Page 219 - Barbara Merry - The Splicing Handbook

TWENTY-THREE
Bow Puddings

Bow puddings come in all shapes and sizes. The instructions below are for a 4 ×

28-inch (100 × 710 mm) tapered, sausage-shaped fender, just right for the bow
of your tender, skiff, or rowboat. On a tender, this “pudding” will protect the
topsides of your larger boat when the tender’s bow comes against it; but on any
boat, a bow fender will save its own bow from bumps and dings.
Making this small pudding is fairly simple. Manila rope is knotted around a
core of bundled polypropylene rope lengths, and eyes for attachment are
fashioned at each end. You can also add a third eye around the girth of the fender
in the center to help keep it from sagging after you’ve attached it. Larger fenders
are often more elaborate. On tugboats you’ll sometimes see a fluffy blanket
installed over the top of a large pudding to keep it warm. No, not really. It’s there
to protect the pudding from chafe and to extend its life. The rope blanket, called

a collision mat, is fastened to the fender and is covered with rope “whiskers,”
properly called thrums. When these thrums wear down, they’re easily replaced,
and the mat continues to protect the fender beneath it.

TOOLS & MATERIALS

30 feet (9 m) of ½-inch (12 mm) manila
19 feet (6 m) of small stuff,
such as #21 tarred nylon
32 feet (9.8 m) of ⅜-inch (9 mm)
polypropylene, preferably brown or black
¼-inch (6 mm) manila (optional)—5 feet
(1.5 m) for the third eye, 12 feet (3.7 m)
for a Turk’s Head knot
Vinyl tape