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Fender hangers...too many choices!

23K views 85 replies 45 participants last post by  Livelyhood 
#1 ·
My fellow boat-owners (the admiral and my co-owner's admiral) want some way to hang fenders off the lifelines that does NOT require any type of knot. In addition, the device must withstand nasty weather (we seem to have the misfortune of only docking when bad weather arrives). Finally, it must be easily adjustable.

Does Anyone have any experience with the following devices, and have some feedback as to their efficacy?

So far I have seen many ideas:

Amazon.com: Taylor Made Products Hook and Loop Boat Fender Strap (Pair) (36 - Inch): Sports & Outdoors

HARDLINE PRODUCTS\ EZ-Adjuster Fender Hangers at West Marine

TAYLOR No-Knot Fender Hanger at West Marine

Loop Cleats

Tidy-Ups™ Fender Adjuster Kits - iboats.com
 
#28 ·
A few years ago, I was searching for a better solution just like you. All were just waste the money when the novelty died. I found you can beat a Clove Hitch Knot.

YouTube - ‪How To Tie a Clove Hitch Knot‬‏

Sorry, please don't shoot the messager. :) This is so easy, even the caveman can do it. It becomes a second nature :D
Forget the plastic and go with the clove hitch. I've never had one come loose.
 
#3 ·
your point on the clove hitch is well made. If it were up to me alone, I would mostly agree. However: the clove hitch around a life line that's a much smaller diameter slips alot. So, I have been doing 2 1/2 hitches. The problem arises from some of the other people involved: too many variations occur and it makes a mess to untie.

Believe it or not (knot), it took us the whole season to decide that all lines would be flaked instead of coiled from now on. And that a single loop would be backed through the top of the flake to keep it from uncoiling.

This type of discussion would be one of the small disadvantages to co-owning a boat. However, for our purposes, the benefits greatly outweigh the drawbacks.
 
#5 ·
your point on the clove hitch is well made. If it were up to me alone, I would mostly agree. However: the clove hitch around a life line that's a much smaller diameter slips alot. So, I have been doing 2 1/2 hitches. The problem arises from some of the other people involved: too many variations occur and it makes a mess to untie.
A clove hitch is wonderful, quick, easy, cheap, flexible, and my wife doesn't want to use it.

Hence these. They are easy to put on and easy to take off. The fender is easy to adjust as well. They are also very strong. I use two of them on my FenderStep and clip them to the base of the stanchions in the boarding gate.

I picked up a couple at the Seattle boat show and my wife ended up loving them so much that I got enough for all my fenders. It makes the wife very happy, which is turn makes me very happy.

Dave
 
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#6 ·
Hanging Fenders

Hi,

just regarding the slipping, tie the loops of the clove hitch to the life line either side of a stanchion where the lifeline passes through, low down to reduce leverage.

If you need a fender between stanchions, double up the lines and hang the fender between two stanchions

Works for us..

:)
 
#8 ·
Of course, Kiltmadoc wasn't asking for everyone's favorite hitch for hanging a fender. He explained why a hitch wasn't going to do it for his situation. Hopefully, they'll be some more users of the gizmos to provide some firsthand advice--but those fender clips look pretty good to me.
 
#10 ·
If you don't like clove hitches, how about some double-sided velcro? Buy it in 36" long strips in Home Depot, hang the fenders from it. Pull it up over the lifelines and one side sticks to the other, so you can just "stick it" instead of tying a knot at whatever point you want.

Or you could just do the proper seamanlike thing, replace those defective admirals. :)
 
#11 ·
Dhays- my wife feels the same way. How do you adjust those, the pics show a stopper knot behind the grommet or an eye splice. So you have to "set" these to a specific spot either with a splice or stopper and then use them in the same location on the boat each time? A clove hitch is so easy I have been resisting this (irrational) decision for years but she ends up usually being the one to hang the fenders when we go in to a slip so maybe it's time I found something that works for her.
 
#36 ·
I simply use a double half hitch. Even my wife can adjust it up or down a bit using that. (at this point all of you are wondering if she can do that, why does she want a clip to begin with? Very good question. You don't really expect a rational answer though do you?) In practice, once the fender height is set, it rarely needs to be adjusted. We use four fenders on a side. Three of the four are at the same height. It makes it really easy for her and any other crew to carry them forward, clip them on the base of the stanchion and lay them on deck, and as we get very close to the dock just kick them over the side.

I've tired a bunch of different clips. I suggest buying one set of two and giving them a try. If your wife likes them, get some more. If she doesn't, keep looking.

Dave
 
#13 ·
$10 and $15 a crack... are you nutz? $30/pair comes out to more than I paid for a cam cleat. It seems to me there's a dummy tax applied.

If it we me, I would pool the money you were about to spend, and hire someone to spend a few hours and help you sort out your lines. Agree beforehand to abide by his recommendations for, say, two months before discarding them for a store-bought doodad.

Could the problem be something as simple as using the wrong kind of rope? I can see how a stiff, braided line can slip a clove hitch, but the soft-handed lines I've seen on all fenders snug up very securely on lifelines. A clove hitch is easy and fast to tie, even more so if you tuck a loop rather than the entire end. Sung it up tight so it bites into itself and won't go anywhere; the loop makes it easy to undo (just like your shoelace).
 
#18 · (Edited)
I wouldn't tie the fenders to the life lines to begin with. If you don't have any other options, tie them to the bottom of the stanchions. On my dock, I've eliminated hanging them off the boat altogether by mounting them horizontally on the dock. I don't have to put them away on the way out, or take them out and hang them on the way in. They can't ride up on the dock, thereby becoming worthless. 100% of the fender contacts the hull and therefore cushions the boat. Vertically, it's 25% max. I find old fenders floating or laying around and use them, and keep the nice ones below. The only downside is that I'm out of the habit of getting fenders out when approaching a guest dock. I can live with that!
 
