Fenders while cruising

[RLWP]

Swing the lamp, boys

 

Richard

[NB Lola]

When I started on the canals it was regarded as the height of poor boatmanship for a narrowboat to travel with side fenders down. They were only ever put down when you were moored up.

 

Nowadays half the people don't seem to care, and the design of some boats makes it almost impossible to remove them when under way. Not that I'm complaining, because they get ripped off in locks and tunnels, and I pick them up later and add the better ones to my collection. I got three good ones this year, two practically brand-new and one that was probably about 3 months old, which was good because a couple of mine were falling apart.

I often have fenders down and up. The up cos I remembered, the down cos I forgot/have an altruistic bent towards les and co

[Tam & Di]

That makes my 40 years of boating experience, including Yachtmaster, 2nd Mate Foreign Going, IWHC, and whatever else I've got, pretty much worthless in your eyes - not that I'm bothered

 

I guess it is in large part the type of craft you have and where you are cruising. I can't really see anything wrong with the photo of the cruisers in Ireland, though I'm not sure why they need so many. I bet your ships were not festooned with them when they were at sea. (I'm not sure I'd boast of having an IWHC, but there's nothing in the syllabus about fender drill).

[keble]

I often have fenders down and up. The up cos I remembered, the down cos I forgot/have an altruistic bent towards les and co

Ha ha me too!

Remembering to lift them is a problem. I regularly forget and the hangers break.

I collected someone else's fender round my prop last weekend; not happy.

[ditchcrawler]

A boat on the Napton flight trying to get out of a lock with his fenders down, he set off while I was still in the bottom lock and Diana had walked up to him when I took this

 

[Iain_S]

Good photo : Di's face says it all

 

Iain

[Boat&Bikes]

We had a wait this summer at Napton as a boat had to have its fenders cut off when it became stuck,had a lovely icecream though so not so bad.

 

Ian.

[sueb]

Pity they can't be fined for stupidity.

[Richard10002]

I guess it is in large part the type of craft you have and where you are cruising. I can't really see anything wrong with the photo of the cruisers in Ireland, though I'm not sure why they need so many. I bet your ships were not festooned with them when they were at sea. (I'm not sure I'd boast of having an IWHC, but there's nothing in the syllabus about fender drill).

 

Agreed... In fact I debated over including the IWHC, but thought I'd include it 'cause I've got it

[RichLech]

Many thanks for all the advice and guidance. I had no idea it would be such a popular topic!

 

Being a newbie I think I'll leave them down for a while although I appreciate that sods law states they won't be in the right place if I make contact. I don't expect to be going through any narrow locks for some time so I won't be holding anyone up by getting stuck.

 

I'll be careful when I go through locks side by side with other boats.

[Ex- Member]

Many thanks for all the advice and guidance. I had no idea it would be such a popular topic!

 

Being a newbie I think I'll leave them down for a while although I appreciate that sods law states they won't be in the right place if I make contact. I don't expect to be going through any narrow locks for some time so I won't be holding anyone up by getting stuck.

 

I'll be careful when I go through locks side by side with other boats.

 

Hi Rich

 

Fenders will generally help against scrapes and bumps when coming in to moor which is done parallell (or should be ) so they will protect the hull sides from scraping morings, especially if moring overnight or longer, more so on rivers as I stated where water levels aren't as stable as canals so your hull sides can be rubbing directly against hard materials like concrete & sone and steel.

 

Of course depending on where you travel and if there's many tight locks, then common sense would have you raising or removing them them prior to entering.

 

On the K&A between Bristol & Devises where we've travelled there's no problems with tight locks. We are 10.6 wide so all locks will easily accept us as 12.6 wide beams cruise the same stretch many with fenders too, 2 narrowboats usually have plenty of leeway too although some locks might be tight if both nb's have fenders, so simply lift them if you think it's going to be tight. We've never had to and havent had a problem or lost any, they're only 2 inches thick and fitted to proper fender eyes which will break under any great stress.

