I have just bought an old 9ft De Haviland aluminium dinghy.
What would be the best thing to use as fenders? And best way to attach it. Keeping in mind i leave it on the waters edge in a park.
I was thinking some extruded D section rubber?
Thanks
And thanks to everyone for your previous help on other stuff.
Cheers.
Select to expand quotesunycoastguy said..
I have a hose about twice as thick as a garden hose screwed on works fine so far
great idea.
We use pool noodles held on with cable ties!!
The reason we do is that our glass dinghy hits underneath the rub rail on our timber boat so the noodles cover the side and top of the gunnels. We replace every winter and have to re-do a few cable ties now and then but it's better than sanding and painting the rub rails every year!!
Yep i have used the pool noodles as well split them with a stanley knife and push them on they dont last that well but good protection for a while or till you can find some nice rubber or hose to use that wont break the bank.
This is probably overkill but my dad used to get a length of old fire hose, stuff that with some sort of soft wadding after he had sewn a seam down one side then pop riveted that onto the gunwale. Lots of effort but it outlasted the aluminium dinghy and workd very effectively to protect the hull.
Or you could just use this
www.whitworths.com.au/gunwale-fender-open-d
www.whitworths.com.au/main_itemdetail.asp?item=130203&search123=fender&intAbsolutePage=1
I found the pool noodles didn't last long enough so I just bought some sub-soil drainage pipe (about 60mm dia & perforated) from Bunnings. Split with a knife & pushed on. Easy to install & works well.
What ever you use it has to be reasonably soft and clean. It's bad manners to park alongside your mates yacht and mark his topsides.
Thanks everyone.
Thought about pool noodles. But longevity and fine particles of it flaking off into the water are a problem.
Specialised products are the go but expensive.
I have lots of ag pipe at work. So ag pipe it is.
I had thought about the ag pipe but thought it would be too hard.
But my canoe, that i using, has a dard plastic strip and it doesn't mark the boat.
i got 6 m of old 70mm firehose for free, and a valve from a truck tube from a tyre shop that hasa thread and nut fitting, bike tube valves would also work. sealed the end of the hose by folding it over and clamping between 2 pieces of ally. held it to the dinghy with cord every 600mm or so and pumped up to maybe 3 psi. works awesome will last forever , stays pumped up and doesn,t mark the boat as well as adding a lot of bouyancy.
