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FENDERS


jddevel

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Rope fenders. Those rubber pipe fenders you see dangling from the sides of some boats are somewhere between useless and a nuisance. They get jammed in locks and get ripped off. They are too thin to be satisfactory for mooring against anything but the straightest bank. They are used by people who can't steer in a vain hope they will save them. But they don't.

So as a non-tradionalist I say no permanent side fenders. For mooring, use two rope side fenders attached by hooks to the handrail or whatever, after mooring. On some canals eg Shroppie it is hard to get right up to the side due to a submerged ledge which the boat bumps and grinds against. It is therefore a good idea to have some wider fenders as well - folk use a "Shroppie wheel". I noticed that Midland Chandlers are selling wheel-type things for the purpose. Not actually wheels but wheel/tyre shaped plastic things.

Rope front fender. Not attached too securely in case it catches. Better for the chain to break than the boat to sink.

Rope rear fender sticking out beyond the rudder and swan's neck. We do have the triple fender arrangement as provided by the builder  but if not concerned about tradition I'd just go for a single long rear fender. Less prone to droopyness!

Edited by nicknorman
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1 hour ago, nicknorman said:

(snip)

Rope rear fender sticking out beyond the rudder and swan's neck. We do have the triple fender arrangement as provided by the builder  but if not concerned about tradition I'd just go for a single long rear fender. Less prone to droopyness!

Although more prone to tippyness, if my observation is anything to go by ;)

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2 hours ago, nicknorman said:

Rope fenders. Those rubber pipe fenders you see dangling from the sides of some boats are somewhere between useless and a nuisance. They get jammed in locks and get ripped off. They are too thin to be satisfactory for mooring against anything but the straightest bank. They are used by people who can't steer in a vain hope they will save them. But they don't.

So as a non-tradionalist I say no permanent side fenders. For mooring, use two rope side fenders attached by hooks to the handrail or whatever, after mooring. On some canals eg Shroppie it is hard to get right up to the side due to a submerged ledge which the boat bumps and grinds against. It is therefore a good idea to have some wider fenders as well - folk use a "Shroppie wheel". I noticed that Midland Chandlers are selling wheel-type things for the purpose. Not actually wheels but wheel/tyre shaped plastic things.

Rope front fender. Not attached too securely in case it catches. Better for the chain to break than the boat to sink.

Rope rear fender sticking out beyond the rudder and swan's neck. We do have the triple fender arrangement as provided by the builder  but if not concerned about tradition I'd just go for a single long rear fender. Less prone to droopyness!

When we bought Whio we had a full set of pipe fenders. Val liked them and I disliked them. They started to attrit, is that a word? My dislike intensified after getting one around the prop, not one of mine, on the Hurleston locks. So the survivors were placed in storage.

They do however have a use. On the Shroppie, and other places with a submerged ledge lowering them down can effectively fender directly between the base plate and the ledge.

Don

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6 minutes ago, DandV said:

When we bought Whio we had a full set of pipe fenders. Val liked them and I disliked them. They started to attrit, is that a word? My dislike intensified after getting one around the prop, not one of mine, on the Hurleston locks. So the survivors were placed in storage.

They do however have a use. On the Shroppie, and other places with a submerged ledge lowering them down can effectively fender directly between the base plate and the ledge.

Don

True Don,true. We have rubber fenders,6 in no, we like them. Unless you know what to buy and buy really good ones you'll likely to get rope side fenders that squash and stay squashed very early in their lives.

We really need to invest in a new bow fender. Theresa guy in Wales that produces,it seems, very good quality fenders. Not cheap,not expensive.

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6 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

True Don,true. We have rubber fenders,6 in no, we like them. Unless you know what to buy and buy really good ones you'll likely to get rope side fenders that squash and stay squashed very early in their lives.

We really need to invest in a new bow fender. Theresa guy in Wales that produces,it seems, very good quality fenders. Not cheap,not expensive.

Is " Theresa Guy " a well known fender maker? I havnt heard of her? :D

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We got a new bow fender from an old chap in a boat moored at Great Haywood. A quality thing at a good price. Some cheapo fenders have all sorts of rubbish inside with just a "skin" of rope. The one we got was solid rope.

24 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

On the G&S which is a deep canal there is steel piling along all the canal with a fair number of protruding bolt heads.  The little pipe fenders are perfect for mooring up against the bank if you want to avoid sharp pointy bits cutting into the boat. 

Why not just put "proper" side fenders out bank-side just before you moor?

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21 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

We got a new bow fender from an old chap in a boat moored at Great Haywood. A quality thing at a good price. Some cheapo fenders have all sorts of rubbish inside with just a "skin" of rope. The one we got was solid rope.

Why not just put "proper" side fenders out bank-side just before you moor?

I might start doing just that. Or maybe I am already.

I'll have to find out what "proper" side fenders are. I have little doubt that they are not what I have.

Incidentally, with all these mentions of good quality fenders etc I'm wondering if those from Tradline at Braunston are regarded as good quality. I assume they are but would value any expert opinions.

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1 hour ago, MrBeethoven said:

ncidentally, with all these mentions of good quality fenders etc I'm wondering if those from Tradline at Braunston are regarded as good quality. I assume they are but would value any expert opinions

So would I please

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2 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Eric John's is,I think the name of the Guy I was referring to in my previous post. He has now retired and passed his business onto a rim called Glascote Fender makers,or similar. 

