Where do you store your fenders?

[Kelly Hanson East]

I put two plastic cleats on the inside surfaces of the rear transom - I stow the two fenders I use at dock there. Extras go below the cooler as noted above. If they are dirty and I want them below I throw them into the head - which can be rinsed in to the bilge.

[March]

Under the captain's seat. I dismantled an old bicycle rack that goes to the back of the car and got the straps out. Four holes in the seat; two straps. Takes three fenders. Handy and out of the way. The lines are attached to the straps as well, so there's no risk of losing them, even when trailering

[FLembo18]

(CLICK to enlarge)

I have 6 fenders, 4 at the bow and I keep the other two below in the locker in case I would need them.

Frank L.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

It's hard to beat the price of the mesh bags, each cost less than $3.

Another great thing about where I have them mounted is all I have to do is partially open the side door of our full enclosure to access them from the cockpit (actually this is almost always done by my wife). She'll hand me a stern line and an aft fender before she goes forward to prep the bow. I can place these while at the helm and she takes the bow line and the bow fender forward where she clips it just ahead of the shroud to the lifeline. In most docking situations two fenders is all we need, one at the stern and one just forward of the midpoint of the boat. We almost never set a fender way forward at the bow. If we need more (for some specific spring line plan for instance) the two on the other side are easily accessible from either the cockpit or on deck.

During all this the full enclosure can stay totally zipped up during foul weather. That's why I didn't mount them somewhere off my arch on the transom, I didn't want to have to open up the aft enclosure panel just to get the fenders.

Personally, I think having them hanging up high from the cabin top lifelines obstructs visibility to much and looks a bit un-seamanlike. Having them just flipped up laying on deck is even worse, but I guess anything is better than driving around with the still deployed over the side. That's a cardinal seamanship sin in my book. The moment we leave the dock someone is on deck collecting and storing the dock lines and fenders aboard my boat.

Over the years I've also moved most of the things I originally had stowed outboard of the lifelines and stanchions. At first we had the lifesling, life ring, BBQ, etc mounted nicely on the outside, but at a few quite high docks (Roche Harbors old section) and always against the concrete walls of the locks this proved to be a problem. I've since streamlines everything thanks to my transom arch so now there is nothing that protrudes out past the belt line and it takes away all the worries when positioning the boat along walls. You can see the difference from the old to the new in the two pictures I posted earlier in this thread.

[NiceAft]

guess anything is better than driving around with the still deployed over the side. That's a cardinal seamanship sin in my book.

That makes me a cardinal I don't hold it against you

Ray

[School House Steve]

Ray,

I can't believe you would post a photo of your beautiful boat under way with your fenders hanging out for all to see!

Have you no decency? Shame on you. You wouldn't let your wife go out with her fenders showing? Or would you?

Nice mainsail. Is that a muscle head. Where did you get it?

Steve

P.S. I wedge my fenders between the mast stays when sailing (costs nothing) throw them in the cockpit when trailering (lazy) and store them under the table when the boat is stored on the trailer and not in use (out of sight but easy to get to).

[KayakDan]

All fenders and docklines are stowed in a plastic tote bin on the port side,just behind the raised galley track. You can drop them right into the bin from the cabin roof once you're underway.

[NiceAft]

Steve,

The sail is a Muscle-Head. You may wish to follow this thread. http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... =9&t=15023

Ray

[ALX357]

Two fenders under the captain's seat, in wire baskets made for the purpose.
Two more on the head door, in the same kind of baskets.

In my experience, any fenders hanging off lifelines or outside the boat are either hard to access when needed, impeding visibility, or in the way, and in the worst case, get afoul of the Genoa sheets. I used to store two fenders outboard on the aft stanchions, but didn't like the way they were so visible and distracting when underway.

[Doug W]

Do you have any closeup pictures of the under seat baskets? Did you make them? Did you buy them?

[ALX357]

The fender baskets are pretty much standard items, should be available from West Marine, I got mine from Boater's World, but they "went under" last year and are no more. They are expensive ( everthing boat stainless steel is ) but very light and functional.




Now I remember why I removed them from the rear stanchions and put them on the head's door. While docking once, the boat was moving past a tall pier, very close, bumped the pier and fouled the basket which was hung so that it projected past the rub-rail ..... I guess it was not really such a bad place to put them, but they also did obstruct the view a bit.