Swim step bumper solution for dingy protection

stevemitchell said:

I have been searching for a solution to this issue for quite some time, and never really found a good result. I assume this is either because (a) it is super simple and I am overthinking things [happens a lot] or (b) because there aren't good solutions.....

I have a fiberglass swim step that is the perfect height most of the time to trap my nice Highfield dinghy tube underneath it when approaching the boat. It also tends to eat the dinghy when said dinghy is tied off to cleats on the swim step unless the lines are super tight, or I insert a full sized boat fender and release the dinghy off a bit.

I've searched for half-fenders, stern swim step fenders, and other things like that, but haven't found a solution. Some swim step fenders look promising, but require being roped in, and have large protrusions on either side, which would make exiting the dinghy difficult.

What would be ideal is a round fender that has a 1/4 of it cut out of it with screw eyes/holes along the long edge. I could attach that to the back face of the swim step, and the fender could face outwards and also reach around under the step, preventing the sharp edge of the swim step from scraping the dinghy, and probably, given a large enough size, prevent the dinghy from ever going under.

For now I use a full size boat fender, which is much too large, and tie it off the flag staff on the stern rail, and let it float between the dinghy and step. This has a disadvantage as there is a line crossing the step that you have to navigate around, and it generally just gets in the way.

Has anyone found a more elegant way?

Click to expand...

KneeDeep said:

Not sure if this would do the trick, but I use a large pool noodle as a bumper on our swim step. Slit down one side so that it slides over the long edge of the platform and then wrapped on with a couple of zip ties.

cheap and easy

Click to expand...

jsimpson said:

Cut a pool noodle of the appropriate length and color lengthwise and attach over the bottom edge of your swimstep?

Click to expand...

Rufus said:

Steve,

I'm sure our 44 uses the same swim platform as your boat....and we obviously have the same problem. I sometimes attach the dink to the deployed arms of the Nick Jackson davit when not in use, but that doesn't help the boarding/debarking problem where the dink slides under the edge of the step. I've wondered about some sort of simple, collapsible frame work that attaches to the swim step support brackets or even the edge of the fiberglass step itself. I haven't checked, but the studs on the bottom of the step might be long enough to sandwich some thin stainless brackets. A long floating fender would attach to the frame work. I have long arms so attaching such a contraption under the step would be acceptable. It would have to be removed when cruising, of course. I think the fender has to be fastened on the mother ship versus the dink. The flip up ladder might work, but the davit on our boat blocks access.

View attachment 87502

Click to expand...

Xlantic said:

I had a similar problem to the OP's: the lip of the swim platform would catch the rubbing strake of the RIB. This would happen during boarding/un-boarding or simply when the dink was tied up at anchorage. Every couple of seasons I would need to re-glue the strake in place, not an easy chore.

So I designed and had a metal fabricator build a handrail for the swim platform with the vertical tubes on the outside of the platform, thus protecting the dink from the edge of the platform.

To be honest, I have not properly tested it since last summer, when I cruised to Sardinia and Corsica, I dragged my Boston Whaler 13' instead of the RIB but it seemed to work well. Having a rail also adds some safety and confort.

As you can see in the photograph, the rail is a bent piece of SS tubing attached to the swim platform supports with machined nylon blocks and bolts.

Click to expand...