#37 ·
Wonderful idea, when and where it is allowed. Many (most?) marina's won't allow you to permanently attached anything to wooden docks as they feel it accelerates their deterioration. Also, it doesn't solve the OPs original question/problem unless he never docked anywhere but home and never rafted to another vessel.

Dave
 
#20 ·
We typically tie off to a stanchion base, but that does rub the line over the varnished toe rail, so it isn't ideal. The knot isn't an issue, we've always used a round turn and two half hitches. Its just natural to us.

Dragging the four 12"x34" fenders up the side decks after a long day of sailing gets tougher each time. Those things weigh as much as a small child and its very awkward to hold them over the side, while you tie them off to a stanchion base. When dropping them underway and the base catches a bow wake and gets kicked up, that can be a lot of weight to hold onto.

We look at every doohicky, but haven't seen one we think it either secure enough or will do the job well.

Ideally, I would like something that mounts to the stanchion and might be stainless itself, so that it blended in a bit. The attachment doesn't need to be adjustable, I would like something knotted to the fender line that just slipped in to the stanchion gizmo at an exact predetermined length. If we could just haul them up the side deck in order, plug them in and walk away, that might make the Admiral less cranky about it.

The downside to having something fixed on the fender line, is that you might have to remove it or be able to adjust it for a foreign port or fuel dock.

Unfortunately, our new marina is frowning upon permanently attaching fenders horizontally to the slip. If I were the Marina Manager, I would avoid my wife this weekend. She's not happy.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Unfortunately, our new marina is frowning upon permanently attaching fenders horizontally to the slip. If I were the Marina Manager, I would avoid my wife this weekend. She's not happy.
I assume the marina's reasoning is that they don't want people putting holes in their docks willy nilly? I can understand that. Be grateful you have a marina that cares. My marina doesn't care what you do, as long as they don't have to do it! I've seen professional fender systems that mount to the dock. Don't know how pricey they are, but maybe your marina would let you install one of those if you promise to leave it when you leave, thereby improving the slip. It would be worth a few hundred dollars to me not to hassle with fenders!
 
#38 ·
I have the same "gut" reaction to tying anything to the lifelines. I prefer to save wear and tear on the lifelines so they may actually hold if I end up starting to go overboard. With any wave action, it is possible for the dock to place a lot of downforce on a fender. I don't like that much force on the lifelines. For this reason, I always tie off fenders from the base of a stanchion or if I can't for some reason, the middle lifeline. The clips we found, clip to the base of the stanchion easily.
Dave
 
#23 ·
Last year was our first year with our boat and I had the same concern trying to make it easier for my wife and family to hang fenders. I chose these from Seadog ( Manuf. # 327200-1 ) available at west marine. The product photo on west marines site shows them connected to the pulpit but there is an insert for connecting to life lines.

All you do is open the lever, place on life line, pull cord to adjust height of fender and close lever. Never had an issue using them, and the easy height adjustment was great for setting different heights for docks or rafting up.
 
#30 ·
I get your point, but unless you are flying square sails with block and tackle, we've all evolved a bit.​

Yeahbut... investing in injection molded complex hydrocarbon clips because you can't be bothered to learn to tie a simple knot seems to be the wrong direction to evolve. Next thing you know, we'll be burning said hydrocarbons in heat engines when the wind fails us. :p
 
#42 ·
... investing in injection molded complex hydrocarbon clips because you can't be bothered to learn to tie a simple knot seems to be the wrong direction to evolve. Next thing you know, we'll be burning said hydrocarbons in heat engines when the wind fails us. :p
Suggesting that evolution is akin to becoming a stinkpotter requires some defense.

To set the record straight, no one on my boat is having any trouble tying the knot itself and we use a round turn and two half hitches. A clove hitch does not change anything for us.

Holding a 12 inch fender at ankle height, while it gets kicked around by the bow wake is tough, period. Every man, woman or child that has done it has commented. It isn't impossible, it just stinks, particularly after a long day.

As I've said, although the chest pounders ignored it, we have not yet found an acceptable alternative. However, if I do, I'm on it.
 
#32 · (Edited)
The height of the docks you dock at and the freeboard of the boats you raft with may vary, but the shape of YOUR boat's hull doesn't, and that is what you are protecting, so I have never understood the need for adjustability. What we did was hang out fenders from stainless snap hooks or carabiners, with a large enough mouth to fit around our stanchion bases. set the fender height, knot it, and it's done forever. Hanging fenders is as simple as snapping the shackle around the stanchion, and no pressure on the lifelines.

To solve the rubrail chafe problem, wrap the lines in leather chafe guards.
 
#35 ·
The height of the docks you dock at and the freeboard of the boats you raft with may vary, but the shape of YOUR boat's hull doesn't, and that is what you are protecting, so I have never understood the need for adjustability. What we did was hang out fenders from stainless snap hooks or carabiners, with a large enough mouth to fit around our stanchion bases. set the fender height, knot it, and it's done forever. Hanging fenders is as simple as snapping the shackle around the stanchion, and no pressure on the lifelines.

To solve the rubrail chafe problem, wrap the lines in leather chafe guards.
I took this idea one step further into the cheap zone. I bought those cheapo large aluminum carabiners 3 for a buck from the Dollar store and put two on each fender. One at the end of the fender line to clip onto the stantion base for fenders down and another carabiner right at the fender line knot to raise the fenders up and clip them high up on the life lines when sailing. When time comes to dock I just unclip from the life line and the fenders fall to the pre-determined hieght for the dock.
 
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