Fenders/buoys

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From: Da_Nag™ (Original Message) Sent: 1/12/2003 6:20 PM
Just thought I'd leave some fender/buoy feedback.

At the NorCal C-Dog Benicia shindig last fall, one of the guys (Bob Martinez - Tortuga Del Mar) had some big, goofy looking orange buoys attached to the side of his 22 Cruiser while dockside. At first, I thought they were complete overkill. Then, as the weekend wore on, they started to grow on me...a pair of them did a perfect job of keeping the hull at just the right distance from the dock, under all conditions. According to Bob, he has yet to meet a weather/dock combination where they don't work great. And since they float, you never have to adjust your lines beyond the first time.

My first question to him - where the heck do you stow them? As it turns out, they fit perfectly in the motor well. Being that my first set of fenders was woefully inadequate, I decided to pick up a pair. I've been quite happy with them, and like Bob, don't care at all if folks laugh at me.

The 12" models fit a CD22 or CD19 hull perfectly.

Bill

From: Mike Sent: 1/12/2003 7:18 PM
Bill -

Well, don't let Catman see 'em! He sure was entertained by by florescent green jobbies, even though they were otherwise normal. I replaced them with the next size larger because I needed bigger ones, and I got white ones to stop the ridicule.

Now, about your new fender balls. It just so happens that I have one of those, and I have often thought it would work great hanging off the bow cleat. Its larger size would allow it to contact the dock with the boat sitting straight. I haven't taken it aboard yet, because of having to stow it. I'll probably rig it to at least use at my slip when the boat goes back in. The grandkids were using it as a swing, but I built them some real ones.

Thanks for the info.

Mike

From: STIMPY'S DAD Sent: 1/12/2003 9:14 PM
We carry our ball float 24" variety in the motor well but fasten it with a caribiener (sp)?to an eye so that it won't bounce out.
Another use for the larger float is to pull our anchor.

Doug on "STIMPY"

From: Fun Patrol Sent: 1/24/2003 7:14 AM
One situation where the round balls don't work so well is when you are trying to stay off a piling. The cylindrical type placed in the horizontal position work better for that. In some cases you may even need to tie two together.

Roy
 
This is an old thread but still of interest to new CD owners. Is there an optimal length for the fender lines? I see many hang fenders from the cabin top rail or the grab rail on the back of the cabin. Is 6ft of line enough or too much for these?
Thanks,
Steve
 
Sterve, this is one of those questions that has no "right" answer. The line needs to be long enough so that when you hang it from whatever you hang it from, it dangles the fender between the boat surface and whatever obstruction (piling/dock edge/etc.) you're fending off from. Sometimes (many times for me), it's better to put the fender on the obstruction (piling) because the boat moves (and the fender too if it's attached) and the obstruction doesn't.

This is great if you don't have too much tide, if you do, then the fender needs to be attached to the boat. Here on the Chesapeake it's not a problem (2 Ft of tide) but at our place in Maine, it's problematical because we have 17-20 Ft of tide.

Another good idea is that if you have an eye on each end of the fender, either put a line there too or keep some short pieces handy in case you want to tie the fender horizontally. You can always take the line you have on the one end and tie it to the other end too, making a loop that you can put over a piling or cleat.

Happy Fending....

Charlie
 
Here's something that works real good for me. I put lines on all five of my fenders that are all the same length (about a foot) and have snap hooks on the ends. Then on the boat, I installed small nylon eye straps (a buck eighty-nine for a package of three) in the various places where the fenders need to hang. All the eye straps are located so the fender hangs at the right height. There are eye straps on both sides of the boat. Any one of the five fenders can hang in any one of the ten positions, and they are always in the right place. Three of the fenders are hung from the cockpit, and the other two are hung by sticking them through the side windows. I did the same thing on the TyBoo22, using four on each side. That boat had stainless eye straps (a buck eighty-nine apiece), but I decided I liked the looks of the white nylon better for the new boat. The little snap hooks on the ends of the lines are stainless, and they cost about five bucks each.
 
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