How to protect swim platform/transom when docked?

[FlyboyZR1]

This question is mainly for those that keep their boats in a slip during boating season. I keep my boat in a slip, and unfortunately was hit in the swim platform by another jet-boat trying to maneuver and dock into his slip at low speeds. This brings up the question, how do you protect the rear of the boat while docked? Here's a picture a friend of mine rigged up with pool noodles and bungees, but I can't figure out how to secure something like this on the Challenger. Would love to see or hear any ideas!

 

[anthonymsaad]

If I were to do it, I would get some long PVC pipes and try to find pool noodles that have a hole going through them with the diameter long enough to slide the PVC pipes in. One long one for the rear and 2 smaller ones for the side. For the rear noodle, with the PVC pipes inside the noodle, I would drill a hole or make some marks somehow on the PVC for attachment points that line up with each of the stern recessed handles. My goal would be to have paracord or something similar to run through the noodle and into the PVC pipe, then back out through the noodle that I would then hook onto the handle. Should be secured and wont move around, with the rope flexing with the waves. The reason for the PVC is that, in the event you do get tapped, the PVC will take the force as the line tenses up and be fine. Without the PVC, the line may tear through the noodle. As for the side ones, that's a bit harder. I have a personal 3D printer I can use to print out parts I designed, but could just extend the PVC pip with some 90º bends and add some cushion around around it. Then, at each end of the PVC pipe, do the same procedure as you did with the center pipe to attach line through it, but this time could connect it to a separate short PVC pipe that's just a ring. You'd have each end of the PVC tied to that ring and then put that PVC ring over the ski pylon. That way, you secure each end so it wont flex out.

Sorry if that wasn't clear. But essentially you'd make a frame with PVC pipes, run the noodles through them and have 4 attachment points and configure it so you use both handles and the center ski pylon. I can try to sketch something out if you'd like. Shouldn't be too difficult to do if you have all the necessary measurements.

 

[FlyboyZR1]

Thanks for the detailed response Anthony. I ended up purchasing a 60" high density foam pool noodle and bungee tied it on the back of the boat through the two handles and the rear swim ladder. It seems to do the job for now, and being that it's a solid noodle (without a hole in the center) it eliminates having to place the PVC inside. Love your idea and will keep it in mind if I need something more solid.

 

[anthonymsaad]

Anytime! Would love to see a picture of what you ended up doing! Does it sit right on the water and feel sturdy? I may try to do what you did in the short run, but I plan on making a more robust setup, if I think it's necessary. I already have 2x flat long rectangular bumpers I attach the rear handles when I back up to the dock and get people on and off. Works well for me, but I want to fabricate better brackets then a bunch of crazy paracord knotted in specific ways to get it to fold and say where I want it to be. Ideally, I want something I can easily clip on and off the rear handles and confident it wont fall off or shift. And once i'm down, I can easily put it away without taking much space.

But your setup sound great! How did you secure the bungie rope to the noodle? Just went around it or ran the cables through the noodle? Sorry for all the questions, I was an R&D and product engineer for a biotech startup so coming up with ideas to a problem and how to execute is something I enjoy. Get overly excited seeing how other people come up with different ideas. Really curious as to why you connected it to the rear swim ladder. Is that to help prevent it sliding around or to make sure it stay right on the water and not slide up?

 

[FlyboyZR1]

Anthony here are a couple photos of my current “bumper protection” setup ... it’s quite unsophisticated but the bungees hold the pool noodles in place. It’s not very sturdy though and I need to come up with a better solution. Can I see a picture of your flat rectangular bumpers that you attach to the rear handles? That might be a better solution than the pool noodles I’m currently using. Connecting the bungees to the transom tiedown hooks seems to work better than the swim ladder.

 

[LikeabossTM]

I get the gist of this thread and don't discourage anyone from doing what they like, however, I wouldn't be interested in bubble-wrapping my boats and have never myself or seen anyone else do more than drop dockside fenders in any marina I've been in.

