Questions About End-Tying

Hey all--I've been on an end tie since Fall of last year. Just had one of my many Taylor Made Big B's spring a leak and they are replacing it, but it got me thinking about whether I'm doing this right.

Been using the Big B's with the Taylor Made good covers. They wear very little on the gelcoat but they do wear some. Was thinking of getting bigger fenders, also with covers, and I've always thought Polyform were top notch. Thinking of getting the HTM-4s to replace the 10" Big B's (the HTM-4s are much larger). The Big B's came with the boat. Boat is a 62' Offshore.

Questions:

1. Am I going about this right, using the long cylindrical fenders as opposed to the ball style fenders? The dock is a floating dock, not very much above sea level, and the area I'm in does not see much rough water, but every now and then there's a storm that can cause havoc and also sometimes an a-hole will speed through the marina creating too large a wake. I'm a little concerned the ball style will end up on top of the dock in which case they are doing nothing.

2. I typically try to keep the lines pretty snug so that the boat can't move too far away from the fenders. Maybe 6-12" or so from the fender. Would I be better off letting out more slack so that the boat isn't bumping against the fenders as often? I'm concerned that if I let out slack the boat can pick up more speed as it's moving away and toward the dock, which seems like a bad thing.

Thanks

Thanks, I'll measure next time I'm out but I don't think there's a lot of height there. What about the q re slack in the lines?