Do you run with fenders deployed?

Do you normally keep your fenders deployed when you are running or just when you dock, raft-up, or expect a boat/dinghy to come aside?

Marin?



Here I forgot to bring in the green fenders. Fortunately, they are barely discernible:



I like the idea of the float between dinghy and boat, but not the fender on the boat's side.

Not intentionally.

WE never run with fenders deployed. Not because we think it looks bad--- if we wanted a good looking boat we'd never have bought a GB in the first place--- but because the water going by the hull makes them bang against the boat and besides the annoying thumping we don't want to risk losing one if the constant movement worked a knot loose.

On shorter weekend trips we just pull them up onto the side decks when underway. When we get to where we're going we put them back over the side simply to get them out of the way. We do this regardless of if we're at a dock, on a mooring buoy, or at anchor.

On longer cruises during periods that we're going to be anchoring out a lot we will stow the fenders in bags my wife made that velcro around the aft handrails. Each bag holds two fenders.

We see boats running with fenders deployed fairly often up here, and of course the commercial fishboats usually leave them over, particulalry if they're just day-fishing. It's no big deal to us. It's whatever the boater wants to do and that makes sense to him/her/them. We don't think they look good, bad, or indifferent.

Fairly high up on our to-do list is a set of those under-rail fender hangers we saw on a GB42 last September in BC. We really like that arrangement. If and when we do that, if we don't actually need to use the fenders we'll just leave them in the hangers underway and at rest.

Yes 50+% of the time or as our fender are bigger/heavier, 34" long, than my wife can handle and/or its rough I don't like people retreving them.

Marin said:

WE never run with fenders deployed. Not because we think it looks bad--- if we wanted a good looking boat we'd never have bought a GB in the first place--- ...

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GBs look good/handsome to me. What's your idea of a good-looking boat?

markpierce said:

GBs look good to me. What's your idea of a good looking boat?

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There are a relatively small number of them and with only two or three exceptions none of them are production boats. I think--- and my wife agrees--- that GBs are quite awkward looking and out of proportion. We did not buy one because it's a boat we like aesthetically but because they are very well made, the high quality of their construction is consistent across the line and the decades, they are very well suited for the kind of cruising we do and hope to do in the future, and the old ones are damn near free.

Fenders are always up on deck or in their holders once away from the dock.

Never when underway. However, we do laugh at those who do.

Keith said:

Never when underway. However, we do laugh at those who do.

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NEVER.. If you do you might as well drag the docklines too!
HOLLYWOOD

I'm always very embarrassed when I/we forget and think of others when we see them as to what slobs they are.

But I leave the fenders on deck while running and others probably think I'm a slob for that.

Marin even takes pictures of his boat w fenders down.

Never Never. While Tom is piloting us out of the marina, I am stowing fenders, dock lines, and anything else that needs stowing. My deck is always neat and tidy with no tripping hazards. My fenders are tied horizontally under the railing via a rolling hitch.

**Hello, my name is Bess and I suffer from OCD"

manyboats said:

... But I leave the fenders on deck while running and others probably think I'm a slob for that. ...

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Me too, but fortunately they're not a hindrance.

Never, ever when underway...except when we forget them. We call 'em California Racing Stripes!!

Ok, well you purist hacks can think of me as a slob if you like, but to precisely avoid the potentially dangerous deck clutter Eric's pic demonstrates, which is how our side decks would also look if we brought them in, we don't. Also I don't feel the urge to clutter the rails with expensive fender baskets for much the same reason. We therefore don't run with them deployed, but hitch them up, (which is achieved by merely flipping them in under the rail, out and over the top in mere seconds), and like Marin said. The boat's no oil painting anyway, and it looks like they are "at the ready", (call it business-like), but up out of harms, and the water's, way.
The fender socks protect the hull, and improve the looks somewhat, and it works for us. If you think it's unseamanlike, look at most fishing boats. You might even say it looks more trawlerish....?

PS, this was before the hull repaint and new canvas up top, but that's how we travel with our fenders.

Fenders are always stored in the racks, the Admiral makes sure:

Mark, you look good in pink

rochepoint said:

Mark, you look good in pink

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Thanks to the red silt in the San Juan River.

hollywood8118 said:

NEVER.. If you do you might as well drag the docklines too!
HOLLYWOOD

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And the dock power cord. Don't forget to leave that hanging as well.

Besslb said:

Never Never. While Tom is piloting us out of the marina, I am stowing fenders, dock lines, and anything else that needs stowing. My deck is always neat and tidy with no tripping hazards. My fenders are tied horizontally under the railing via a rolling hitch.

**Hello, my name is Bess and I suffer from OCD"

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No, no, no! It should be CDO. Please get the letters in the right order!!!

That's probably the surest sign I know of that the skipper is a rookie.

Our fenders come in as we're idling away from a dock/raft up, etc.

Bess worte My fenders are tied horizontally under the railing via a rolling hitch.

Post a pic of this please. Thx

The first step when we leave the dock is to stow the fenders and the lines. Clean and clear decks are a good thing.

... And we just had a bunch of work done on the decks so we don't want to hide them.

Fenders are on deck or in the cockpit when underway. Docklines and power cord stowed.

Docklines and power cord stowed.

What IS a power cord?

FF it is a small copper pipe that lets the electrons get from the wharf to the boat so that the lights will shine.
Cheers
Benn

I like the "never except for . . . ." answers.

Delfin said:

No, no, no! It should be CDO. Please get the letters in the right order!!!

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FF said:

Docklines and power cord stowed.

What IS a power cord?

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The correct term for an "Electric hose".

HeyJude said:

Bess worte My fenders are tied horizontally under the railing via a rolling hitch.

Post a pic of this please. Thx

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Sure thing! I really don't have a good close up, but we're supposed to get the boat back this weekend. I'll remember to get a good shot!

Moonstruck said:

I like the "never except for . . . ." answers.

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Well, I stop outside a marina and deploy the fenders and rig the docklines, so I suppose from thart point on I am "running with fenders deployed".