Fenders versus Fender Balls

What are the advantages/disadvantages of cylindrical fenders and what are the advantages/disadvantages of fender balls?

The round ball type give you more separation from the dock but are more difficult to store since the diameter can be larger.

Each has its superiority.
We use spherical fenders to gain distance and protection when rafting. At the dock the cylindrical fenders allow easier boarding as the boat is closer.
Neither stows well. We have room at the Samson post for 3 sphericals and in the Lazarette for 4 cylindricals, between the transom and the dinghy for a couple more cylindricals. Any more just get in the way.

Exactly as Comodave describes it, we use large round ones on our dock and cylindrical ones are stored on the boat.

We do that but when we are going to be doing locks we take the round ones since they give more separation and are more difficult to store. But for locking the storage issue is worth it.

We use balls toward boat ends and cylinders in-between. (Cylinders are green and hard to distinguish from the green hull.)

We use cylinders most of the time, but carry balls for locks and concrete walls. The balls can be deflated and squished for storage if needed and they slide much better on lock walls.

My balls are stored on wide decks between use.

I do something similar to Mark. I use cylinders but have one ball that I use near closer to the bow, just after the hull starts to narrow. This provides the same separation from the dock as the cylinders provide.


I just leave the all to bounce around on the foredeck. With a protected walk around with additional rails, it has never succeeded in bouncing overboard, even in seas that I've promised my wife we would never see again.

Cylinder fenders hung horizontally can stay in place if the boat is resting against a piling where the balls will find a way to escape. If you are against a uniform flat surface like the wall of a lock or rafted with another boat, the balls provide a lot of give and protection.

We like to use the ball on the forward half only because the diameter is larger and can still extend out beyond the hull on the curve. We use cylinders everywhere else, vertical or horizontal as needed. The one we always have set is on the starboard quarter because that's where the prop walk in reverse drives the stern.

I too use both the balls and the cylindrical units. The cyl. are stored on the side decks for ready use, BOTH sides for ready, quick deployment.

THe Beach balls we store elsewhere. One on the back deck and one on the bridge.
My boat has a large fwd. deck overhang so once the boat is secured I then add a beach ball to hold the bow off more.

The beach balls have also allowed us to moor on docks that due to dock oddities with only the cyl. we would have had to pass on.

If you need to roll on the bow to get away from a dock due to wind or current the beach balls , my opinion, are superior.

I use both.

I use very large cylinders (Polyform F8) hung horizontally for docking, rafting up, or fending off pilings. They are tucked under the rub rail to keep them from moving up.

I use balls for locking. They tend to contact the lock wall less and can more easily move in and out of walls that have chunks of concrete missing. I also hang these just under the rub rail to keep them in place when descending.

Ted

Gdavid said:

Cylinder fenders hung horizontally can stay in place if the boat is resting against a piling where the balls will find a way to escape. If you are against a uniform flat surface like the wall of a lock or rafted with another boat, the balls provide a lot of give and protection.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Thanks for explaining the different uses, Gdavid. Now I don't have to.

Some boaters have a lot of balls.

The balls are harder to keep low against the hull in areas of wakes and tidal range. They certainly give more cushion because of wider print. I prefer the balls when appropriate

Sailor of Fortune said:

The balls are harder to keep low against the hull in areas of wakes and tidal range. They certainly give more cushion because of wider print. I prefer the balls when appropriate

Click to expand...

For the tide situation (as well as varying lock wall heights) when using balls I tend to set big ones just above the water and smaller ones right under the gunwales.

dhays said:

I do something similar to Mark. I use cylinders but have one ball that I use near closer to the bow, just after the hull starts to narrow. This provides the same separation from the dock as the cylinders provide.
.

Click to expand...

As Dave says. Cylinders provide the necessary buffer when parallel alongside the dock.

I have one ball which dangles a few feet aft of the bow solely for reversing off the float.

Blissboat said:

Some boaters have a lot of balls.

Click to expand...

I knew someone was going to go there! LOL

markpierce said:

My balls are stored on wide decks between use.

Click to expand...

This seemed best left alone......

It's a shame the balls aren't black
They'd make a day shape.thats actually visible

Add: Google says they do come in black.

Simi 60 said:

It's a shame the balls aren't black
They'd make a day shape.thats actually visible

Add: Google says they do come in black.

Click to expand...

Whitworths Chandlers (who just sold me a Jabsco made in China joker valve for a whisker under $27) have them in white and orange. But not black, except for the tips. You could paint one black.

We have a mixture of both. A Polyform A5 and an A4 (both black) and then 6 Taylor Made cylinders with ears on each end (black), plus a couple of left-overs from the previous owner that I haven't jettisoned yet.

The buoys work nicely up forward where the hull curves away from a dock, especially if I want to almost lay up against a floating dock while working a forward spring line.

The buoys are deflatable for storage. The A5 turned out to be more than we should have bought; it's huge enough so that crew (aka Admiral) can't shift it. The black A4 is probably too heavy to mount as a day shape too, without lifting tackle.

-Chris

We have eight cylindrical fenders and two balls. They each have their use.

In tight "Med mooring" situations (boat against boat, no pilings or fingers between boats, one literally has to push neighbouring boats sideways when coming in, ...) the balls are just too big, except towards the bow where the beam narrows.

Male

I have a 34 foot Mainship, oldy but goody 1979. On both port and starboard side I have Taylor Big B by the bow, midship and aft round balls. No storage problem, they get deployed in April and taken in in October. I always am going slow enough they never present a problem.

Simi 60 said:

It's a shame the balls aren't black
They'd make a day shape.thats actually visible

Add: Google says they do come in black.

Click to expand...

Actually, an outstanding suggestion! and pretty original.

I carry 2 round fenders to use in the locks. They roll easier and aren't too proud to do the heavy work. I also carry 4 cylinder fenders.

We have an anchor “ball” that is 2 flat plastic pieces that slot together to make a ball. It is simple to store it.

An option not yet mentioned are the inflatable fenders such as made by Aere. Built similarly to an inflatable boat. I carry two of these, they deflate to a fairly compact bundle but inflated are 18" x 72". For some situations they are the Bees Knees. They are much tougher than you think they might be. Not for everyday dock use, but for other situations like rafting or laying to pilings, or when the Shelter Cove Yacht club is having an outing at your marina and you need to protect all sides.

Good point on the Aere fenders. Inflatable fenders are a good option. Here is another newer type of inflatable fender that PYI carries:

https://www.pyiinc.com/fendertex/fendertex-inflatable-textile-fenders.html

They seem quite indestructible.

They are quite tough. I bounced off of a very rough pier in Ramea, Newfoundland for two days of full gale on one in the sailboat, it seemed very little worse for wear.

I did manage to destroy one leaving the dock in Nassau, it caught on a sharp corner on the pier as we backed out being pushed by dock "help", tore it from one end to the other. Of the 8 or 10 that I own that is the only one I've managed to damage.