 

There's a hell of a lot more things that cause locks to be temporaly out of service than peoples fenders. I'd be more inclined to moan about the dumb idiots running their engines late at night and usually in gear than my dangly bits

 

 

 

[Peter Lee]

I didn't have much of an opinion on this until a month or two ago...

 

We were half way through the Blisworth Tunnel heading north: traffic was quite busy - we'd already passed 2 or 3 boats coming the other way and there was another white light ahead. In preparation for the passing, I reduced revs and gently moved over to the right side of the tunnel. Slowly the light became brighter and I was starting to make out the shadow of the boat and steerer on the back against the distant light at the end of the tunnel. Then "BANG!" and silence from the engine, apart from the alarm whistle.

 

Now the oncoming boat was coming ever closer - and without engine power the bow of our boat was swinging to the left into its path. Frantic restarting attempts on the engine were made difficult by the fact that I couldn't tell whether it was running due to the noise from the other boat's engine - getting louder as it neared. Panic starting to take over - shouting "Slow down I've lost the engine!" (Forgot I could have used the horn in the panic.) Fortunately, the oncoming steerer realised that something was wrong and slowed down so the resulting collision was just a small knock. They steered around us safely with me on the wrong side of the tunnel and left us in the darkness.

 

There was another boat coming towards us, but that was probably ten minutes away, so time to do some investigation. Now with immediate crisis averted, I realised that the engine would run out of gear, but as soon as I engaged forward gear the "Bang!" and instant engine stop. "Ah something probably round the prop!" I realised. "Bring all the torches" followed by the quickest dive down the weedhatch ever - remembering at the last moment to take out the engine key for safety. (Oncoming boat getting nearer - it's light ever brighter...)

 

Fortunately, the problem was obvious - a rope fender jammed in the prop. It just needed to be pulled out (and carefully laid on the deck). Weedhatch back, tightened down - deck hatch closed. Key back in - JOY - the engine starts and goes into gear with no problem.

 

The rest of the mile or so to the tunnel mouth was uneventful - but a stiff cup of tea was ordered once in the open!

 

Could have turned out much worse - major collision, or having to pole the boat out of the tunnel. It was seriously scary - but one lesson learned - use the horn!

 

And all because someone wanted to protect their paintwork going through the tunnel.

 

Pick up those fenders!

[RLWP]

Wow - a rope fender for free!

 

Richard

[MtB]

Wow - a rope fender for free!

 

Richard

What would you need that for??

 

[RLWP]

What would you need that for??

 

 

Mooring!

 

Richard

[matty40s]

Cleaning out the cassette.....

[Ex- Member]

I didn't have much of an opinion on this until a month or two ago...

 

We were half way through the Blisworth Tunnel heading north: traffic was quite busy - we'd already passed 2 or 3 boats coming the other way and there was another white light ahead. In preparation for the passing, I reduced revs and gently moved over to the right side of the tunnel. Slowly the light became brighter and I was starting to make out the shadow of the boat and steerer on the back against the distant light at the end of the tunnel. Then "BANG!" and silence from the engine, apart from the alarm whistle.

 

Now the oncoming boat was coming ever closer - and without engine power the bow of our boat was swinging to the left into its path. Frantic restarting attempts on the engine were made difficult by the fact that I couldn't tell whether it was running due to the noise from the other boat's engine - getting louder as it neared. Panic starting to take over - shouting "Slow down I've lost the engine!" (Forgot I could have used the horn in the panic.) Fortunately, the oncoming steerer realised that something was wrong and slowed down so the resulting collision was just a small knock. They steered around us safely with me on the wrong side of the tunnel and left us in the darkness.

