Rub-rail/boat fender

[RogerHM]

My Grampian 23 is getting a lot of Lock-scars. To prevent more I'm thinking of installing full length horizontal fenders just below the gun'ale... More or less settled on strips of white flexible dock fender of the appropriate shape. (Better suggestions?)

What cement/glue would work best? And, would it be necessary to use thru-hull fastenings? SS screws, washers, nuts? I've seen some pretty nice big boats come thru the locks with what looks like strips of 1 x 4 oak doing the job. But more work with bending et al... All suggestions will be appreciated... Roger

 

[sailingdog]

The white flexible dock fender would probably be fairly ugly in short order. I'd recommend putting a beefed up rubrail on the hull to protect it. Having a wooden mounting board behind it might be a good way to extend it far enough from the hull to protect the hull deck join.

IMHO, either way it won't be pretty... why not use regular fenders and a fender board instead??? It is probably a lot cheaper, and definitely a lot less work.

 

[RogerHM]

Thanks Sailingdog.
Please describe a "beefed up rubrail." One thing I want to avoid is not having projections of anything that might get hung-up on the vertical lock cables. Regular fenders have spaces between them, and they have a tendency to role up leaving more exposed surfaces.
You're right about "pretty" but I'm more into function. OTOH I do like "...less work."
Gratefully, Roger

 

[tsmwebb]

I also like the idea of fender boards. They are easy, cheap and can be stowed on the stanchions when not in use. If you are worried about them catching things you might run a bit of fire hose (or other flat hose) from the fronts of the boards around the bow to act as a guide. I suspect you could make up a nice set of fender boards in an afternoon. Even a pretty rough rail will be serious work and money.

--Tom.

 

[sailingdog]

I think a fender board would make more sense.

The simplest fender board to make would be to take a piece of pressure treated 8' long, 2x6 or 2x8 and drill a 1" hole in the board about two inches down from one long side, and about a foot in. Then drill a 3/8" hole through the side of the board so it ends in the 1" hole. Put a line through the hole and tie a stopper knot in the end. Run the free end (that comes out of the 3/8" hole) through a fender grommet and a stopper knot just above the fender, so the board is roughly centered on the fender. Leave the rest for tying it to the boat. Then drill two more matching holes on the other long side of the board, and put a shorter piece of line in the hole, tying a stopper knot in the end. Tie the free end of that to the other end of the fender... keeping the fenders in position on the board.

The board will end up looking something like this:

The fenders would be on the boat's side of the board, and tied to the line that holds the fenderboard to the boat, and to the board itself, so they can't shift or roll out of position too easily. This assumes you're using fenders that look like this:

image courtesy of sailboatowners.com

Another option would be to make the line that goes into the bottom hole a bit longer, and run it through a fender that looks like this, and tie it to the line coming out of the top hole, that ties to the boat.

Image courtesy of Jimbuoy.com

The advantage of this is that the fenders can roll a bit, which might be a good thing.

 

[RogerHM]

Thanks Guys! Good idea expansion!
I luv "hanging them on stantions"!
And "fire hose"...could stuff fire-hose with those swim-noodles and wrap it all around the boat by hanging/attaching it to stantions as well as fastening to the bow and stern...
Gee, even paint the fire hose pretty-like!! I like it! I like it! Keep the ideas flowing! Roger