Aluminium Tender - side protection

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lghawk

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2021
Messages
48
Vessel Make
48ft Trawler
Hi Everyone,

I have always had an inflatable tender for our 48ft trawler. I never had to worry much about bringing it alongside the trawler as the sides were soft.

I have just changed to an aluminium tender and I am looking at putting something around the edges of the tender to help soften it up against the trawler. We always board from the side due to the setup of the trawler, as we cannot board from the rear.

Does anyone have any suggestions for this?

Thanks!

Lyndon.
 
There are lots of different rub rail and fenders available. Hamilton Marine used to have lots of different rub rail available, but I haven’t checked in about 5 years.
 
There are lots of different rub rail and fenders available. Hamilton Marine used to have lots of different rub rail available, but I haven’t checked in about 5 years.
Thanks so much mate! I'll check them out then see what we can find in Australia that is similar! Cheers!
 
I've had very good luck with the long tubular fenders tucked under the gunnel. Usually have mine through the oar locks. This allows them to be easily flipped into the boat. Their weight tends to hold them in place and keep them from walking back into the dinghy when a boat wake rocks the dinghy out of sync with the mother ship.

I find the Polyform F4 fenders work well:


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Ted
 
We have some tubular fenders bolted onto our aluminum dinghy for that purpose. I do need to extend the gunwale padding from just the bow to the whole thing though, as it's still possible to hit the gunwale of the dinghy against a boat if the bigger boat has enough hull flare and you're not careful enough.
 

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Thanks so much for the tips everyone! Really appreciate it!!!
 
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White sanitation hose split and snapped over the gunnel looks good too
 
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