Martyn

 

You get better :lol: your cracking me up :lol: I hope the said " Rim " uses good quality rope !!

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6 hours ago, nicknorman said:

Rope fenders. Those rubber pipe fenders you see dangling from the sides of some boats are somewhere between useless and a nuisance. They get jammed in locks and get ripped off. They are too thin to be satisfactory for mooring against anything but the straightest bank.

Surely that would depend on the diameter of the rubber used? My rubber pipe fenders are 63mm OD with a 13mm wall thickness. Also there is no correlation between the type of material used and whether the fender will be used in a lock. I've seen plenty of rope fenders dangling from narrowboats in locks. - 

 

Edited by blackrose
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The only time I use fenders these days is to stop any irritating noise from the hull rubbing against the side.  Narrowboats have steel rubbing strakes for protection.  Whether you use rope or rubber depends on the location, the rubber ones sink which can be useful but Boilerman Mike will be along in a minute to tell us what a mess a stray rubber sausage fender made of his transmission.  There are some who would like to outlaw these things because when they get rubbed off eg in a lock, they lay dormant just waiting to get wrapped round a prop.

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1 hour ago, blackrose said:

Surely that would depend on the diameter of the rubber used? My rubber pipe fenders are 63mm OD with a 13mm wall thickness. Also there is no correlation between the type of material used and whether the fender will be used in a lock. I've seen plenty of rope fenders dangling from narrowboats in locks. - 

 

Yes it will depend on the diameter, but don't forget that we are talking about narrowboats here. They have to have pretty thin pipe fenders to avoid jamming in narrow locks. With a widebeam you can get away with much thicker ones. In my experience permanent side fenders are mostly rubber but yes, not exclusively.

Edited by nicknorman
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1 hour ago, Neil2 said:

The only time I use fenders these days is to stop any irritating noise from the hull rubbing against the side.  Narrowboats have steel rubbing strakes for protection.  Whether you use rope or rubber depends on the location, the rubber ones sink which can be useful but Boilerman Mike will be along in a minute to tell us what a mess a stray rubber sausage fender made of his transmission.  There are some who would like to outlaw these things because when they get rubbed off eg in a lock, they lay dormant just waiting to get wrapped round a prop.

AND of course all these rubber pipe fenders are contributing to GLOBAL warming in a terrible way this is a large part of why the ice caps are melting and giving us cold days in August.

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5 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

I made a decision not long ago to become your sole source of amusement. 

 

(Bloomin' smellcek) 

I think we are both of an age where we were not brought up with qwerty boards and typing? typing was a job done by women in typing pools and by secretaries who were also invariably women but now call themselves P ais :lol: You probably look at the keys as do I and then press send before reading the mumbo bloomin jumbo that spellchecker etc has made of it.

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8 hours ago, DandV said:

When we bought Whio we had a full set of pipe fenders. Val liked them and I disliked them. They started to attrit, is that a word? My dislike intensified after getting one around the prop, not one of mine, on the Hurleston locks. So the survivors were placed in storage.

They do however have a use. On the Shroppie, and other places with a submerged ledge lowering them down can effectively fender directly between the base plate and the ledge.

Don

Regrettably not really.  The "Shroppie Shelf" has a variable width, so being able to drop a sinking fender down to keep you off the 'shelf' (which can be anything from above water level to a foot or more below) will have limited success.  (If you are heading towards Barbridge, you can see the profile on or above the waterline south of bridge 100.)

The answer to mooring up on the Shroppie, unless you are on piling, is a pair of wheelbarrow wheels and tyres.  I have mine with handrail hooks and a variable length rope so that they just float.  Even then, there are some places where they are not enough; then the only option is to go for tyred mini wheels or put up with the bump.  Not to mention what that jagged edge is doing to your blacking.

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55 minutes ago, dor said:

Regrettably not really.  The "Shroppie Shelf" has a variable width, so being able to drop a sinking fender down to keep you off the 'shelf' (which can be anything from above water level to a foot or more below) will have limited success.  (If you are heading towards Barbridge, you can see the profile on or above the waterline south of bridge 100.)

The answer to mooring up on the Shroppie, unless you are on piling, is a pair of wheelbarrow wheels and tyres.  I have mine with handrail hooks and a variable length rope so that they just float.  Even then, there are some places where they are not enough; then the only option is to go for tyred mini wheels or put up with the bump.  Not to mention what that jagged edge is doing to your blacking.

I  sure wheelbarrow wheels,which we didn't have, whould have been better. But without them we found that dropping our pipe fenders, that we did have, below the cylindrical plastic fenders effective in moderating the Shroppie thunk.

Don

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Fenders out when moving is wrong. They are never in the right place when a fender may be useful, they will definitely snag and come off to catch some poor devils prop later. Most importantly they cause your body to get jammed in narrow locks. I have seen one such in front of me need two 4x4 vehicles and 5 men with poles to get him loose took over an hour. 

 

The rubber ones groan when the boat rocks when against wood or something not slippery, rope are better. The best are those squishy blow up led favoured by yoghurt pots, they do a very good job quietly and remove. those jolt when the speeder passes.

 

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Those shops which sell mobility scooters tend to have a pile of old tyres out the back that they're only too happy to get rid of..... an eye bolt through the top makes it neater..

Edited by lampini
Added info..
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