Do-It-Yourself Fender

[Barnacle Bob]

I need three huge fenders to keep a 60 foot boat off a concrete pier. The commercial ones I've seen are airfilled and start at $3,000.00 each and they can be punctured.

Any ideas how to make a large fender this size out of scrap or cheap but durable materials?

[PowerTech]

you can use truck tires or tracktor tires and chain them to the sea wall.

[Barnacle Bob]

Originally Posted by Barnacle Bob

I need three huge fenders to keep a 60 foot boat off a concrete pier. The commercial ones I've seen are airfilled and start at $3,000.00 each and they can be punctured.

Any ideas how to make a large fender this size out of scrap or cheap but durable materials?

Tried that, but the boat moved up and down with the tide and the rub rail gets stuck on the top of the tire on the way down... pulled the stainless off and the tires mark up the hull.

Need something that floats up and down with the boat.

[cyclops]

I put the fender horizontal with 2 ropes, 1 on each end. It rolls up and down with no damage to anything. They work like soft rolling pins. Or position them on the water in front of pier colums. String the lines to a pier on either side of the one with the fender in front of it.

[Barnacle Bob]

Originally Posted by cyclops

I put the fender horizontal with 2 ropes, 1 on each end. It rolls up and down with no damage to anything. They work like soft rolling pins. Or position them on the water in front of pier colums. String the lines to a pier on either side of the one with the fender in front of it.

I guess you are talking about airfilled commercially sold fenders. I tried those including the large teardrops made by Polyform and they only work if I tie them to the boat. I went through three sets of these type fenders and they all ended up mangled, leaving my hull scarred. They eventually are cut through by the sharp oyster shells growing on the pier. When the tide goes down a lot of oysters are exposed. Also, I had vandals puncture them right at the neck where the line is attached.

High winds and typhoons out here in the Far East create a difficult mooring situation.

[cyclops]

How about a length of hollow pipe the inside diameter of used heavy duty dump truck tires. Weld a retaining plate on 1 end, slide on 5-10 tires, weld on the other end plate. Put ropes on each end. Let it roll up and down. Could be tied to piers or the boat. Mussels and vandals have had it. Your welcome.

[SailDesign]

Do it the old way - with rope fenders.

[Barnacle Bob]

Originally Posted by SailDesign

Do it the old way - with rope fenders.

I tried the traditional rope fenders that came with the boat... they didn't protect the hull and were ripped to shreds by the pier and oysters. Sometimes they ended up on top of the pier with the hull against the concrete.

[yipster]

you mean like this http://www.boatfenders.co.uk/ and clicking on the link on the bottom of the page you get another 100 fenders but no one i could find does $3K or more perhaps another thought is the tugboat style docking sideplanking?

[Danielsan]

does it has to be esthetic? Do you have to pull them up or is it allowed that the they be heavy?

Maybe you could make a mold of a finder like form and fill it up with some kind of self expanding polyurethan mastic or synthetic foam or silicon rubber?

greetz,

[mackid068]

That's a good idea. Self expanding foam is an interesting thought. So tires didn't work. Maybe you could fill them with foam and seal off the interiors and attach a nice surface for the boat's hull to "lean" on.

[MikeJohns]

Bob
Unless you can get the dock owner to add some decent vertical rubber ship dock buffers then I'd work on the tyres, if you cant get a good heavy tyre to do the job nothing will.

I'd Work on ways of fixing the tyres in place on your boat relative to your rub rail or contact points. Forget the PVC air filled fenders they're not strong enough. I've seen some heavy closed cell foam mats that seem near indestructable that work well.

Tyres can be wrapped in various materials but watch the continual abrasion on your topsides.

[Barnacle Bob]

Originally Posted by MikeJohns

Bob
Unless you can get the dock owner to add some decent vertical rubber ship dock buffers then I'd work on the tyres, if you cant get a good heavy tyre to do the job nothing will.

I'd Work on ways of fixing the tyres in place on your boat relative to your rub rail or contact points. Forget the PVC air filled fenders they're not strong enough. I've seen some heavy closed cell foam mats that seem near indestructable that work well.

Tyres can be wrapped in various materials but watch the continual abrasion on your topsides.

Fixing stuff on the pier is worthless... there are already vertical rubber dock buffers on the pier... what happens is at high tide the rub rail rises above the pier and then during low tide... the rub rail sits down on top of the rubber and damages the rub rail... the area on the pier where the boat is now... has vertical rubber on the dock and I have put tires on the pier and the same thing happens... I have fixed tires on the boat and they come off when the rope wears through.

Thanks for the input.

[mackid068]

Multiple ropes?

[PowerTech]

lots of my customers use these mooring whips.they work awsome and they are not expensive.they are easy to use you will like them it makes docking easy to you can leave your dock lines hanging from them.So when you pull up you can just grab them.you dont need no hook or nothing. http://www.sailboatstuff.com/mor_morwhip.html