Protection - Fenders and Boards

Fenders
We bought two big round fenders and four big tubular fenders to complement the ones we already had.
In retrospect, four big round fenders would not have gone amiss - we've used our two in various configurations.
(1) We started out thinking the round jobbies would help 'straighten' at the bows but we then found them better used at the stern, to keep the stern quarters away from the lock walls and thus protect the mast overhang back there. We found it easier to concentrate on and keep the bows under control (using the running moor method and our bow thruster) than the stern.
(2) We then found that, with a fair degree of certainty, we could normally moor port-side-to and so switched the big roundies to that side, fore and aft.
(3) On the Midi, 9 months on, the initial surge of water into the curved sided ecluse is so strong the boat moves around a great deal. It is also not quite so possible to predetermine which side one may moor to, and the ecluse may include one, two or three other boats - often hire boats under minimal control, if that. We have found (going up) these locks to be quite hazardous and we'd now like big roundies fore and aft, both sides.

Ruth's Tie
On the waterways one keeps ones fenders out all the time, but the heights of things one nuzzles up against varies - this is an important point. Ruth invented a tying and hooking method that means the fender height can easily - and quickly - be changed, without re-tying. The fender is tied at the base of the stanchion such that its bottom is paddling in the water (some pontoons are quite low, and some locks fill to the brim). Along that length a nylon hook has been threaded and knotted such that (a) when clipped onto the mid-lifeline the fender is out of the water at 'normal' pontoon height and this is also our usual voyaging position and (b) when clipped onto the top lifeline it rests against our rubbing strake which is at the widest part, and this is the usual lock-wall-protection position. Clever huh?

Fender Boards
We made two fender boards from the biggest patio decking planks we could find. The planks were initially hung from their top edges using the biggest hooks B&Q had, but in the event these were pulled straight when the plank caught in one of the first locks we went through. We changed to holes-through and a chiselled-out channel for the rope.

Tyres
We obtained four small used tyres*, taped inside them three big plastic coke bottles to provide buoyancy, and covered each in an apron formed from a tough woven polypropylene mail sack. [*The VNF regulations allow tyre fenders - if they float and if each is attached at two separate points.] The tyres are hung from through the tread, not the wall (where the rope would be highly susceptible to abrasion against lock walls). So far they've worked well - but another one or two each side would not go amiss. The tyres are covered by the fender board, which takes the knocks and scrapes (there are many, from rough stone and concrete) and which holds them in place.
The point about this arrangement is that it provides a very tough wide continuous static centre section of protection - where the boat is constantly nudging up against something. It also provides protection that can be set low down - to, or into, the water's surface. This is important since many ecluses fill 'to the brim' and many canal banks are low and knobbly. One's hull may be lying against a rough edge at the waterline.

"You can't have too much protection"