Fender Boards

[tyd]

I am planning to make two fender boards for our PDQ34. Does anyone have any special advice on the dimensions which store well in the PDQ34? Also what board sizes and wood type have you found to be strong enough for use with fenders against a fixed dock piling. Thanks for any advice.

Ty Dickinson
Cat's Away

[duetto]

hi,

since we left new england and floating docks, we converted to "fender boards" i.e. the ones sold by defender, et al. this year we actually used the built in slots to make "double" length fender boards. they stow easily, are rugged, and give flexible options. i also made hooks to tie into fender boards so we can position them anywhere on the toe-rail.

[tyd]

Hi John,

Thanks for sharing the defender product idea. Do you use their fender guards? Are they on 2x4's? Do you put fenders between the boat and the wood, or just use the rubber guards?

[duetto]

we just use the synthetic boards, no wood. they are about 1'x3'x4". for locks we use lines on lifelines and position them on slotted toe rail. for our seasonal docking we do a combination of doubling and end to end on toe rail. we have 4 of them.

[Nick]

We have two fender boards we inherited with our boat. They are 5’ lengths of 6 X 1’s with holes drilled in two corners for lines. Drill holes in upper corner of each end so board hangs properly. They store in the forward port locker reasonably easily (depending on what else you have in there). I’d probably go a bit shorter if these ever wear out and I might consider PVC pipe as I’ve seen others using the latter and I think they would be lighter.

Highly recommend fender boards. We deploy outside of two cylinder fenders when up against awkward or messy protection situations like pilings, lock walls etc…..

[tyd]

Thank you for the reply Nick, I made 2 fender boards with 1 1/4" x 6" pressure treaated wood and put the hole in as you suggest. We saw your PDQ in Annapolis and just missed you as we left early in the morning. We will have to catch up sometime!