Definition
A fender is a cushion hung over the side of a boat to absorb impact and protect the hull and topsides when coming alongside a dock, a quay, or another vessel. Most are inflatable PVC or closed-cell foam, sized to the boat, and deployed on lines from cleats or rails. The fender takes the load that would otherwise scuff gelcoat, crack a rubrail, or dent a tender's tubes.
Background and use
Fenders matter more on a tender than almost any other small craft, because a tender's whole working life involves coming alongside something. It nudges up to the mother yacht's swim platform, rafts against a passerelle, lands at a busy beach-club pontoon, and ties up at a fuel dock among other boats. Every one of those contacts is a chance to mark the yacht's paint or the tender's own finish, and a fender is the cheap insurance against an expensive respray.
Limousine tenders and other premium boats often carry integrated or recessed fendering rather than the obvious balloon fenders you string along a cruiser. A continuous rubbing strake or a moulded rubber rail runs the length of the gunwale, sometimes with stainless trim, so the boat is protected without cluttering the deck or spoiling the lines. Ribs solve the problem differently: the inflatable collar that defines the hull doubles as a full-length fender, which is one reason a rib is so forgiving when ferrying guests in a crowded anchorage.
For docking, the practical points are placement and size. Fenders are hung at the points of likely contact, usually at the widest part of the beam and near the bow and stern, and at a height that matches the dock or the platform you are landing on. A fender that sits too high or too low does nothing. Crew adjust them as the boat manoeuvres, and on tenders the helmsman often relies on a fendered gunwale plus a single roving fender handled by a deckhand. Keeping fenders clean also protects the topsides, since a gritty fender will polish a scratch into the hull over a season.
Related considerations
- Match fender size and type to the boat: balloon fenders for cruisers, integrated rubbing strakes for limousine tenders, the collar itself on a rib.
- Hang fenders at the contact height of the dock or platform; the wrong height protects nothing.
- A roving fender handled by crew covers contacts the fixed fenders miss during close manoeuvring.
- Keep fenders clean; grit trapped against the topsides will scratch the very surface the fender is meant to protect.
- Recessed or moulded fendering keeps deck space clear and preserves the lines of a premium tender.