Fender Covers - Educate Me

Time to ask the painters and paint mfg.
I have watched cloth covers hold dirt and do more damage than good.

Fleece type ones pick up grit and dust, thus working like sandpaper on the hull.

In the old days we used to have them custom-made from the Mercedes convertible top material, this was rather pricey.

These days neoprene ones (like a wetsuit) seems to work best.

Have you looked into mooring whips?
These are large enough.

https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=30173

I have used custom made Sunbrella covers over the years: Works good, last a long time..

I have Fendress covers and love them.
https://shop.fendress.fr/gb/12-covers

They are thick enough so if you are moored against a concrete jetty any debris is absorbed by the material rather than acting as sandpaper. Shake out once dry or use a dry brush. Come out as new when washed at 30 deg. in the washing machines. Colours last a long time in UV.

We use the felt type on our 60 sf. It all boils down to keeping them clean. Analogy is when you wash your car do you use a very clean, soft wash mit or dirty shop towel. Any fabric will hold dirt or even dried salt water. Keeping them clean is only way to prevent damage. As far as fabrics go, if you'd wash your boat with it use it. Sunbrella and other harder fabrics are a no go for us. Our hull is high polished alexseal in fighting lady yellow so will show any blemishes. Good luck.
BTW we use rejex on our boats, cars and work trucks for about 6 years. Amazing stuff.

Used thick fleece fabric covers on our permanent dock fenders for years. They worked well, just need to clean and keep any salt/dirt hosed off when cleaning the boat.

In a similar situation having just painted my Cabo. I use Taylor Made dock rollers in my shed with Cape Hatteras covers. Being inside don't have to worry about grime on covers and the covers make a big difference. When I am out using the boat I did purchase Polyform Elite Fender Covers. I use them when tied up to the dock for multiple days. If I am going ship side or through locks or some other dirty environment, I take the covers off and wash the fender before and after momentary use. So far that is what has worked for me. The best due diligence I found was reading and looking at pics of what higher end painted boats were doing. Paint Manf and Painters didn't seem to have much expertise in this area or didn't want the liability.

Just one more point. These days people seem to pin the boats to the pontoons. They are better off being allowed to float in the berth and using the spring lines to do their job, just pulling them in when getting on and off.

Sounds obvious, but dock boys and marina staff have never heard of this.

It's amazing to me how many large vessels aren't moored properly. From not fastened to the cleat properly, incorrect use of spring lines, under sized lines, ect.

And they often are a preferred housing option for cockroach families, particularly in the tropics.

Have the painters or paint mfg responded yet?

We had some fender covers, from Harken, for the previous boat. Like Sunbrella, though not sure that was the actual fabric. Black to match the rest of that boat's canvas, and mostly to cover up all the ugly white (not further-cleanable) fenders we inherited with the boat. The fabric didn't seem to capture crud...

-Chris

Yup, my experience as well:
We have been using Sunbrella fender covers for 23+ years in Florida, no negatives:
Works good, last a long time.
Getting a brand new boat new week, will have my canvas shop make the usual 4 covers for the usual 4 fenders.

My old captain, Kenny Argent, used to call these 'Goat Knots'.

If you can't do a knot, do a lot..

Wha, Wha, What the heck is that?
I would be embarrassed, run and hide.