Do you keep your fenders down in canal locks?

[frangar]

25 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Are widebeams more fragile then. Mind you looking at the other post on here with the welding maybe fenders should be used more often.

Fair point! I can’t see the point of fenders on any steel boat when moving. 

Edited August 31, 2020 by frangar

[Dalesman]

Kept mine down on the Leeds & Liverpool canal all the time.

[OldGoat]

C'mon guys,

the real 'issue' is the wearing (? do you 'wear' a fender) a fender that makes a vessel as wide or mebe wider than the lock chamber?

On my non ditchy bit of water everybody leaves their fenders down and theire's no problem - as long as you realise that the boat is a little bit wider than you think. 

Indeed the practice used to be that boaters ship their fenders while cruising and only put them down in the locks....

[doratheexplorer]

Surely the correct answer to this is "it depends"

[haggis]

18 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

C'mon guys,

the real 'issue' is the wearing (? do you 'wear' a fender) a fender that makes a vessel as wide or mebe wider than the lock chamber?

On my non ditchy bit of water everybody leaves their fenders down and theire's no problem - as long as you realise that the boat is a little bit wider than you think. 

Indeed the practice used to be that boaters ship their fenders while cruising and only put them down in the locks....

Fenders left down is not just about the possibility of getting stuck in a lock but fenders rubbing back and forward along the side of the boat as you cruise can rub away the paint and lead to bare patches of metal which are then prone to rust.  

 

haggis

Edited September 1, 2020 by haggis

[Bee]

29 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Surely the correct answer to this is "it depends"

Oh come on! That's far too sensible, the rest of us are trying to stoke up a huge row ending in insults and name calling. Like this, 'You've still got your fenders down - you obviously know NOTHING about boating.'  Or -' Put some fenders down you IDIOT' all that banging around will destroy the brickwork' That's the way to do it.

[Nightwatch]

14 minutes ago, Bee said:

Oh come on! That's far too sensible, the rest of us are trying to stoke up a huge row ending in insults and name calling. Like this, 'You've still got your fenders down - you obviously know NOTHING about boating.'  Or -' Put some fenders down you IDIOT' all that banging around will destroy the brickwork' That's the way to do it.

The most sensible post in this and ‘a’ another thread regarding blinking fenders.

[Naughty Cal]

1 hour ago, haggis said:

Fenders left down is not just about the possibility of getting stuck in a lock but fenders rubbing back and forward along the side of the boat as you cruise can rub away the paint and lead to bare patches of metal which are then prone to rust.  

 

haggis

This is why we lift ours when underway. They scuff the gel coat terribly if left to swing around underway.

 

The starboard side of the boat rarely has any fenders on it at all as we don't use that side of the boat and the port side has three which are lowered for locks and mooring up only.

[IanD]

Never thought this was a problem with modern (6'10") boats and small pipe fenders except in a few well-known narrow locks, until a boat got stuck coming up Foxton lower flight the week before last. Lockies freed it by cutting the fender ropes and rocking the boat, I guess the embarrassed owners might pull them up in future...

[Jerra]

I can't imagine why anybody would take a boat into a narrow lock with fenders down.   For the less than 10% who have polled as leaving fenders down ion a lock, why?

[dixi188]

I assume the reason a few people leave the fenders down is to try to stop the blacking on the rubbing strip from being scratched,

If you don't want your boat scratched, leave it in the marina!

It's called a rubbing strip for a reason.

I was delayed on the Napton flight in early August due a wedged boat. Lock 10 I think.

[colmac]

Fenders up whenever the boat is moving. Mind you, have seen some pretty impressive fender arrangements on plastic pigs.

[Naughty Cal]

11 minutes ago, colmac said:

Fenders up whenever the boat is moving. Mind you, have seen some pretty impressive fender arrangements on plastic pigs.

We find that narrowboats often have more fenders adorning their boats than our "plastic pig"

 

[Mad Harold]

21 hours ago, blackrose said:

Depends on the boat to some extent. I wouldn't have fenders down on a narrowboat but I've never had any problems doing it on my widebeam in broad locks. 

 

It's a mistake to assume we're all on the same type of boat.

My grp boat is 6'-10" at the gunwale,and tapers a bit to the waterline.The thin inflatable fenders I leave down as they  stick out less than the gunwale which has a rubbing strip.

it is  (was) ok on the HNC locks as now lock 1 is chained up because wait for it lack of water!

It is now necessary to give 24 hours notice for a CRT person to run some water down and unlock.

Spoiled my lunchtime run to a pub up the Narrow.

Ringing to book going up and then ringing again a couple of hours later to come down would I think very quickly make me lose my popularity!?

[Rob-M]

I think most of the fender wearers must be cruising between Braunston and Napton as nearly every boat that has passed us this morning has had fenders down.

[Nightwatch]

8 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I think most of the fender wearers must be cruising between Braunston and Napton as nearly every boat that has passed us this morning has had fenders down.

It’s a growing trend.

[ditchcrawler]

7 hours ago, Rob-M said:

I think most of the fender wearers must be cruising between Braunston and Napton as nearly every boat that has passed us this morning has had fenders down.

Did they all moor up using bow stern and centre lines

[Rob-M]

55 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Did they all moor up using bow stern and centre lines

Did you see @Nightwatch moored with his centre line as well then ?

[Nightwatch]

20 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Did you see @Nightwatch moored with his centre line as well then ?

I’m not going to bite!

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

On 31/08/2020 at 14:19, Rambling Boater said:

As per title.

How do I spoil my vote?

Where can I put a big X to show disapproval

 

[haggis]

Nothing to do with fenders but I have come to the conclusion that mooring with a centre rope as well as a bow and stern rope is the new fashion.  We were around the Anderton area recently and it was the exception for the centre rope not to be attached to a ring or a pin.  You used to get the occasional boat moored like that but this year it seems to be the thing to do ? 

 

haggis

[Rob-M]

5 minutes ago, haggis said:

Nothing to do with fenders but I have come to the conclusion that mooring with a centre rope as well as a bow and stern rope is the new fashion.  We were around the Anderton area recently and it was the exception for the centre rope not to be attached to a ring or a pin.  You used to get the occasional boat moored like that but this year it seems to be the thing to do ? 

 

haggis

Using the centre line helps the boat to violently rock when you creep past so they have a reason to yell "SLOW DOWN" at you.

[haggis]

17 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Using the centre line helps the boat to violently rock when you creep past so they have a reason to yell "SLOW DOWN" at you.

Ah, I see! I knew there must be a reason for it ? 

 

haggis

[ditchcrawler]

46 minutes ago, haggis said:

Nothing to do with fenders but I have come to the conclusion that mooring with a centre rope as well as a bow and stern rope is the new fashion.  We were around the Anderton area recently and it was the exception for the centre rope not to be attached to a ring or a pin.  You used to get the occasional boat moored like that but this year it seems to be the thing to do ? 

 

haggis

The other fashion seems to be use the mooring hook, ring, bollard, stake in front of the stern and behind the bows so the ropes angle inwards. I know sometimes with rings its unavoidable  but hooks chains or pins?

[jpcdriver]

On 01/09/2020 at 12:02, Jerra said:

I can't imagine why anybody would take a boat into a narrow lock with fenders down.   For the less than 10% who have polled as leaving fenders down ion a lock, why?

Maybe because we never go into a narrow lock? Maybe because we use rope fenders that float so don't leave prop entanglers hiding in locks if they do come off? Maybe because we are not protecting rubbing strakes but the paintwork higher up because we are cruising on large commercial waterways with all sorts of rough concrete and uneven edges rising several feet above the waterline.  Just some thoughts.