What fender is right for my boat?

The choice of fender size is determined by many factors. However, due to the size, weight, and storage requirements of yesterday's fenders, the tendency to under fender your boat can now be corrected by the use of AERE’ Inflatable Fenders. With AERE' inflatable fenders, you'll be able to size your fender to your boat and not your storage locker.

The suggestions below are guidelines only and should not be considered to be the absolute authority in properly fendering your boat. Each boat, every owner, and all the docking and rafting situations they will each encounter are different. As such, the captain must take everything into account when considering the purchase of the proper fenders for their boat or yacht.

1. The size of the boat, length and beam.
2. The type of boat, i.e., Cruiser, Sport Fisherman, Trawler, Sailboat, etc.
3. The weight/displacement of the boat.
4. Can my crew safely deploy and move the fenders when necessary?
5. The surface area of the boat that is presented to the wind. I.E.: Most sailboats present less wind surface than most powerboats.
6. The draft of the boat. I.E.: A deep draft boat will be more affected by currents and a shallow draft will be more affected by wind.
7. The currents and tidal action where the boat will be docked.
8. The type of facilities, or lack of, where the boat will be docking.
9. Any rafting situations the boat may encounter.
10. The need or desire to increase the available storage space on the boat.

AERE’ Inflatable Fenders are available in 20 standard sizes, 9 colors, in heavy duty and extreme duty models. They are in use on boats from 17 feet long to over 400 feet long. You will be able to find a model and color that will serve your particular needs. For example, a 17-foot boat uses a 12” x 58” fender to protect the side of his ski boat from his friends' jet skis (PWC’s).

Use the following table as a guideline only. Lightweight boats and most sailboats can go one size smaller, heavy boats and high profile boats may go one or more sizes larger. If inflated size is a problem in your slip, use the extreme duty model, but go one size smaller.

Remember, you can never be too well protected, but it’s easy to be under protected and end up with damage that could have been prevented with fenders of a sufficient size and strength. The price of proper fendering is a very small percentage of the price of a boat or yacht, and the one time they protect your boat from damage will pay for the cost of fenders many times over.

Will my fender explode as my boat slams up against it really hard?

While it is possible to pop a fender, the table below should show you just how difficult that would be. Our fenders have been through major storms and even several hurricanes without damage.

The normal operating pressure for an AERE' fender is 1 psi internal pressure. They have been pressure tested to over 45 psi. Here's how much force it would take on your fender to raise the internal pressure by one pound.

Help! My fender got too soft in the cold/too hard in the sun. Why?

All inflatables get harder in direct sun and hot weather and get softer in rain or cooler weather.This is normal.

For example, heat will increase the pressure inside an inflatable by .03 psi per one degree of temperature increase. Effectively, a 33 degree increase in temperature can make a hard inflatable extremely hard or a soft one much harder. This also works in reverse and a hard inflatable will soften if the temperature drops by that amount. Humidity also has a slight impact on the changes.

How Are the AERE’ Fenders Constructed and From What Material?

AERE’ Inflatable Fenders are made from heavy, high denier, polyester fabric (used in dingy construction), and heavily PVC coated inside and outside. The product is hand glued with seam reinforcement inside and outside. The seams are from three to four layers thick to assure seam integrity. The attachment points are stainless steel “D” rings on both ends, securely fastened to a layered backing plate. The fill valves are Halkey Roberts valves or similar, to assure tight seals and rapid inflation and deflation.

How Puncture and Abrasion Resistant Are AERE’ Fenders?

Any fender, no matter what it’s made from, (even steel), can be punctured or abraded through. AERE’ Inflatable Fenders absorb a tremendous amount of punishment before failure; this is reflected in our guarantee. They will withstand very high compression loads that will collapse a normal vinyl fender, leaving you with very little between your boat and damage. Normal care should be taken in fender placement (if you see a sharpened spike or nail sticking out of the dock or piling, don’t put any fender there if avoidable) and they will last a very long time.

What About UV Protection?

The AERE’ Inflatable Fenders have built-in UV protection. We have had several baking in the Florida Keys sun continuously for over a year without failure or color fading that we can see.

Can AERE' fenders be repaired if punctured?

What is your guarantee?

