I purchased two Fendertex from Fisheries this last summer. I have used them up on the side-bow area of my R31. Overall, I’m happy with them.
Their lightweight-ness is a both a plus and a minus. Underway, I have had to find a way to secure them on the bow so that they don’t blow around. Right outside my starboard helm door, I do that just by wedging the fender between the cabin and the rail. Portside, that hasn’t worked as well. I’ve had to find a way to loop the fender line around the cleat up near the passenger side. Not as handy as wedging between the rail, but it has worked.
Granting that inconvenience, I otherwise really like them. They are so amazingly stout. They will take much harder impacts than PVC fender. I upsized all my fenders from the Polyforms the factory sized for my R31 (which were the same size that the factory had put on my prior R27). The larger Polyforms (HTM 3s) are great, but heavy. Because of their weight, they have their place too — I put the midship fenders on the gunnel when underway. I’ve been in some rough weather with them there, and they always stay put. There’s no way the Fendertex’s would do that.
So right now, I am using both. I have my two Fendertex as my forward-most fenders, and my large Polyforms HTM 3s midship and aft. I’ll be out much of December doing some night time holiday parading. I’m probably going to swap the bow and stern fenders. It would be complicated to explain why, so I won’t go into that. But I do think the Fendertex will be in good service this December.
One added thing about them. Unlike PVC fenders, they are not highly temperature sensitive. I noticed the other day that my Polyforms are feeling a bit “spongy” and I will need to add some air to them when I am out in the low temps of December. The Fendertex fenders are good — the same firmness as in warm weather. And that is how they are supposed to be. They don’t change significantly with temperature.
The bottom line is that, for me, the Fendertex have worked out well. But both they and the standard PVC fenders have their place. The Federtex are great for being lightweight and easy to get on deck. They are also amazing for their ability to sustain a big crush against a dock or other solid object — much better than standard fenders. But you have to factor in their tendency to bounce around due to their light weigh and figure out if that is a liability for where and how you would use them. (I should note that there are ways to weigh them down, but I have not done any of that).
Hope that is of some help.
Gini
