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New way to add fender tie-offs on Q 's

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lakebum

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I am in the process of helping Zodapop add fender tie-offs to his Q. This will work on any Benny, especially those with the wider top rail. Maybe he will post pics when it is done. We are ordering "sex nuts" for 1/4" I-bolts. There will be 4 on each side. Just drill the top rail drop the sex nut in,(sex nuts are the ones they use on the bimini tops, they look like screws but are actually nuts), screw in 1/4" s.s. eye bolts with a back up washer and nut, and you are good. The eye bolts we ordered are only 3/4" thread with the stub being 7/8". Hope to get parts soon. Steve
 
Would love to see pictures when done lakebum
 
Ditto, trying to picture it, not working! Haha
 
Are these it? I'm envisioning the eye bolt using the "nut" on the right half of the picture. The one on the left isn't used (it was just part of the picture I found).

This is a very nice idea. It will make a nice, clean finish. Factory look.

If you wanted the eye part of the bolt to hang down further (rather than being up tight against the rail) you could get longer bolts, then put a nut and washer on the bolt first (up close to the eye), then slide the eye bolt through the hole in the rail from below, then nut it on the top side of the rail with the sex nut.

I'm very likely to use this idea, once I can get over drilling holes in the rail! Thanks for posting this.

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I agree, keep us posted. One thing I haven't figured out yet was how I am going to hang my fenders. The pontoon will be in the water all summer in a boat slip and am looking for the ways to attach the fenders quickly and easily. Any opinions or advise on other products will be appreciated.
 
Nap22 take a look at the Toonmate Ultimate Pontoon Fender, I just bought 5, took them over and tried them on a Q and they fit like a glove.
 
Carl, do you use the ezfender? Can you and others that have them give a review. Do they intefere with playpen cover, how they look and work a few years down the road?
 
Meant to add - My biggest fear was that the screws that hold the ezfender on would start to loosen up after a few years and eventuall the ezfender would be tossed and then I would be left with holes in the rail. Did you use ant type of bonding glue in addition to the screws?
 
I don't have them because I have another style on our boat that I installed before the EZ Fender came out. That being said, I would buy them for our next boat. Bryan is a member on another forum and I've read nothing but great reviews about them. Send Bryan an email with your questions and I' sure he will be helpful with his answers.
 
I would think they would wear on the playpen cover unless you installed them under the railing.
 
Kaydano, thanks for the picture to help explain. You are correct and longer eye bolts are easier to find. The short ones required a lot of looking. Remediation, the eye bolts are underneath the top rail and the top of the sex nuts are really flat so the cover should not touch them. Zodapop is capable of posting pics better than me so I will make sure he does. The hardware is coming from McMaster-Carr and everything is stainless. Total cost, with the trigger snaps about $8.50 each will run about $100 but your done for as long as you own your boat. Steve
 
I was just wondering about this the other day. I don't have my boat yet to measure but this is what I was Thinking. I would use these http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=112788&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=50304&subdeptNum=50340&classNum=50342 then measure the exact length of rope I need and make an eye splice at the fender and one at the top to just clip on and off using these to make the splice http://www.amazon.com/EZ-36-E-Z-TY-Clamp-Black/dp/B000S0XAA4/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A226YMJ3L7YP3E. What do ya think? Agian My boat isn't here so I have nothing to go off of, just trying to come up with something that I dont have a bunch of rope lying around. I like the ease of just "hanging" the fender when needed and then storing them out of the way when not in use.
 
Duckgrinder, I like the clamps but the holder looks like it would be hard to find a place to mount it and keep it from protruding. I started out weaving specific length ropes for the fenders but switched to using electrical heat shrink. They make it with heat activated adhesive coating on the inside so when you put an eye through it and shrink it it is literally glued together. Will post pics of this when we take the other shots. Steve
 
Redmediation, I just purchased 5 of these, I have yet to try them on my boat but on a Q in the showroom they worked great. Do you leave them on while traveling? Do you use them as your everyday bumpers? Thanks.
 
We only put them on when we are going to raft up. We store them in the center toon storage as even retracted they are long. When we go to the gas dock, it is pretty calm and we don't use any fenders. When we dock the boat, we tie it up so the boat can only touch the dock at the port rear quarter. We have a 4x4 post on the floating dock that goes to the water level. I float on the water 2 standard bumpers tied to the 4x4 that hold the pontoon tube away from the dock. We are on the main channel and there are some rough waves from the boat traffic and the boat never bangs into the dock. It does leave a shiny spot on the tube at the water line. The main trick is to keep your rails and fences away from other things. Even with those fenders, if something bangs into them hard they can transmit enough energy to bend the fence. Pontoon and runabouts are a challenge to raft up. The fenders work well for a PWC because they protect the toons and keep something from going under the decking. We float with other boats but seldom every tie up to another boat. If we are being social, we are usually floating in the water on cushions with an adult beverage.
 
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Would these work for attaching to the top of the rails? I will be docking in a boat slip and will need to have the fenders attached while the playpen cover is on. These don't look like they would interfere with the playpen cover. Any thoughts?



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