Fender Whips

Fender whips are the ropes that hold a fender in position. They attach to the ends of fenders and allow them to lay against the hull at the appropriate position.

The questions that circulate around fender whips tend to involve length and material.

Length is a rather simple you need enough line to lower the fender into position and tie it to the boat. This may sound like an over simplification, but that is the goal of the length. Each boat is different and therefore needs a different length. Keeping this simple target in mind will take all the guesswork out of selecting your fender whips.

The lowest position you will tie a fender is sea level, so the whip needs to be long enough to lower the fender into the water. The other end of the whip needs to tie to the boat. If you have a toe rail that can serve as an attachment point, this will be your upper mark. If you have a smooth rail or teak rail, you will probably need to attach to the railing or lifelines. Now that we know how far the whip must travel to connect the rail to the waterline, we need to add in enough line for the knot. I personally prefer to have 2 feet for the knot, allowing me flexibility and ease of tying. If the line is too short, the knot can be hard to tighten.

In conclusion, the length of the fender whip should be the distance from the rail to the waterline plus two feet. 

If you have a low freeboard sailboat, this distance might only be 1 or 2 feet; making the whip length 3 to 4 feet respectively. If you have a high freeboard boat, such as a Kadey Krogen 58, you will need a much longer whip for the midship fenders.

Sadly, there is no hard and fast rule for fender whip lengths. They need to be made in accordance to what is needed. A whip that is too short is worthless, and a whip that is too long is cumbersome to deal with. The ideal would be the distance from the attachment point to the waterline plus 2 feet.

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The next decision to make involves fender whip material. Once again, the choices are plentiful and ambiguous. Any rope can serve as a fender whip, even spare line you have lying around. 

The common choices are Three Strand Nylon and Double Braid Polyester. Both of these choices are easy to purchase and widely available in any length. Some "dedicated fender whips" come with eyes spliced into one end, allowing you to easily connect it to the fender. These are nice, but a bowline works just as well if you don't have a spliced line and don't feel confident performing the splice yourself.

Both of these choices are easy to come by, but can be rather bulky when you tie them. This is where another alternative material comes into play. You can remove the core from double braid polyester lines and make your fender whip out of the cover. These whips will be plenty strong to hold a fender in place and will not form bulky knots, allowing you to tie them up through small holes in the toe rail with ease. These whips are easy to splice if you wish to make eyes for the fender end.

Now you know how to select the proper length and material for your fender whips.

Rope Fenders are Finished!

The rope fenders are finally finished! 

1st: I had plenty of rope!
2nd: Still had plenty of rope, but made the gaps a bit larger to consume less rope. Greatly improved the tapers at the ends.
3rd: Had plenty of rope. Perfected the tapers on ends of the fenders.
4th: Running out of rope, so I made the gaps much larger to stretch out the available rope. 

Each fender took about 48 hours to make, most of the time was consumed in making the core. The outer cover only took about 4 hours to wrap! This may seem like it goes by quickly, but when you sit on a bench pulling hundreds of feet of rope through the knots for hours on end, it becomes quite the task.

Maddie went to New York to visit some cousins and I stayed in the boat with no distractions to bang out the fenders and it was a success! By the time she returned, I had finished all the fenders and had them out of the cabin space. 

Each fender consumed approximately 500 feet of rope for the core and 280 feet for the cover. I made 4 large fenders and the lot of them consumed 2000 feet of old running rigging for the core, and 1200 feet of rope for the cover.

If you want to make your own or want me to make a fender for you, the amount of rope will vary based on the size of the fender desired and the thickness of the line used.

This project took me 11 weeks to complete! Towards the end, it felt like I would never finish and would forever be tying the knots for the fender's core and cover, this made it all the more satisfying when it came to a conclusion.

The ends of the fenders taper much more gradually, giving a much better appearance to the end of the fender.

The project progressed quickly at first, and then started to drag out. Making the central line for the core was entertaining, making the first few layers to the core progressed at a satisfying pace, then all progressed seemed to halt. Each layer of rope seemed less impressive and the cover seemed to never end!

Maddie was a trooper, living with these behemoths in the small cabin during their constructions. While she preferred time spent with me, she was tired of them taking up so much space and therefore granted me the time I needed to finish the fenders.

Connecting Two Ropes

The quickest way to connect two ropes is to tie them together. The most secure way to connect two ropes is to splice them together. When you need to connect two lines you will have to weigh out the pros and cons of each option to decide what is best for you at that moment

If you have plenty of time and the skill needed, splices will offer the best connection. If you are in a rush, a simple knot might meet your immediate needs.

Splices offer a secure, permanent connection which results in no loss of strength. This is because a properly executed splice will evenly distribute the forces across all of the fibers in the line without creating pressure spots of increased load and tension. The disadvantages of splicing is they can be time consuming and require a skill set for each type of line. 

Lines are characterized as Three strand, Single Braid, and Double Braid. Within the single and double braid, they are then broken down into Class I and Class II fibers.  Each type of line (three strand, Class I, and Class II) has its own rules about splicing. As you can see, it can get complicated in a hurry!