 

There was another boat coming towards us, but that was probably ten minutes away, so time to do some investigation. Now with immediate crisis averted, I realised that the engine would run out of gear, but as soon as I engaged forward gear the "Bang!" and instant engine stop. "Ah something probably round the prop!" I realised. "Bring all the torches" followed by the quickest dive down the weedhatch ever - remembering at the last moment to take out the engine key for safety. (Oncoming boat getting nearer - it's light ever brighter...)

 

Fortunately, the problem was obvious - a rope fender jammed in the prop. It just needed to be pulled out (and carefully laid on the deck). Weedhatch back, tightened down - deck hatch closed. Key back in - JOY - the engine starts and goes into gear with no problem.

 

The rest of the mile or so to the tunnel mouth was uneventful - but a stiff cup of tea was ordered once in the open!

 

Could have turned out much worse - major collision, or having to pole the boat out of the tunnel. It was seriously scary - but one lesson learned - use the horn!

 

And all because someone wanted to protect their paintwork going through the tunnel.

 

Pick up those fenders!

 

I had a bicycle tyre wrapped around my prop once, should we ban cycling?

 

 

 

[John Holden]

I had a bicycle tyre wrapped around my prop once, should we ban cycling?

 

I had a lock keepers jacket wrapped around my prop once, should we ban lock keepers

[Iain_S]

I had a bicycle tyre wrapped around my prop once, should we ban cycling?

 

I assume it didn't just fall off a bicycle? I have had the "traditional" mattress round the prop, let's ban beds!

 

Iain

[Matthew Dowson]

My boats so scratched I really don't care, so I only drop them when moored or if sharing a double lock out of courtesy.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

After reading all the informative comments, I am now ready to come in from the dark side and sharpen up my act. No longer will I leave my fenders down while cruising. I don't want to be shouted at or thought to be aesthetically displeasing. Or thought of as lazy. So fenders thrown away from now on.

 

....if I can be arsed.

[SuzyQ]

Am a newbie myself, so didn't even occur to me that there was either an etiquette or a reason to have them up. Have learnt something from other peoples' mistakes which is as handy as it is rare. Like RichLech, I'll hang on to them for now, but watch those locks...

[NickF]

I had a lock keepers jacket wrapped around my prop once, should we ban lock keepers

 

 

I got a fisherman's keep net round my prop once! ............. I'll let you fill in the blanks!

 

Nick

[blackrose]

They should not be down its a terrible habit,drives me around the bend when i see a boat with dangling fenders as it cruises by.Makes me shout and scream at the boater responsible.

 

Ian.

 

If you can tell me how to put my fenders down when I approach a lock landing or mooring single-handed then perhaps I'll stop doing it. Would you like me to leave the helm and lose control of the boat perhaps? When I come into a lock full of plastic boats I want my fenders down.

 

 

99% of boats of all descriptions that I see going past my mooring on the Thames have their fenders down. They can't all be wrong. The 'rule' of fenders up mainly applies to narrowboats on the canals because they can get wedged in narrow locks. But we're not all stuck in the muddy ditches on narrow boats. I wish some narrow boaters would realise that is other world of boating out there.

 

Anyway, you carry on screaming mate - whatever makes you happy. I don't understand why my fenders are any of your business, so I'll take no notice of your nonsense and carry on boating the way I want to.

Edited November 16, 2012 by blackrose

[nebulae]

I always think that a nice bit of rust on the rubbing strakes shows that a boat is used.Even better if the rust has been polished off by wear on the lockside.I dont recall ever seeing a working boat with side fenders. A boat got well and truly stuck in York Street Lock at Stourport a week ago.We were waiting to go up so tried to help the owners.I dont think York Street is a particularly tight lock.To compound the problem,the boat had brass eyelets let into the hull below the gunnel,to which the fenders were tied.Impossible to get the fenders up and rest on the side deck.Problem eventualy solved with a lot of reving and pushing and a sharp knife.Side fenders are for mooring up to stop the boat banging aboat,not to stop the paint being scratched.(obviously a different matter if the boat is fibreglass)