If somebody comes in too hot or doesn't fend off, they're gonna pay the repair bill. Yes, it would suck and might be lovely to avoid it in the first place, but again, I'm not gonna be mucking around trying to bubble-wrap my boat.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

It's not enough to be a lifeguard and a fireman, you've got to be a midwife as well.

 

[anthonymsaad]

@FlyboyZR1 Here are exact bumpers I got. They flex a bit but they don't provide as much coverage as your current setup. The issue I had using them was securing them to the handle and not move around. Using some paracord laying around, I fashioned a flexible "skeleton" to prevent it from sliding up and down and, using a S-biner, can quickly get them on and off. But it was hard for someone else to clip it on and if the cord got loose, took a while to set it back up properly. I am currently busy till the beginning of August to really dedicate time to coming up with a better and more reliable solution, but I will try to think of something in my spare time.

As far as your setup, I actually think it's actually pretty good and a great easy and quick thing to do. What does it do that makes you say it's not sturdy? Do the pool noodles not stay in place and slide up and down?

@LikeabossTM I agree, trying to be overly protective can be a hinder and, like you said, to each their own. In regards to protecting the transom, I am interested in finding a solution as FlyboyZR1, but for a different reason. Whenever I go to the lake, I'm with someone so I drive the boat off the trailer and don't ever really tie up to the dock. To pick up the driver, or passengers that arrive later on, I don't like tying up to the dock for passengers to get on from the small edge at the transom. Instead, I back up the boat to the end of the dock and do my best to get within a few inches of the dock for people to walk onto the back. As we all know how hard it is to operate a jet boat at low speeds, doing that took some practice but my issue is with water current or waves from other boats or weather that cause the boat to shift sideways and unable to hold a good distance and angle to the dock. For older people who can't handle a wide step/hop, I used those flat fenders to allow me to reverse against the dock and keep the transom parallel with the end of the dock and hold that longer. But again, things happen and I end up at an angle and if I had something to essentially cushion the entire rear of the transom and the corners, it would make loading and unloading people for me much easier.

Plus, after learning the hardware the difficulties and expense of some repairs, the time and headache of it, even if the other person foots the bill, it's worth preventing any potential damage. I know a deep cut into the gel coat is just costly primarily when trying to color match the boat. If spending $50 prevents dealing with that headache of repairing it and not coming out right, worth it.

 

[FlyboyZR1]

@anthonymsaad The pool noodles aren't completely secure (they hang a bit loose), but they generally stay in place enough that if someone hits the transom it will be protected.

@LikeabossTM It really only takes about 30-40 seconds to protect the rear bumper (far from bubble wrapping the boat) and is cheap insurance. When parked at a public marina it's not always possible to know who hit you, which is exactly what happened in my case. I have a couple of gel-coat gouges in the rear without any evidence of who did it. Although I highly suspect it's the rookie driver in the Challenger 210 that parks behind me

 

[anthonymsaad]

The best idea I have is if you take some line and run it through the noodle that has a hole through it, and place it in the middle of the rope, with equal length of excess rope on each end. Next, put in knots or some stopper at each of the noodle in order to prevent the noodle from sliding along the rope. Once the noodle can't slide, take both ends of the rope and tie them together. When you tie them together, you'll need to include a loop in such a way that the length of rope between that loop and it's respective knot on the noodle, do not change. That loop would be placed over the ski pylon so that if tried to move left and right, it can't. That loop could be possibly tying it to something like those pool diving so you can easily throw it over the pylon when you want it and can easily remove it when you don't. If you want to secure the 2 noodles together, you can run some rope between them, like a figure 8, a few times and the friction alone from that should be plenty.

In regards to tension, that's just a matter of getting a shorter bungie cord or wrapping your black strap around your handles a few times to shorten up it's length and increase tension when connected to the bungie cord.

Hopefully I understood the gist of your issue, but let me know if I didn't and thing of some other ideas and best of luck!