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

[Elaine Reib]

We traveled the Great Loop, up the Ohio to Pittsburgh and up the Allegheny 
to Brady's Bend, up the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers and had over 44,000 
miles under our keel and never once had a problem with using just ordinary 
elongated fenders. They were white and yes they had to be cleaned. About 
once a month or so I would clean them with Soft Scrub and put a coat of boat 
wax on them and they still looked good when we sold the boat.  People would 
get hung up with fender boards and cause a ruckus in the locks. They were 
less forgiving than the regular fenders. Using just fenders made it easy to 
grab one from one side and move it to the other when needed for a special 
situation. To each his own but my vote is for just fenders and be sure they 
are big enough for your boat.  Too many new comers get too small fenders and 
end up buying another set.

Elaine Reib
ELReib at comcast.net
717-479-5012
Co-founder, Skipper Bob Publications

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "fred" <fred at tug44.org>
To: <great-loop at lists.samurai.com>
Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 1:36 PM
Subject: Re: GL: Using Fender Boards on the T-Tom and Tennessee


> Rich,
>
> I've watched lots of folks with all kinds of odd fender arrangements, and
> generally the more complicated they are, the more likely they are to 
> tangle
> and otherwise cause problems.
>
> My question is:  What would be the purpose of a fender board?  Why would
> anyone bother with them?
>
> Fred
> Tug 44
>
> ----------------------------------------
> From: "Rich Gano" <richgano at gmail.com>
> Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 12:18 PM
> To: "Great Loop List" <great-loop at lists.samurai.com>
> Subject: GL: Using Fender Boards on the T-Tom and Tennessee
>
> 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)
> _______________________________________________
> http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/great-loop
>
> To modify your Great-Loop subscription options (change email address,
> unsubscribe, etc.) go to:
> http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/great-loop
> _______________________________________________
> http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/great-loop
>
> To modify your Great-Loop subscription options (change email address,
> unsubscribe, etc.) go to: 
> http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/great-loop