Non-Marking Rubber

[Tom.B]

I am designing new chocks for our dinghy cradle and am having most of it built at a local metal fabrication shop. However, I will be building the pads that the dinghy hull will actually sit on. Planning on a square piece of wood with a rubber pad and don’t want the pad to mark up the hull. What kind of rubber should I use?

[psneeld]

anything that oxidizes can mark...

usually plastics are less prone, like the yellow rollers on trailers (check with trailer manufacturers for what they use to recover bunks)....

or inexpensive indoor/outdoor carpet as a last resort, even over a soft material to keep oxidation down.

[koliver]

I have used a length of plastic hose, slit and popped over a 1" stainless tube. after 5 yrs or so the plastic degraded enough to look bad, so off it came. I now have just the 1" stainless tube. Not quite as soft a support for the kayaks, but it looks very nice.

Any plastic or rubber exposed to the sun for a few years will start to look bad eventually.

[Comodave]

What about starboard? It won’t weather like wood. What is the hull of the dinghy made out of?

[Irish Rambler]

Had you thought of a pads of white PTFE plastic. I've used it under davits instead of wood, it can be drilled and shaped. After 5 years mine are still perfect.
If you want an el cheapo then cut a white fender and make pads for the dinghy.

[Tom.B]

Originally Posted by Irish Rambler

Had you thought of a pads of white PTFE plastic. I've used it under davits instead of wood, it can be drilled and shaped. After 5 years mine are still perfect.
If you want an el cheapo then cut a white fender and make pads for the dinghy.

Interesting... Do you have a picture?

I may lean toward carpet. That seems like the cheap and easy solution. The hull is fiberglass and I ENVISIONED some hard black rubber, but I guess that won't work very well.

[tiltrider1]

My dingy chocks are made out of starboard. The only negative, starboard is slippery. In my case that’s a plus.

[Irish Rambler]

Hi TomB.
Certainly.
I fabricated the blocks from PTFE, drilled out the holes. Then I placed a coating of silicone on both sides and allowed it to dry for 20 minutes so that if formed a 'rubbery' gasket.

As an aside, we used the same PTFE to fabricate a foot for the rudder. Its virtually the same as that shown in the photo with bolts securing it to the skeg with a larger hole in the centre of it to accept the rudder foot.
The first one we fabricated some 15 years and thousands of sea/canal miles later is still working perfectly.

Photo.

1, As you can see the hull is stepped at the back for strength so we fabricated a Stainless Steel adaptor plate. The PTFE replaced a wooden spacer which disintegrated over time and began to leak.

2,Self explanatory.

3,4, We left a gap at the rear to allow any water to drain away. A periodic clean of the drain is all that's required.