Best way I've seen yet to stow fenders

During our recent cruise in the Gulf Islands we shared a dock with the best looking, best kept up GB I've ever seen. It was a 1975 GB42 out of Vancouver, BC. One of the things that really impressed me was the way they stowed their fenders. The owner told me he had the hangers fabricated for the purpose.

The photos are self-explanatory. I took them with my iPad so the quality ain't great but they get the point across. There are three (IIRC) sets of hangars on each side of the boat.

These brackets are now on our to-do list. Very smart idea.

Nice but unnecessary for the Coot because the bulwark is high enough and side deck is wide enough to keep the fenders from sight and from under foot.

It's helpful to have the fenders to match the color of the hull so they are less visible when one forgets to store them while underway as shown here.

We currently put our fenders on the side deck unless we're not going to be using them for several days on a cruise, like to Desolation Sound. Then we put them in stow bags my wife made that fasten to the handrails on either side of the aft deck. Our decks are plenty wide enough that we can step around the fenders with no problems and our bulwarks are way deep so the tops of the fenders are well below the cap rail.

But I really like this setup. Gets the fenders up off the side deck so eliminates the risk of tripping on them when going aft or forward in rougher water. They don't roll back and forth on the deck as the boat rolls. And they are still positioned for deployment with no need to adjust or refasten the fender lines. It wouldn't work for a lot of boats but it's perfect for ours.

Our fenders are the color of our hull but they are certainly not "less visible" when deployed as witness my avatar photo. And if you have a great fender stowage system, one is far less likely to forget to stow them. And I don't have a problem with stowed fenders being visible. Particularly if they're stowed this neatly.

Marin said:

Our fenders are the color of our hull but they are certainly not "less visible" when deployed as witness my avatar photo.

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Visibility is relative.

The advantage of a dark fender is that it doesn't show dirt. It's why a lot of boaters put black or dark blue fender doilies on white fenders.

Coincidentally, the round orange fenders toward the bow have their tie lines exactly long enough to hang from chocks when stowed behind the bulwark. At the correct angle, one can see the "red" eyes of a Coot through the what-ya-call-it openings on the bow end of the bulwark.

markpierce said:

?....... through the what-ya-call-it openings on the bow end of the bulwark.

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The "Pigs Nose"...

When I used to duck hunt a lot we would occasionally have a bad day and out of desperation pop off a cap in a coot. If you stand on them with a foot on each wing and pull hard on the feet, the breast pops right out. Not bad in a sauce piquant.

I hated my dog going to get them though, she once broke without me telling her to, and chased a coot about 1000 yards across the lake. The damn bird would jump up as she got close, fly 30 yards and light again.

Could this be considered a thread hijack?

Mine fit nicely between the stanchions with plastic clips. A 3rd clip stays on the rail so when dropped, the fenders are the right height.

I like it. For short trips I just toss them on the deck but then you have to step over them. I have thought about getting the "Baskets" that mount on the stainless rails at the bow but I will look at this option this weekend.

I like that idea too, I figure they can be easily made from a strap of Aluminum, or SS with a couple of bends and holes drilled. my problem is I have some fenders as shown and several ball type but maybe that will work for them too, I'll have to check.
Steve W

I tussled with this issue for quite some time, as hauled inboard, we were always tripping over them, and they got more dirty, and those baskets again narrow down access on deck to much, unless deployed forward, and in my view too far away for a quick retrieval, not to mention they cost a bomb in stainless. So, in the end we decided what the heck, we'll put new socks on them regularly to keep them looking nice and protect the new paint, and just hoist them well clear of the water when traveling, but basically in place, and ready to go. We just lift them up and pass the line over the upper rail. They look purposeful, don't rock around much at all in a seaway, and more importantly, if someone miscalculated when moving in a an anchorage, or dragged a bit and got close enough to touch us, they are at the right height to provide some boat to boat protection, whereas when down at docking height they are too low for that. For that reason, we leave the non-docking side ones where they are even when docked, and several times they have saved our boat a scrape from the guy sharing the slip.
However, the set-up Marin just showed could well work, and would not be hard to do. Question is, does that look any better than this....?

Peter B said:

Question is, does that look any better than this....?

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Probably depends on the boat. I think with a GB's thick teak handrails and caprails they look pretty good. It might look a little awkward and out of proportion on a boat with stainless rails and a smaller-- or no-- caprail.

like this

If I didn't know better, I'd think them to be rocket launchers.

As soon as I get away from the wharf I stow mine in the lazzerette.
Most likely will not be required again until I getinto the next port/marina.
They get in the way if stowed on the side decks , but stowed the way they are on that GB may not be to bad.Still not sure how they would be whilst you are fishing as most of my reef fishing is done on the drift and on the side decks. But gotta admit looks good and very neat.
Would still have to stow the round A4s down the laz

markpierce said:

Coincidentally, the round orange fenders toward the bow have their tie lines exactly long enough to hang from chocks when stowed behind the bulwark.

