Why Foam-filled Fenders?

Fenders are an essential part of any dock or harbor facility. Docking a ship is an imprecise matter, and fenders must be in place to keep ships from being damaged by bumping, scraping or crashing into docks. By the same token, the docks themselves must be protected from damage by ships. Fenders also come into play to prevent damage from ships coming into contact with each other. Every vessel from a pleasure craft to a fishing boat to a supertanker needs fenders; every structure from a dock to a bridge to an oil rig does, as well.
Historically, fenders were woven together from rope, in a variety of knots and patterns still known and used today by many traditionalists. They would typically be covered with a layer of old tires
as a buffer, then used as a fenderboard along a dock piling. Like everything else, fenders have been improved over the years.
For years, the inflatable Yokohama fender was the state-of-the-art fendering system. Yokohama fenders, however, require air pressure and safety valves that need to be maintained. Inflatable fenders also have a “recoil” that will cause ships to “bounce” in the other direction after contact. Thousands of inflatable Yokohama fenders are still in use worldwide, but the next logical progression in fender and mooring technology is the foam-filled fender. Constructed with a tough outer skin and heat-laminated layers of foam at their core, foam-filled fenders offer the following advantages:
• Softer berthing. Unlike the “bounce” of inflatable Yokohama fenders, a foam-filled fender rebounds more slowly, rather than jolting the ship and its passengers as it buckles and rebounds.
• All tide mooring. Foam-filled fenders, by design, make mooring easier regardless of tidal phase or conditions.
• Hull conforming. The design of the foam core in a foam-filled fender gives great resilience and the ability to conform to a vessel’s contours. The result is a more even distribution of energies over a greater area, and much lower hull pressures.
• Unsinkable. Like a fishing bobber, the foam core of a foam-filled fender makes it impossible to sink.
• Durable. Foam-filled fenders are available in different rubber compounds like neoprene, EPDM, butyl and polyurethane. The result is a product that is resistant to saltwater, ultraviolet rays, ozone aging, dry rot and extremes of temperature and weather, making it suitable for use in any environment worldwide.