Inflatable fenders

[admiralslater]

When we purchased our Outremer,it came equipped with a large selection of high quality fenders that takes up an entire forward locker .
I am toying with getting some inflatable fenders which i can deflate for storage . We spend some time in marinas ,but not that many .
Does anyone have experience with them?

[Mike OReilly]

I’ve used these Easystow fenders for many years. Completely satisfied. Tougher than any I’ve seen, and deflate to a very small space.

Easystow Fenders

[JPA Cate]

Hi, Admiral,

For me, the term "inflatable" conjures up, "deflatable."

Now, Mike has written about these fenders in another thread, and I have no personal experience with them, and they may be brilliant. Like many other things with boats, one must be willing to experiment. What you already have has worked for the boat so far, and fenders are a way of keeping her light. A boat like yours has a lot of windage, and I do not know how the point loading between her and Mike's Tayana would effect the fenders. Murphy suggests that such a fender will fail when you need it most.

We have had old fenders fail while disinflated. We let the air out because we wanted more room in the sail locker. It was a fair wee disappointment, throwing out 3 large fenders, possibly due to naivete on our parts.

Ymmv.

Ann

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I’ve used these Easystow fenders for many years. Completely satisfied. Tougher than any I’ve seen, and deflate to a very small space.

Easystow Fenders

I think a mix of the standard inflated fenders and a few inflatables is a good compromise. You always have a few fenders ready to go and you can inflate the larger ones when you need them. The easystows are very tough and long lasting, with the company standing behind them long past any written warranty.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I think a mix of the standard inflated fenders and a few inflatables is a good compromise. You always have a few fenders ready to go and you can inflate the larger ones when you need them. The easystows are very tough and long lasting, with the company standing behind them long past any written warranty.

Yes. The main downside of these fenders is that they aren’t immediately available in case of emergencies. I keep a couple of smaller standard ones around for those “Oh CRAP!” moments.

+1 on the great company. I managed to damage one of my fenders (completely my fault). Even though I bought mine more than six years ago, they responded immediately, and sent me repair material for free. Awesome!

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I think a mix of the standard inflated fenders and a few inflatables is a good compromise. You always have a few fenders ready to go and you can inflate the larger ones when you need them. The easystows are very tough and long lasting, with the company standing behind them long past any written warranty.

This makes sense to me! There are times when one needs a fender right now, and having to pump up a deflatable under duress is not a good outlook. But for most cases, just one or two is all you need to stave off disaster (or at least big gel coat scratches). The big deflatables can then be added if necessary.

We only carry two biggish cylindrical fenders and one big teardrop, and mostly that is fine (don't spend much time tied to anything). But there have been a few times over t he years where an additional big one or two would have been helpful. I haven't seen the Easysstow models here in Oz... wonder if they are available?

Jim

[TJ D]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I’ve used these Easystow fenders for many years. Completely satisfied. Tougher than any I’ve seen, and deflate to a very small space.

Easystow Fenders

Mike, do these stay inflated over long periods? We have AERE inflatable fenders, and even brand new, they start to get soft after a couple weeks. We can't use them if we have to leave the boat unattended for any length of time, and have never seen this brand.

Thanks, TJ

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by TJ D

Mike, do these stay inflated over long periods? We have AERE inflatable fenders, and even brand new, they start to get soft after a couple weeks. We can't use them if we have to leave the boat unattended for any length of time, and have never seen this brand.

Thanks, TJ

I’ve sat against my Easystows for months at a time. Never a problem holding their air.

The only problem I’ve had with mine was leaving them for months chafing against a rough concrete dock. This damaged one of them, but they never deflated.

[TJ D]

Thanks, Mike.

[admiralslater]

Thanks for all that , we also have 2 18inch balls and 2 12 inch balls which I would never part with . We have spent some time in a marine that can also berth mega yachts. The all use inflatable fenders so the strenght must be there . A couple of times I have seen them blow off . I guess the gust hang over the rail.