I had this problem last year, as our harbor has recently gone to requiring through the buoy gear, which means large
shackles and an eyebolt above the buoy. They have had too many of the type halakei shows break loose when the pennants wrapped around and around the chain, under the buoy, and then took a strain and, if the swivels don't work well, chafe through. The present system eliminates that problem, but leaves a lot of gear above the buoy to bang the topsides in no wind conditions. I was able to get an inflatable buoy, with gear through it, but still managed to scratch the top sides until I wrapped carpet with duct tape around the whole mess of large galvy fittings. I don't think there's much you can do from stopping the hard plastic buoys from scratching, but you can wrap the eyebolt and
shackles, and cut down on a lot of it. The inflatable buoys don't scratch, but are harder to find. Hamilton Marine has them. Hope this helps. Bob
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