Deck/Dunnage Boxes or Fender Holders

[JD5652]

I want to have a proper place to primarily store my large long fenders.

On floating docks, I have the 36" round fenders that I deploy hanging from the rail. My home slip is a floating dock so these are the ones that are deployed most often. I also have four 12" diameter x 36" long fenders that I use on fixed docks. These primarily get "stored" on the foredeck. This is where they always stay underway, etc unless there if foul weather and then I bring them to the aft deck area.

I've looked at deck/dunnage boxes and not sure I want to go that route. Something inside me doesn't like the "look" of the dunnage boxes mounted on the foredeck. Here's a couple manufacturers I've looked at.

Marine Products | Beachcomber Fiberglass Technology (beachfiber.com)

Boat Dock Storage Solution for Marinas | Dock Boxes Unlimited

These appear to run about $600-$750 each.

On my last boat (sportfish) I had heavy duty fender racks and I liked the simplicity of that design. I contacted Marquipt and they make a heavy duty version for motoryacht size fenders.

Their twin grouped basket design is $2500 for a set of two.

Fender Racks - MarQuipt

What's everyone's thoughts/experiences and pros/cons on this issue?

Thanks!

[Pascal]

Down side of fender racks is that your fenders cook in the sun year round. Probably not an issue up north but a problem down in Florida. I got rid of mine and store them in the anchor locker instead. Easily accessed and they don’t interfere with the rode.

I don’t like using fenders in my home slip to avoid having to store them every time. Good line set up should eliminate the need for fenders unless of course you don’t have anything on the off side to hold the boat off the dock. In that case, as with the boat I run which is on a tee head, I tie the fenders to the dock. Either cleats or pilings.

I also have a couple of big balls which I store up on the back of the flybridge by the tender.

[JD5652]

Down side of fender racks is that your fenders cook in the sun year round. Probably not an issue up north but a problem down in Florida. I got rid of mine and store them in the anchor locker instead. Easily accessed and they don’t interfere with the rode.

I don’t like using fenders in my home slip to avoid having to store them every time. Good line set up should eliminate the need for fenders unless of course you don’t have anything on the off side to hold the boat off the dock. In that case, as with the boat I run which is on a tee head, I tie the fenders to the dock. Either cleats or pilings.

I also have a couple of big balls which I store up on the back of the flybridge by the tender.

All good points... definitely the sun cooking here is SW FLA.

In my home slip, the pilings are not stiff enough to hold the boat off the dock, especially in storm. Our harbor MLW is 16 feet and pilings are about 10 feet into the harbor floor. This creates a bending moment on the piling. The 58LRC is about 50 tons, so she has some significant weight and when you add in the windage, she can exert some significant forces.

As you said, definitely a PIA to store them when you leave homeport. But if I travel to another floating dock, I use them when I get to my destination.

[Sadey]

Not sure if this is any help, but we have Taylor Made fender balls at our home dock. They hang off the cleats on our fixed dock and we leave them behind when we travel. For transient slips we use MegaFend inflatables. I semi deflate them and store them in the flybridge dog house. I have a powered inflator but most times I use my little battery operated blower to inflate them. Only takes a few minutes to hang them on the railing using the custom vendor hangers we had Megafend make for us.

[SKYCHENEY]

I switched to the inflatable Bris fenders. Just deflate when not in use and stow flat just about anywhere. Then I use my Ryobi low pressure/high volume pump to re-inflate them as necessary. It takes about 60 seconds per fender and they're ready to go. .

[Pascal]

I ve had bad luck with Taylor made balls. Had 3 of them fail I see a year old, Polyforms are MUCH better for home
Slips

We use inflatable fenders on the 116, even with power inflators it takes a bit of time though. Not ideal when short crewed

[SKYCHENEY]

I ve had bad luck with Taylor made balls. Had 3 of them fail I see a year old, Polyforms are MUCH better for home
Slips

We use inflatable fenders on the 116, even with power inflators it takes a bit of time though. Not ideal when short crewed

Really? All you have to do is plan ahead. I inflate them in the pilothouse while I'm watching the helm just before I come in the inlet. Then they're ready to go. If you don't end up using all you have inflated, then deflate and stow away again.

[cww]

I just store them on the sides of the benches on the aft deck. They're out of the way and don't bother anybody. They don't look great there, but better than fender racks blocking my line of sight from the lower helm.

[bostonhatteras]

You won't go wrong with beachcomber items in terms of quality. That said, I recently purchased a DECK box specifically and they sent me a DOCK box of the same dimensions. When I brought this up to them was when they decided to tell me that they no longer make the deck box and offer a leg kit to add to dock boxes. I have plans to customize the box anyway so I'm not up in arms about it, but I'd rather not be making unglamourous legs when I don't have to. The legs they provided after the fact are cheesy starboard. Probably not an issue for your vessel but when I had the Hatteras issue long skinny and relatively low deck boxes on either side of my fore deck, they seriously impaired my vision from the lower helm. They held a lot of items so I miss the space but that's what the new box is for. In a 45 I can fit ten 10x28 fenders under the aft deck without too much fuss, you don't have any other options?

[whoover]

There are fender covers which would help with sun damage if you go with racks. I don't like the look of deck boxes either but they do create storage room.

Walt Hoover