Proper Fender Placement

[electricaldoctor]

Red fenders ... cool. :wow:

 

[rondds]

red VIRTUAL fenders!

 

[Pietro]

I have two spots I usually hang fenders (we raft up very often). One is the handrail at the aft end of the salon. very sturdy and through bolted. The other is the midship side cleat. This gives good distribution. SRs are not particularly high freeboard boats so sometimes I need to set that midship fender a bit higher - that's when it goes on the the bowrail...of the other boat :grin:

In the home slip, the boat is set in such a way as to obviate the need for fenders. When transient-ing, they'll go in the spots described above and pictured below.

Ron, I also use the side handrail. Here is my idea (easy to adjust):

using these:

 

[electricaldoctor]

Good idea Pietro. I added a cleat on the port side of the boat just ahead of that grab bar when I had things apart last spring. It is mounted at the same height as the back cleat and I made sure that I installed an oversized aluminum backing plate when I bolted down the new cleat. I will be doing the same to the starboard side this spring as well. I always felt that there was far too much distance between the aft cleat and the next one forward. Sea Ray dropped the ball there.

When I removed all of the crappy teak strips up front where the original capstan was installed, I used that 8" cleat for the new side location on the port side. I would like to find another 8" cleat to match for the stb side.

 

[CESSNA172K@GMAIL.COM]

I have a 22ft srv searay project boat.i just rebuilt engine needs a lot more work.this is my first post.this is a test.

 

[Subaru06]

A cleat is our first choice. However, tides, the particular dock, etc. may not make this practical. We may have to hang a fender from the the rail or anything else that seems reasonable. I would like to use fender boards but I cannot figure out where to store a 6 foot long piece of wood on a 280 Dancer.

 

[electricaldoctor]

A cleat is our first choice. However, tides, the particular dock, etc. may not make this practical. We may have to hang a fender from the the rail or anything else that seems reasonable. I would like to use fender boards but I cannot figure out where to store a 6 foot long piece of wood on a 280 Dancer.

If you can't stow it, tow it. :smt043

 

[Dick Whetstone]

Between the boat and the dock always works for me. :smt001 Sorry I could not resist.

 

[Gofirstclass]

When rafting or in a "foreign" slip/dock I don't usually use cleats to tie fenders to because I want them free to tie lines to. I often tie fenders around the base of stanchions and as a last resort I tie them to the bow rails themselves.

In the slip, I always use cleats.

 

[Turtlesboat]

I always use my cleats for dock lines or raft up. rails for fenders. doesn't matter if it's foreign, local, raft up.

 

[Nehalennia]

I use the cleats with the fender lines beneath the dock lines. When approaching the dock they're tied up estimating at what height they need to be, then once at the dock adjust everything to be snug.

 

[rondds]

I keep a few undocumented workers on retainer - they physically hold the lines so that the cleats will remain free for fenders.

 

[Nehalennia]

I keep a few undocumented workers on retainer - they physically hold the lines so that the cleats will remain free for fenders.

What are the lines attached to?

 

[Woody]

I use the cleats with the fender lines beneath the dock lines. When approaching the dock they're tied up estimating at what height they need to be, then once at the dock adjust everything to be snug.

That's what I do also. I also carry some of these removable post bumpers and they come in handy pretty often. They don't take up alot of room either. http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...toreNum=10105&subdeptNum=10389&classNum=10395

 

[fwebster]

Excuse me for stirring up trouble, but this is pretty much another winter-time poll that is useless.

Putting fender lines on a cleat causes various problems particularly for larger boats. If your dock lines are 5/8" or 3/4" diameter then there is no room for a fender line. Do you really want your cleats clogged up with anything if you find that you need to adjust your lines for a tide , thunderstorm, or, God forbid, a hurricane surge and winds. At 3AM I damned sure don't want to be messing with fender lines in the way of adjusting dock lines.......while hanging on with one hand in a 70 mph wind being peppered with rain and sand.

I'd say get your priorities in order and you answer the question quite easily. Is your priority to properly secure the boat in the middle of the slip or is it to hang an air-filled plastic baggie off the side in an effort to minimize the damage from not properly securing the boat with the bitter ends of your docklines on the cleats in the first place.

When I use fenders, mine are always secured to the bow rails or rod holders.

I guess smaller trailerable boats may have other priorities, but I've found the above to be proper and adequate for larger boats.

 

[Woody]

Excuse me for stirring up trouble, but this is pretty much another winter-time poll that is useless.

Putting fender lines on a cleat causes various problems particularly for larger boats. If your dock lines are 5/8" or 3/4" diameter then there is no room for a fender line. Do you really want your cleats clogged up with anything if you find that you need to adjust your lines for a tide , thunderstorm, or, God forbid, a hurricane surge and winds. At 3AM I damned sure don't want to be messing with fender lines in the way of adjusting dock lines.......while hanging on with one hand in a 70 mph wind being peppered with rain and sand.

I'd say get your priorities in order and you answer the question quite easily. Is your priority to properly secure the boat in the middle of the slip or is it to hang an air-filled plastic baggie off the side in an effort to minimize the damage from not properly securing the boat with the bitter ends of your docklines on the cleats in the first place.

When I use fenders, mine are always secured to the bow rails or rod holders.

I guess smaller trailerable boats may have other priorities, but I've found the above to be proper and adequate for larger boats.

Sometimes there ain't no middle Frank.

 

[rondds]

What are the lines attached to?

Nothing. They illegals just hold the lines and adjust them as needed according to wind and tide conditions. That's just how I roll.

If your boat is slipped in a semi-private, floating dock setup (ie: finger on one side and either no piling on the opposite side or a piling that's 20' away, a la Farley State Marina in Atlantic City), it's tricky to suspend the boat in the slip and fenders become more of a necessity. For short stays in a calm berth, fenders do the trick. In your home port, suspension is the way to go, and setting your lines such that you simply grab them and make fast by looping them over and through a cleat is proper.

In the pic below (transient slip in Atlantic City), you'll note one fender missing from my rack. It is deployed on the port side midship cleat. The stern is suspended by criss-crossing the aft lines, which makes a second fender aft unnecessary. Please excuse my friend with the mismatched fenders dangling! Oh yeah, and that dried out vinyl dock edging at Farley is like 80 grit sandpaper. You'd be better off with just the wood - less damaging.

 

[fc3]

I keep a few undocumented workers on retainer - they physically hold the lines so that the cleats will remain free for fenders.

Oh... and you keep them in the engine room! No wonder the engine room is so messy.

Nothing. They illegals just hold the lines and adjust them as needed according to wind and tide conditions. That's just how I roll.

In the pic below (transient slip in Atlantic City), you'll note one fender missing from my rack.

Where are the illegals in that photo?

 

[rondds]

Oh... and you keep them in the engine room!

They're only in the ER when we're underway. Other than that, they can't leave their post holding the lines.

Where are the illegals in that photo?

They're on the port side. They aren't that tall. A Silverton bridge boat pulled in along side after this picture was taken so they were hidden from the view of the State Police and Coasties.

 

[Nehalennia]

In this picture you can see how mine are tied. In the NW we have floating docks, so there is no adjustment needed for tide. We also don't have the piling lined slips that it seems are common back east. This is not typically how I'm tied, but shows the fenders and lines sharing cleats. It does leave very little room. Anyway, usually I set the fenders at the correct height to meet the dock, then I will actually tie a line to to dock, then up to the aft cleat, then spring it forward to suck in the stern. I'll run another spring line at mid cleat sometimes(not needed all the time) and of course a bow line.