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What kills me is the posters who want to have the fenders "at the ready", as if you're shocked to find yourself in port and nearing the dock. Rush, rush, rush.

Pull them in and put them away, where ever "away" happens to be. You should have plenty of time to set them out prior to entering the marina.

Rambler; Hear ya! We have regular cruising buddies who, after cruising together with them for 20 years, still have to drift around for ten minutes when they arrive at any destination, getting the fenders and lines out and ready. They have the option of going 16knots, though rarely do when with us, so I don't see why they can't get ready till they stop. In our boat, we go slow enough (8knots) that even when single handing, the fenders and lines go out before we arrive, there is no drifting around time, no crowd gathers to watch for "goon time"......
Our stowage for the 12" and 16" diameter Scotchman style fenders (I prefer these, as they get the boat far enough from whatever/whomever we tie to, so errant wash will not cause anything to touch) is to tie them to the Sampson post at the bow; for the 8" diam long fenders, I hang them along the back side of the aft cabin, above the lazarette. Putting them down in the lazarette ceased to be an option years ago, when it got filed with other stuff.

Rambler said:

What kills me is the posters who want to have the fenders "at the ready", as if you're shocked to find yourself in port and nearing the dock. Rush, rush, rush.

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Because when it's raining like hell and probably windy, too, and maybe rough on top of that as it can be in Bellingham Bay, the less time one has to spend on deck getting fenders ready the better. We put the fenders down as we approach the entrance to the marina. There's nothing rushed about it, but it's really nice to simply put them over and be done with it rather than pull them out of racks somewhere else on the boat and take them back and hang them, or open the lazarrette and fish them out of there and so on.

If it's really that important to a person that their boat looks like it's still in the showroom, fine. It's not to us.

I'm with you on this issue, Marin.

Too often while cruising around Biscayne Bay, I've got my fenders slung over the side instead of stowed. Even though I might be critical about someone else doing the same, I'm guilty. Years ago, I bought these Fendergrip adjusters/retainers at the boat show and they do a good job. Trouble is, if you're switching sides, you have to pull the lines through and risk dropping them in the water (it happens), and the put the lines back through on the other side. They don't float, so when they're gone, they're gone. The stowage of the fenders is fundamentally the same and just as practical with the Fendergrips, but don't measure up to the intention of custom metalwork, and there's a lot of line to stow as well.

I really like the classy set-up shown in Marin's photos, and I'm all for touches that separate my boat from others. I think it's a great idea.....as long as Marin doesn't tag them "wannabee fender brackets".

healhustler said:

I really like the classy set-up shown in Marin's photos, and I'm all for touches that separate my boat from others. I think it's a great idea.....as long as Marin doesn't tag them "wannabee fender brackets".

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They are wannabe only in the sense that we want them. While it will probably be awhile given my schedule and the list of other more important things that need doing on the boat, these brackets are definitely on our to-do list.

I'm not sure what the ones in the photo are made of. I assumed they were polished stainless but the owner in talking about them to me said he had them fabricated and plated. I think I would go with polished stainless.

I happened to come across a photo I took from the dinghy of the other side of the boat showing all the fenders for that side stowed. Here is what it looks like....

I just added these to my TO DO list. Stowing them in the laz as we do now would be a pain on (contemplated) canal trip.

We tried the fender holder racks on the bow, and they just took up too much space. We have the fender hangers, that make for easy and quick adjustments in length for any marina docks. So I tie the other end with a rolling hitch to the rail to keep them in place and yet out of way on the deck. When we come back to the marins it's a quick release on the rolling hitch and the fenders fall into place.

Same concept, less hardware. And unfortunately, I can't find one that I have them tied straight and even!

Besslb said:

We have the fender hangers

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This is the fender hanger:

We keep our fenders along the aft rail using bungee cords. That's the only practical place we have found for them. It only takes a minute or so to pull them out and tie them off on the rail.

As for rigging them in wind and rain, I am the one at the wheel so I stay dry.

Fender hanger = clove hitch.

This is an interesting discussion. If I used fenders in my slip I might be interested in something like Marin showed in the first photo. however we have fenders mounted on the fingers of our slip, so we only use five fenders on our boat when we are at another marina. And we never know what side we will need them on or at what height so drilling holes in our teak rail is not appealing. Currently we keep them tied at the back of our flybridge but after Marin's mention of the bags his wife made for their's, I think I will have our wonderful canvas guy make bags for them in the same location. That will save me the time of tying them and untying them from there, plus look nicer. It doesn't take me long to get the fenders set, after all my years of experience. LOL.

I like the idea of hanging the fenders under the handrail. I have stainless steel handrails and could easily fabricate hangers for the purpose. Currently I stow our fenders in a rack that the PO made about 15 years ago. Works easily without loosing them in the lazarette, etc. The hangers under the handrails would allow us to have the fenders pretied (with clove hitch!).