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

[Jim Healy]

My small contribution on this topic is that I think both Fred Wehner (Tug44)
and Rich Gano are correct.  In my experience, fenderboards represent a
moderate liability on the NYS Canal System and even more so in the Canadian
Canals, but may be useful and safe on the Tenn-Tom.  The reason is that the
NYS Canal System Locks, the big St. Lawrence Seaway locks, and the CoE Locks
on the East Coast and Okeechobee Waterway all have ropes that hang down from
the top of the lock walls.  The Canadian Canal locks (Chambly, Rideau and
TSW) mostly have wire cables that are attached at the top of the wall *and*
at the bottom of the wall under the water level.  If you snag those
attachment lines with a fenderboard, what happens next will certainly
provide entertainment for everyone but you; well, not the owner of a boat
you may hit, either, I s'ppose....  These locks also *often* have uneven
walls, with large divots out of the concrete or offset joints where stone
blocks abut.  These will also snag a 2"x6" fenderboard, providing a boat
management challenge.  And on the NYS Canals, the locks generally fill and
empty from a channel that runs down the middle of the lock floor.  So a
filling lock tends to push you onto the wall, so that your fenders are tight
against the wall and much more likely to snag any obstruction they find.  
 
However, in the big locks on the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee
Rivers, and Tenn-Tom Waterway, there are no cables or ropes or pipes hanging
down the lock walls.  You attach to floating bollards that are located in a
recessed channel every 50 ft along the lock wall.  They present their own
set of challenges, but snagging a fenderboard isn't one of them.  In those
big locks, you only have that one point of attachment to the wall, not two
or three, and the techniques for managing your boat in a turbulent lock on
that single point of attachment are definitely different from having two or
three cables to hang on to.  Those big locks move so much water that in
general, they are less turbulent than the smaller locks.  Seems
counter-intuitive, but that was our observation.  In the Tenn-Tom locks,
there's really nothing in the lock infrastructure for a fender board to hang
up on (except the bollard channel, but unlikely), so fender board use is
much more applicable.  We didn't, but I can see how it could work OK.  Of
course, those lock walls are also much cleaner...   Well, you knew that had
t be true!!!  It has to do with the law of the perversity of inanimate
objects.
 
Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary,
currently at Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda, FL
AGLCA # 3767
MTOA # 3436