The boat fenders or boat bumpers
In early times, knotted from rope, but most of all having the reputation of being heavy and taking a lot of space on board, these were the boat fenders also known as boat bumpers.
Light, reliable and aesthetic, the 21st century's boat fenders are easily inflatable and deflatable.
Indispensable for the protection of our haulls, they come in different shapes and they are cylindrical, round or flat. We can see them in different postions on a boat's beam. They also come in a large palette of colors with covers or not, they are real sail helpers.
Starting with 2008, the easily inflatable and deflatable boat fenders make surface on the boating landscape, bringing a lot of advantages to sailors of all kinds.
See moreHow do they work? Boat fender
also known as "bumper"
The innovation of the inflatable boat fenders consists in gaining a lot of space on board without any compromise on the protection they offer.
Vinyl, foam or PVC, inflatable
Boats use mobile fenders in order to anticipate contact points with the dock or pontoon and the haull of other boats during docking manoeuvres.
The most preferred are the inflatable boat fenders, very convenient, they take less space and can be stored easily. The fenders that have an extra cover allow a simpler maintenance. Thanks to the standard valve, they can be inflated with any type of pump. More interresting, there are manufacturers that give you the possibility to customize them by choosing the color of the fender's cover and even to add text, placing the name of the boat for example and having so an ultra-designed and personalized product.
See moreSize and quantity
The general rule is 2.5 cm of diameter for each 1.5 meters of boat lenght with a minimum of 3 fenders on each side.
The dimension of the boat fenders depends on the size of your ship. The lenght of your fender corresponds to aprovimatively 75% of the freeboard's height. For example, if your boat's freeboard measures 1 meter, your boat fender needs to be 75 cm high.
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The optimum recommended pressure is of 0.2 bar
An under-inflated boat fender will not be able to absorb the shocks and it will get broken faster. Conversely, an over-inflated fender it's not ideal neither as it becomes too rigid to absorb the shocks. Your boat fender need to be slightly soft, you need to be able to squeeze it with your fingers.
