GL: Using Fender Boards on the T-Tom and Tennessee

[Rich Gano]

Note that I am restricting my comments to my own experience on the subj
waterways running through 36 locks in 40 days.

We always hung a 2X4 fender board (it was something like 10 or 12 feet long)
over our two big inflated fenders amidships along the flat section of the
hull.  The fender boards ended up overlapping the fenders by a couple of
feet.  I tried the idea of binding the fenders to the fender board, but
quickly gave up on it because it was unwieldy, and we didn't want to clutter
the decks up with the thing.  Now that I see the idea of fore and aft
steadying lines for the board, I know that would have been an improvement.
The fender board (or for that matter just fenders alone) is not a
"fire-and-forget weapon" - they must be over-watched while vertical movement
is occurring.  With the two of us armed with boat hooks at either end of the
boat we had little trouble with hang-ups.

A ball fender was hung over the rail forward and above the rub rail to
protect the bulwark and railings.  One additional large fender was hung well
aft.  These two prevented contact with the wall when the inevitable yawing
occurred.

Rich Gano
CALYPSO (GB-42 #295)
Southport, FL (near Panama City)