Protecting side of Pontoon Boat

[Skidave]

Finally purchased a pontoon dock for our spot on the river. We can't have boat lifts, so most river users with places on the river use an old pontoon boat as dock and anchor it for the season. I finally purchased a pontoon dock and I'm gearing up for the season with some ideas. The dock / pontoon is 24 feet long. When I tie up to friends docks, I never have my boat tight against. I place my buoy balls on my cleats, let everyone unload and then tie off with about 4 feet of slack in my lines. I always park on the 'down stream' side of the dock so the boat naturally stays away from the dock. With my dock setup, I was planning to use some sort of side protector on the side of the pontoon. Like a big crash pad, but only to prevent any damage to my regular boat. I'm looking for suggestions.

Here is what I am thinking: some sort of padded side board attached to the dock. I thought about bunk carpet, but that is not wide enough. Then I saw pontoon boat carpet for a reasonable price. If I create a 2 foot high by 8 foot wide section wrapped in carpet, then I can attach two sections of this to create a 16 foot crash pad. What do I use as the backer to attach the carpet? Marine plywood, hdpe, or something else. This will obviously be getting wet, I was thinking something not wood based just to get some good life out of this setup.

If anyone has suggestions or alternative ideas, I would appreciate your input.

Thanks!

[JD ski]

I like your idea and redwood or one of those synthetic decking products would work following your current thinking. If you have redwood available in your area it would be much easier to work with for stapling carpet in place.The synthetic is very hard and getting staples into the board would be difficult. However, I think having the bunk carpet in a location with constant water contact may get contaminated with dirt and growth of mold or other gunk. I am sure you are aware there are dock products commercially made that could with some imagination be attached to a pontoon boat. Good luck with the project.

[Wake.BC]

What about the big pad style fender that are typically used with jet skis? I can't seem to find a link but I'm sure someone can.


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[Quinner]

Hippity Hop Balls in the color of choice. Carpeted wood can still tear up your decals/emblems

[swatguy]

I made the mistake once of putting carpeted guide pads on my boat lift. Biggest mistake ever. That carpet destroyed my decals. Not a bad idea adding a nice flat area to tie up to , but I would still add one of the two options below .


The hippitty hop balls from toys r us work great. That's what I use to moor, they're wide enough to keep the tower off the boat next to you. theyre durable, cheap and give you great protection. If you want something more "wakeboat " style Exile Audio makes them too.
http://exileaudio.com/store/index.ph...ll-fender.html


Another idea is a couple Hull Hugrs. We've used a few of these with great success at permanent docks in the marina.

https://www.wholesalemarine.com/kwik...FYS6wAod9RkP8g

[gobluemike2142]

I made the mistake once of putting carpeted guide pads on my boat lift. Biggest mistake ever. That carpet destroyed my decals. Not a bad idea adding a nice flat area to tie up to , but I would still add one of the two options below .


The hippitty hop balls from toys r us work great. That's what I use to moor, they're wide enough to keep the tower off the boat next to you. theyre durable, cheap and give you great protection. If you want something more "wakeboat " style Exile Audio makes them too.
http://exileaudio.com/store/index.ph...ll-fender.html


Another idea is a couple Hull Hugrs. We've used a few of these with great success at permanent docks in the marina.

https://www.wholesalemarine.com/kwik...FYS6wAod9RkP8g

Good ideas, thanks. Still new to the boating scene (at least my own boat) so this is good stuff to pick up in the off season so I'm ready to go. Thanks Swat.

[Skidave]

Thanks everyone. Swat I use the exile buoy balls now. I want something to cover all that aluminum on the side of the pontoon. The Hull hugger looks perfect. The large is 9 feet long. Looks like two of them will provide a long area of protection.

I'm not so worried about hitting the pontoon when pulling up to dock. I'm more worried when someone is trying to be helpful and pulls a dockline and the bow swings over and smashed into the aluminum pontoon or rail. My wife says I'm already to nuts about the boat condition...so I have run a better preventative defense not to be 'that guy'.

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