Bumpers and Fenders

[elspruSubscriber]

Hey, I was talking to someone at my sailing club about ferroboats,

and he said they have a reputation of doing poorly in impacts.

also to get my boat down river, it has to go over a few small waterfalls.

So I was thinking of potentially mounting some external fenders or bumpers.

What do you think would be the best materials for it?

to mount can have bolts or rebar sticking out at regular intervals.

I was thinking perhaps polyethylene or some plastic piping as initial bumpers.

[xnsSubscriber]

Just use old tyres, they’re incredibly effective and used as boat fenders all over asia.

King Shannon of the Constitutional Monarchy of Logos.

[J.L.-FrushaSubscriber]

As just said, old tires work fine… Even tug-boats use them. Set srcews, or nuts, for cleats and use good, heavy-duty cleats at regular intervals, for a center-to-center of the tires at about 4 feet, so about 2 feet back from the bow and about every 4 feet along the perimeter of the hull… I say ‘about’ loosely. the center of the tire should be roughly 3-diameters from the next center. For a dingy, you’d only need 2-3 per side… Generally, 4 and a spare should be enough for most small boats.

Going over falls… Better have a sturdy keel and some way to pull out of the water. Sounds like you really mean rough water… Think I’d avoid that, if at all possible and go around…

Later,

J.L.F.

Never be afraid to try something new…

Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.

[OCEANOPOLISSubscriber]

Do you have a boat?

[J.L.-FrushaSubscriber]

As just said, old tires work fine… Even tug-boats use them. Set srcews, or nuts, for cleats and use good, heavy-duty cleats at regular intervals, for a center-to-center of the tires at about 4 feet, so about 2 feet back from the bow and about every 4 feet along the perimeter of the hull… I say ‘about’ loosely. the center of the tire should be roughly 3-diameters from the next center. For a dingy, you’d only need 2-3 per side… Generally, 4 and a spare should be enough for most small boats.

Going over falls… Better have a sturdy keel and some way to pull out of the water. Sounds like you really mean rough water… Think I’d avoid that, if at all possible and go around…

Later,

J.L.F.

Never be afraid to try something new…

Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.

[elspruSubscriber]

OCEANOPOLIS wrote:

Do you have a boat?

I’m refering to the ferrocement dinghy that I’m constructing

http://seasteading.org/interact/forums/research/engineering/ferrocement-dinghy

J.L. wrote:

As just said, old tires work fine… Even tug-boats use them. Set srcews, or nuts, for cleats and use good, heavy-duty cleats at regular intervals, for a center-to-center of the tires at about 4 feet, so about 2 feet back from the bow and about every 4 feet along the perimeter of the hull… I say ‘about’ loosely. the center of the tire should be roughly 3-diameters from the next center. For a dingy, you’d only need 2-3 per side… Generally, 4 and a spare should be enough for most small boats.

the dinghy is only 6ft long, with 3.5ft beam also I’m not sure where to get tires.

would I have to use bike tires or cut the car tires into strips perhaps?

Going over falls… Better have a sturdy keel and some way to pull out of the water.

yes, exactly, I was thinking of having fenders for the keel.

Sounds like you really mean rough water… Think I’d avoid that, if at all possible and go around…

not really, all the falls are manmade, they are small dams made of ferrocement.

I was thinking of potentially using a pully system to hoist the boat over the falls, I guess I’d need at least 3 pulleys.

not sure if I can hoist or drag a ferrocement dinghy even of such a small size very far, but who knows, it’s not built yet.

So one of my main concerns was how to mount these fenders and other boat periphery.

would you agree that it’s good to have some rebar or bolts sticking out along the frame for attaching things?

also what size should these bolts be? how many? and what distance in between?

calm aware desire choice love express intuit move

[OCEANOPOLISSubscriber]

You don’t need fenders all around a 6′ dinghy,…It ain’t a tug.

[J.L.-FrushaSubscriber]

I misread the dimensions…

Car tires, although I don’t know how you’d attach them to a keel. It’d sure increase the drag, no matter how you put them on… See if you can rig something like a trailer(RV) dolly, to move it around the dams… Rollers would work, but would be a PITA to make and take, or make over and over…

Later,

J.L.F.

Never be afraid to try something new…

Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.

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