Mooring Whips vs Fender Board vs ??

[JoLin]

My summer dockage is at what's known as a "Navy Pier" in which 12" diameter pilings, 6 feet on center are situated to the outside of the bulkhead. Ergo, simply hanging some fenders off the boat for protection is not an option.

The owner of the property uses mooring whips on his 22-footer and had a problem last year during a big blow. I'm not sure he had them set up right. I, on the other hand, being an "old-fangled" kind of guy, made a fender board for the Pro-Line and it worked beautifully all season.

The boat deal I'm working on right now is for a 25-footer that, fully loaded, will weigh much more than the Pro-Line does (6000 vs 3500 lbs). Instead of the 2x4 I used before, I might need to upgrade to a 2x6 or 2x8. Add a couple of 8" fenders to it and this sucker is gonna be danged heavy. I'm no kid anymore and I'm concerned about being able to hump it around.

The canal where I tie up is subject to a lot of wind, wave and wake action so I need something pretty robust to protect the boat. If I thought a 2x4 would be strong enough I'd go with the fender board cause it's so simple and works so well.

Whadda y'all think about my options? Personal experiences?

 

[BWR1953]

Re: Mooring Whips vs Fender Board vs ??

I had mooring whips set up for my 24.5' Bayliner sport cruiser. Worked like a charm. Even went through some hurricane weather without a problem. Water in the canal rose over 4 feet, winds hit 70mph and had no problems whatsoever.

I think your neighbor needed to have his whips set up correctly.

Best of luck.

 

[JoLin]

Re: Mooring Whips vs Fender Board vs ??

Thanks for your input- your pic also got me thinking about maybe just lashing my wife to the boat as a fender (hope she doesn't see this)

Out of curiosity- are you using Taylor whips (most expensive) or one of the other brands like Dockmate?

Thanks again.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Mooring Whips vs Fender Board vs ??

theswe are Taylor Made whips, this was in the FL Keys, this last year when Hurricane Gustav, came thru. properly rigged the boat never touched anything. these are 1 years old. 5,000 lb boat.