$ it might be fun to try, afraid it will squeeze out of the slit once some pressure gets on it - but I've tried crazier things. Another idea that will get you admiral status of the redneck yacht club, just tie a rope to the innertube, hang it over the side of the boat and "boom" new fender!

And really it's not a "fender", it's a "bumper" and they should hang permanently down both sides of the boat from long lines so they drag in the water.
Click to expand...

If I ever forget mine I'm okay, my boat has a built in bumper running all the way around the boat encased in aluminum


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I use a soldering iron, yes a soldering iron, to melt the tears in plastic back together. Doesn't always work, but most times it does!
Bumper material may be a tough one, though, as it is rather thick.
 
Lazy Daze said:
"Now"? You say that as though it took THIS mod to put you in that club! :smt001
Click to expand...

Okay, I do admit to JB welding some critical engine parts...LOL.
 
Boater420 said:
Isn't that a reason for one to buy Taylor Made fenders? I think the lowest cost solution would be to buy the fenders with the lifetime warranty. Send the old ones back...new fenders. JMHO.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. I don't mind fixing stuff, but only if the repair is invisible. I'm OCD and seeing the patch or the slit or the tape would drive me crazy. I want my stuff to look like new whenever possible.
 
thanks for the replies.....I thought we could have some fun with this one...

I might give this a try just for kicks.....to be honest I don't use my fenders that much so in my situation a repair like is may be OK....while the boat is docked in my slip I don't use the fenders....I use enough dock lines to keep the boat centered in the slip...if the boat does move to one side of the slip I have plastic guards on the roof support poles on the dock fingers that will hit the rub rail of the boat before the gelcoat hits the dock.....about the only time I use the fenders is when we raft up with friend's boats....the gas/pump-out dock we use has a nice rubber edging so we don't need fenders there.....

I would make the slit in the fender as small as possible and probably near the top....I'm guessing no more than a couple inches will be needed.....the hole for the valve stem would be at the very top of the fender which should keep the valve stem from marking the gelcoat.....since a fender does not require a lot of air to be effective the inner tube may stay inside of the fender and not protrude out of the slit...if it does I may try some of the heat shrink tape Dennis suggested or black duct tape over the slit....my fenders are black so I would use black tape which should blend in well....I also like the idea of sealing the hole by plastic welding.....if the inner tube idea flops I may give that a try....

for those that suggested to just buy Taylormade fenders and be done with it I really cannot make an argument against that.....in the end that may be what I end up doing....

I just like to 'tinker' with stuff and things like this challenge me.....sometimes I win but often times I loose.....i'll update the post after I waste my time and money.....:smt001....

cliff
 
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