carstenb,
the other caveat is that the plastic will scratch too, hence the covers.
My very nicely AwlGrip-painted
trimaran got a rather nasty sore from another
trimaran who insisted on using HIS (uncovered) fenders, not mine, when we had to raft up at a
race. I was livid to say the least. In any case, the other guy's fenders were old or brittle or scratched or had sand embedded, or
something but it rubbed a hole in my
paint damn near to the
gelcoat.
btw I have these weird things for the trimaran - they're rather like a closed cell foam block, So-Pac I think they're called.
Edit:
Waitaminit... you people don't think salt cakes on uncovered fenders? I've got a bridge in
Brooklyn to sell to y'all