narrowboat side bumpers

[whitebeard]

do you tend to leave your side bumpers tied on when travelling, and risk them getting squashed or damaged, or do you take them off in case of very tight narrow bits of canal, and only use them for mooring up ?

I mean you don't always necessarily know what's around the next bend, and wouldn't want to keep adjusting them, once you've started a journey.

 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, whitebeard said:

do you tend to leave your side bumpers tied on when travelling, and risk them getting squashed or damaged, or do you take them off in case of very tight narrow bits of canal, and only use them for mooring up ?

I mean you don't always necessarily know what's around the next bend, and wouldn't want to keep adjusting them, once you've started a journey.

 

 

Your fenders, (not bumpers) should be raised whilst underway.

[rusty69]

As one boatbuilder once said:

 

"Why put fenders all around your boat after we have spent hours putting solid metal rubbing strakes all around the boat".

[Guest]

.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2023 by M_JG

[system 4-50]

What sort of boat have you got?

[LadyG]

I bought eight very smart rugged rope fenders from eBay, custom order. I tied them on with red rope from Lidl, all looked very smart, but squeezing through a tight tunnel yesterday I managed to dislodge  one, fortunately it floated which is unusual. I think the red rope cut through. They look very smart, but need to have a rethink about attaching them. 

My rubbing strakes are painted red for contrast, but anyway I don't want the boat to bang on the sides of a canal when moored up.

Edited May 17, 2023 by LadyG

[rusty69]

7 minutes ago, LadyG said:

fortunately it floated which is unusual.

Probably made of polyprop. Better than getting caught around yourprop.

[haggis]

I can't really understand fenders being left down when underway. So often when a boater does this you see an area of hull where the fender moving back and forward  rubbed the blacking off . Also fenders can get pulled off in locks and bridges and then find their way to wrap round another boats prop. Fenders are great at protecting the hull when moored and to my mind that is the only time they should be used. 

[Pie Eater]

We only used fenders when mooring up.

[IanD]

Just now, haggis said:

I can't really understand fenders being left down when underway. So often when a boater does this you see an area of hull where the fender moving back and forward  rubbed the blacking off . Also fenders can get pulled off in locks and bridges and then find their way to wrap round another boats prop. Fenders are great at protecting the hull when moored and to my mind that is the only time they should be used. 

Or they can make the boat hang up in a tight lock, like a boat did in front of us at Foxton... 😞

[David Mack]

10 minutes ago, LadyG said:

My rubbing strakes are painted red for contrast, but anyway I don't want the boat to bang on the sides of a canal when moored up.

Which is why you put fenders down when moored up, and not when under way.

[Ex Brummie]

10 minutes ago, LadyG said:

. I tied them on with red rope from Lidl, all looked very smart,

I'd change the rope smartish. If it is the same rope I used for fenders, it will degrade in sunlight and become like paper.

[rusty69]

3 minutes ago, Ex Brummie said:

I'd change the rope smartish. If it is the same rope I used for fenders, it will degrade in sunlight and become like paper.

If it is polypropylene, it will degrade in sunlight pretty quickly.

[LadyG]

13 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

If it is polypropylene, it will degrade in sunlight pretty quickly.

It does not look like three strand polyprop, it's braided in some way. I don't think it could have degraded in the two months it has been on, but I'll try to find something extra. 

I think it either cut through or was popped from fixture due to being casually tied.

Edited May 17, 2023 by LadyG

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

30 minutes ago, LadyG said:

squeezing through a tight tunnel yesterday

you made it through the Standedge ?

[rusty69]

2 minutes ago, LadyG said:

It does not look like three strand polyprop, it's braided in some way. I don't think it could have degraded in the two months it has been on, but I'll try to find something extra. 

No. I suspect its the tunnel what done it govenor.

[LadyG]

2 minutes ago, Goliath said:

you made it through the Standedge ?

No no, it was a tiny road tunnel in Huddersfield, rather difficult to see the entrance due to sun. I would definitely remove them all before Standedge.

Edited May 17, 2023 by LadyG

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

You’ll love Standedge. 
 Cant remember exactly where, but I think/reckon the Huddersfield Canal becomes proper nice and pretty around Golcar. 
 

Glad you’re persevering with it.  👍

[LadyG]

28 minutes ago, IanD said:

Or they can make the boat hang up in a tight lock, like a boat did in front of us at Foxton... 😞

I wouldn't have them down in a tight lock, I'm still solo on the broad canal. I can easily pop them on to the gunwales where they will be held in by fender eyes.

[MtB]

11 minutes ago, LadyG said:

No no, it was a tiny road tunnel in Huddersfield, 

 

Known to normal people as a "bridge"...  

[PeterF]

56 minutes ago, LadyG said:

No no, it was a tiny road tunnel in Huddersfield, rather difficult to see the entrance due to sun. I would definitely remove them all before Standedge.

Fenders not of any use in Standedge tunnel because the narrow bits that catch your boat are not at the water line, they are bits that stick out at taff rail or cabin corner height because the tunnel shape is so irregular and was not cut for boats with cabins per todays boats.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2023 by PeterF

[IanD]

38 minutes ago, LadyG said:

No no, it was a tiny road tunnel in Huddersfield, rather difficult to see the entrance due to sun. I would definitely remove them all before Standedge.

If you're worried about your boat in Standedge, put something like a cut-open/flattened tyre on the front cabin corners to protect them, these are the most likely points of damage.

 

Leaving the fenders down is a bad idea, if they get do caught and ripped off they'll then sit in the water waiting to wrap themselves round somebody's prop, which is *definitely* not desirable more than a mile underground... 😞

Edited May 17, 2023 by IanD

[whitebeard]

Thanks for confirming what I was thinking.

Better to use them for mooring only then.

 

[DandV]

8 minutes ago, whitebeard said:

Thanks for confirming what I was thinking.

Better to use them for mooring only then.

 

Your steel rubbing strakes provide low friction sliding contact. Horizontally to slide past obstructions, and vertically to ensure your boat rises and falls with changing water levels in locks.

Far far preferable to fenders unprdictably grabbing at whatever they can get hold of. Sometimes spectacularly. 

But when moored, fenders are really good at cushioning the contact with the bank. That is what they are designed for. 

[MtB]

9 minutes ago, DandV said:

Far far preferable to fenders unprdictably grabbing at whatever they can get hold of. Sometimes spectacularly. 

 

Most spectacular I've ever seen was my own boat going down in a GU lock sharing with another. 

 

We were busy prattling away with the other boater when we finally looked back at the boats to see the pair of them suspended in fresh air, jammed with their fenders down and the water level far below. We refilled the lock partially to support the boats and spent an hour or so sawing away at the fenders down to free them.

 

I've never cruised or locked with fenders down since.