Pontoon/raft questions

[jonboy]

Just built a 4.5m square (16') floating platform, supported on big blocks of polystyrene , with a 3metre or so gangplank from the shore......what's best to fix around the three sides where one can moor...???. proper pontoon fenders seem expensive , and I wondered if anybody has used , I dunno, plastic hose pipe, some sort or rubber section....old carpet...?? old car tyres cut and opened into 5' x 6" strips???

[Bill Huson]

Post a sign: "Deploy the fenders you should have on your vessel or hull damage may result."

Old fire hose was the traditional scuff guard used. Hard to find these days. On the same tack, browse yard sales or go landfill-hiking for garden hose.

[Ian McColgin]

Smooth wood surface, countersunk bolt heads, and let people learn to use fneders. Bumpers on the docks are never really enough.

Now if you have a real lust for helping the hapless, you could put a dock wheel on each exposed corner . .. .

[jonboy]

It's my pontoon, for me and a couple of mates, so I don't feel responsible for others.... one problem I have is the close fitting cover comes down the side of boat from the gun'le six or so inches and I can't easily use fenders when said cover is in place....mooring for a couple of hours , no cover on, no problem....left unattended some days, I'd feel happier if the side of the pontoon had the fenders, but they would be eminently nickable.

Howabout a largeish diameter hose, 2 or 3 ", and filled with expanding polyurethane aerosol foam.... tell me why it won't work...maybe I should just buy teh proper kit from the chandler's and be done with it....

[Ian McColgin]

You'll chafe through the cover. Try buying or making some stand-off wands to just hold the boat out from the float a little.

[jonboy]

The answer...!!... a combination of buoy mooring and line mooring ...why didn't I think of that!!!