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Side fenders deployed permanently


Proper Charlie

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1 hour ago, mark99 said:

Immerse two dissimilar metals in an electrolyte (canal water) and connect two metals together then one corrodes and the other gains.

To defend against, insulate the hull so that hull metal is not immersed in water, or rely on hull coating to prevent electrical continuity if hull touches piling (impossible all coating has holes). Drop fenders has the usefull by product of stopping metal connection/continuity (hull/piling)  for long term morrings (assuming you don't chain the boat to the piles bypassing and making pointless your fender "gap").

A bit of a dark art and mucho simplified.

 

 

 

Thank you - that is  broadly how I understood it.

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47 minutes ago, zenataomm said:

Arthur Bray never boated with side fenders down, although I understand he was tempted to fit oak anodes to Raymond.

Arthur may not have done but a boater still with us did. :)

Sudbury & Baildon copy.jpg

Edited by Ray T
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7 hours ago, Proper Charlie said:

Our boat is being blacked and painted up to the gunwales next week, which has got me thinking how I can minimise everyday scrapes on lock landings, armco etc (apart from becoming a more skilful boater, of course).

At the moment we have two pipe fenders which we fix to the roof rail with a homemade hook and which we deploy when mooring. We have three brass eyelet type things on each side but don't currently use them. I know that fenders in locks can be a real problem, and also that permanently deployed fenders can, in some eyes, look unsightly. I'm thinking of attaching fenders to these eyelets, but using a cable tie as one element in the connection - the theory being that this will break if stressed in a lock. I'd either use our existing pipe fenders or perhaps buy some of those flat oval fenders I've seen and rest them on the gunwales when underway. Any thoughts?

 

 

I have seen side fenders that had a line attached to each of them at the bottom ,and attached to each other with the line running back to the helm ,so that they could all be lifted up out of the way all at the same time, but you could not do this is hung from the brass eyelets, only if hung from your roof brackets.

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12 hours ago, Ray T said:

Arthur may not have done but a boater still with us did. :)

Sudbury & Baildon copy.jpg

I wonder who painted out the BW logo/lettering as the usual leased boats still  sported the BW paint scheme in various states of decay . some were painted in Willow Wren livery some still in blue & yellow to the end of their carrying days there seemed to be no standard practice used throughout the fleet Maybe it was a case of it's not my boat why should i spend on cosmetics  when I'm near broke anyway

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On 10/04/2017 at 17:56, Proper Charlie said:

OK, I'm convinced. I will not be introducing a new fenders regime and will instead stick with what I've always done - drop fenders when moored, lift them when moving. Thanks for the replies.

Thanks for asking... and being gracious enough to accept the (correct) answer. Threads on this subject are rarely so agreeable! :D

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11 minutes ago, Irob said:

Arn't those for extra bouyancy in case of leaks ?

I don't know about buoyancy but I passed that boat heading down the Coventry canal and he seemed to be flat out at about 2mph I reckon it was all the extra weight. 

  • Greenie 1
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Thanks for this useful debate. I snapped a brass fender eyelet on the cabin side when leaving a lock with fenders down. It was a pain to replace. Problem is as sometimes cruising solo i forget to hoist them back to the cabin top after casting off. I can reach the rear fender from the tiller but not the forward one so it hangs there till next time. Moored overnight against armco without fender means a continuous bonking against the hull. I just made up a roving fender hook from a walking stick handle as i find the squared plywood type a bit ugly. I prefer the knotted rope fenders. Of point, leaving fenders down on a sailing boat is a real sailors fopar. 

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6 hours ago, Irob said:

. Problem is as sometimes cruising solo i forget to hoist them back to the cabin top after casting off. I can reach the rear fender from the tiller but not the forward one so it hangs there till next time.  

I go forward and lose the front line, walk back lifting both fenders and it on rings or bollards engage reverse and spring the bows out, into forward and slip the stern rope and away.

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On 10/04/2017 at 16:05, Traveller said:

Would not side fenders be worth deploying when moored against metal key-heading if for no other reason that to reduce the risk of galvanic corrosion?

Ordinary everyday corrosion is what you should be worried about. It results from scraping the bl**dy paint off!

Edited by Machpoint005
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20 hours ago, FadeToScarlet said:

All side fenders should be permanently marked with the name and phone number of the owner.

 

That way, if I have to spend ages getting one off the blade and get wet (no weedhatch) I'll know who to blame.

Everyone knows they belong to Tw*tty McTw*tt-Face.

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On 11/04/2017 at 20:46, steve hayes said:

While I don't cruise with my fenders down I am happy for others to leave their rope fenders down as I haven't had to buy new ones for years, normally manage to get two or three new fenders a year out of the cut .

I've never bought one in thirty years. I really appreciate those who leave them down all the time...

 

  • Greenie 2
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Clearly there are plenty of other types of boaters who disagree with the consensus on this forum. I wouldn't do it with a narrowboat in narrow locks but I move a wide boat single-handed and I do leave my fenders down. Useful when coming into moorings and lock landings where (just like fenders), rubbing strakes aren't always in the right place (at the right height). Also useful when you're coming into a big river lock already half full of plastic boats.

Anyway, each to their own. I've been moving my boat with fenders down for over 10 years and never had a problem. I'm not telling anyone else how to move their boat but I wonder if those who are adamant that fenders should never be left down when moving also apply this mantra to their bow and stern fenders? 

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Edited by blackrose
  • Greenie 1
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