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What style fenders do you use and why.
We are getting our first boat and I was leaning towards the Babz. As I believe you deflate them to store so they take up less space and they look like they would protect better than the mission style. The traditional fenders look like they would take up the most space in the boat when not in use.
We trailer to the lake right now so I only keep a couple regular boat bumpers on the boat. We did spend a week at the lake and I left the boat in the water ties to the dock. I used the Lets tie up brand balls and really liked them. I did not tie up to other boats with them. They are fairly quick to inflate just a couple minutes and they deflated in about a minute or so. They fold down flat for storage. I bought a package for about 175. Looks like the prices are similar to babz. I also got a pump, bag, and four dock lines. They have a 10% discount code 'summer10' right now.
I have the missions for docking. I rely on my buddies massive bumpers for tying off to chill.
I have 4 of the traditional fenders I keep in my boat. They do take up a fair amount of room, but the Makai I have has a lot if storage. I'm not really sure why I have 4 either! I really only need 2 at any of the places I dock when the boat is not in my lift.
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Let's Tie Up.
I have the Bertha bundle for my Mojo. Perfect for the week at Norris and we use them to tie up at the local lake. Best part is tie up to a pontoon and no issues. The bugees are the best part. The Bertha balls are sometimes too large.
I love the blow up ones like Babz. They only take a few seconds to blow up and when done you deflate them and they don't take up any room at all. My kids got me some of the Mission ones and they are good but they take up a lot of room.
We use Babz. Keep 3 of them about 90% full of air and they fit in my helm locker right on top of the sub box on our Makai. Keep a few standard bumpers in the front bow as well just incase we tie up to an odd shaped hull.
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I use the large fender balls as well. They work so great no matter the dock or boat you’re tying up to that I’ll never go back to traditional style and don’t see myself moving to any other newer fender style out there. I inflate them at the beginning of the season and deflate at winterization.
https://i.imgur.com/PCMJPyi.jpg
Y'all that use the ball style fenders. Do you free float the fender on your dock line or secure it to the boat with a bungie or line?
I secure the inflatable to the boat and bungee the boat to the dock or another boat.
This way my boat is always protected and not just attached to the dock.
I like to leave my primary fenders attached in my dock slip so I never have to worry about them. I keep a few of the Ronix inflatable fenders for tying up to others, getting gas, going to restaurants, etc. Inflating them is really easy and they take almost no space when deflated.
Hoppy balls from Amazon. Like 7$ and work great.
I have mine tied to the bungee at approximately 1/3 of the length.
I have some regular fenders and I have 2 impact fenders. The impact fenders are nice in a tie up setting hut I typically never tie up to people if I don’t have to. Docking if I’m not using my lift I use a combo of over side traditional style fenders and my impact fenders. The big balls are nice but I don’t like storing them.
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I have some Taylor Fenders for the shitty public docks that are typically torn-up by the end of the season. They are pretty tough.
Boat-to-Boat I have the Let's Tie Up and probably a few Exile Buoy Balls someone gave me. Have a few pumps too, battery and cig lighter.
I have mooring bouys attached to the side of my dock.
Thanks for all the responses. Getting our first boat is both exciting and terrifying at the same time.
I have the Mission fenders. I stow them under the sliding rear bench or in the bow under the playpen cusion while out on the water and they don't interfere with anything.
4 boats, 14 years of boating and only ever owned the 4x16 taylor fenders. kept 3 on the boats. worked great and never had to hassle with blowing them up.
I will say tho that the couple times I tied up, I was glad boater4life had blow up hippityhops as they worked great but if you don't own your own dock nor tie up much, the taylors work great 99% of the time.