The next option is to simply tie the lines together by way of a knot. Knots create areas of increased stress which weaken the line. The bowline is known as the knot that retains the most strength in the line; retaining approximately 80% of the lines strength. Other knots will be more detrimental to the lines total strength.

Sheet Bend

Double Sheet Bend

Fishermans Knot

Some knots that can be used to securely connect two lines are the "sheet bends" and the "fishermans knots". These two knots will securely hold the two ropes together without much risk of the lines separating. They also work on lines that are of different sizes.

You can connect lines with square knots, but these knots are not as secure as a sheet bend or fisherman knot.

If the loss in strength is no acceptable and you do not feel confident in your ability to splice the lines, you might be wondering how else you can connect these two lines. Another option that does not involve splicing or tying the lines together is to seize the lines together.

If you properly seize the lines to one another, they will not slip nor yield. They will be locked together without the time of splicing or the stress of knotting. Seizing will require an additional piece of line, and can act as a permanent solution.

For joining two lines together, it would be best to use a "Flat Seizing Knot". This knot is used to bind two lines of similar size together and never let go. Tying three of these knots in succession will provide a permanent junction that will hold the lines together and evenly distribute the forces over the length of the seizes, providing you with piece of mind.

Tying a Flat Seizing Knot is a lengthy ordeal, taking one much longer than it would to tie a Double Sheet Bend. I personally prefer to tie lines together with Sheet Bends, as it is a quick knot to tie and holds securely once tightened. Sheet Bends also allow for easy separation of the two lines once the long line is no longer needed. 

Shortsplice vs Longsplice

When you need to permanently connect two ropes and have the time and skill to splice them together, you are faced with two options: Short Splice or Long Splice. What are they and what are the differences?

Short Splice

The most obvious difference in the splices is the length of the splice. A short splice is betwen 6 to 8 inches long, where a long splice is around 3 to 4 feet long.

The short splice is certainly easier to perform than a long splice, the ends of the three strand line are simply braided into each other and the ends of the line are joined. This works well for docklines or painters, but not so well for sheets or halyards. The act of short splicing will add some bulk to the line at the junction. This bulk can be greatly reduced by tapering the ends, but there will still be a larger bulky segment that may jam on winches. 

The long splice is the answer to the pitfalls of the short splice! It will join the two cut ends of the line with no added bulk or stiff segments. The long splice is completed by unlaying and relaying the strands of the line to permanently and firmly reconnect the two ends. A properly done long splice will not be easy to spot as there is no added bulk in the line. The only clue to its existence would be the tufts of where the strands are knotted.

Sounds like the long splice is the magic bullet for joining two lines! Why would anyone ever do a short splice?

Long splices are a pain to do! I fouled a sheet in my prop one time and had to cut the sheet free. After returning from the water, I had to reconnect the sheet so we could keep sailing. I only did a long splice out of necessity, otherwise I try to do short splices whenever possible.

To do a long splice, you need to relax, sit back, and prepare yourself mentally for the ordeal. Tie constrictor knots about 3 feet back from the end of each line to prevent the whole thing from unraveling. 

Then you will carefully unlay one of the strands while replacing it with a strand from the other line. The first strand will go from "Line A" into "Line B" the whole length. At the end, you will tie a square knot in the two strands and bury the tails into the lays.

The second strand will go from "Line A" into "Line B", but only 2/3rds the length and then bury those tails. 

Lastly, take the third strand from "line B" into "Line A", bury it the whole length and tie the ends burying those tails.

Now you have a completed long splice with the junctions well separated from each other to distribute the stresses of the splice terminations over a long expanse of the line, keeping all the strength of the original line! What could be so hard about it?

While you are unlaying and relaying the strands, they can not loose their twist. If they come unraveled, the splice will not look right and might not work all together. If it unravels, you have to cut the unraveled part off and start over moving further back into the line you are splicing. 

After you are done, put a load on the line to get the lays to settle in, this will greatly improve the look of the finished splice. 

I have only done this splice once, and it was on my sheet after I foulded the prop. The line was well salted and stiff, which helped to avoid unraveling (but it still tried to unravel). If the rope is new and soft, it will unlay and unravel in a hurry! To combat this, either brine the rope or coat it in more hairspray than a highschool girl getting ready for prom. This will stiffen up the line and help avoid any accidental unravels. 

If you have to splice the two ends together, your first choice is a short splice. If you have to run this line through any leads or hardware, then you have to use a long splice.

The much easier alternative is to replace the whole sheet, but if you are in a situation where a replacement is not available or you can't afford a replacement, a long splice will come to the rescue and restore utility of your damaged line.

Quick Shortsplice

When you need to connect two ropes and can't have the bulk of a knot, splicing becomes your only option. If the ropes you are connecting are for low load, you can skip the precise way of making a short splice and go for the quick and dirty, easy short splice!

I used this splice while I was making the rope fenders, not much load and a very easy connection to allow me to keep working.

Simply splice one line into the other burying all the strands. Then release the other lines strands and splice them into the first line. You will now have a very quick and dirty short splice!