AERE’ Inflatable Fenders are unconditionally guaranteed for one year and protected against manufacturing defects for three years. This is the best guarantee offered in the industry on similar products. If a failure occurs during the first years for any reason, we will repair or replace it at no charge. If a manufacturing defect causes failure at any time during the three years after purchase, we will repair or replace the product at no charge.

Air Pump Questions

What's this about volume and pressure?

There are two basic types of pumps. High volume/low pressure and low pressure/high volume. This is because as the volume of air pumped increases it is generally harder to get higher pressure. For example, a bicycle tire requires high pressure (up to 100 lbs.) but low volume. Bicycle pumps are usually small and produce a small volume of air but at a high pressure. With this type of manual pump it takes effort to get to 100 lbs., but the volume is low enough so you can do it.

Car tires take about 30 to 40 lbs. of pressure. The air volume required is much greater than a bicycle tire. Inflating a car tire manually requires a great deal of effort to reach the required pressure due to the increased volume.

Using either a manual bicycle tire pump or car tire pump to inflate an inflatable boat will take a very, very long time (you are getting low volume) and you have a chance of over pressuring the product (you are getting high pressure). If you use a gasoline station air pump (high pressure) to inflate a marine inflatable product it will go quickly even with the lower volume but there is a real chance that the product could over inflate and explode.

Which air pump should I use for...?

Obviously the larger the item to be inflated the greater the volume you would prefer. Any of the AERE’ Inflatable Fenders can be blown up by either a foot or canister pump. For example, our smallest fenders (12” x 29”) can be blown up to one psi of air with our least expensive foot pump in 15 - 30 seconds. We recommend our higher volume foot pumps for our larger fenders up to 18” x 58”. Eighteen-inch fenders take about 2 minutes with the manual pump and less than a minute with a high volume electric. For our larger fenders an electric pump, particularly the high volume units are desirable, but not required. Our largest fenders can be inflated in about 2 minutes with a high volume electric pump.

For most high quality dinghies or other substantial marine inflatable products it is necessary to inflate them to about 3 psi. Separate chambered inflatable floors may require higher pressure, 10 to 11 psi. In this situation it may be desirable to have two pumps, one electric to quickly inflate the unit and a higher-pressure manual pump to “top off” the unit to the correct working pressure. In the event that you do not wish to carry two pumps, we do sell an electric model that will accomplish both tasks (see #4 below).

It is virtually impossible to recommend a specific pump for every possible application and circumstance. However, things that you should consider, and are described in our pump section are:

1. Capacities: Most pumps and inflators are measured in LPM (liters per minute) or GPM (gallons per minute). In manual pumps the LPM and GPM are always directly proportional to the strokes per minute, or how fast can you pump. In general, the more expensive pumps are of a larger capacity per stroke and will save you time and effort. The first time you are inflating your dingy or boat in the summer heat, you’ll find that the extra 5 or 10 dollars for a larger capacity pump is money well spent.

2. Foot vs. canister: Foot pumps use a bellows to compress the air for pumping with the legs and canisters use a cylinder to compress the air for pumping with the arms and back. Foot pumps are usually easier on the body. They may be either single or dual action. Some come with pressure gauges, others have the maximum pressure determined by the amount of effort you can reasonable apply to the pump. A high-end foot pump can have two chambers. One chamber is high volume with low pressure, and the other is higher pressure with lower volume. This type of foot pump, although more expensive, will inflate both high and low pressure products. The price range of both types are about the same, with professional units costing significantly more.

3. Single vs. dual action: Single action pumps pump in one direction only. Each stroke pumps a specified volume of air. Dual action pumps work in both directions thereby doubling the amount of air per round trip stroke. Canister pumps come in single and dual action. Dual action is usually a little more expensive.

4. Electric pumps: Electric pumps are great for making short work of inflating products. However, some pumps are low volume and low pressure (diaphragm type – usually slower to fill, but still much easier and faster than manual), others are high volume and low pressure (turbine type – fast fill). Diaphragm pumps are usually slower than turbine pumps.

Some pumps come with alligator clips to hook to a 12V battery (never run the charging system of the car or boat when a pump is connected to the battery) and a few have cigarette lighter plugs. The current drain on 12V batteries can be considerable and your system must be fully charged. Higher volume pumps tend to draw more current than do lower volume pumps, but they are on for a shorter period of time. There are also 110 and 220 VAC units. These are the fastest pumps available but must be able to be plugged into a 110 or 220 VAC outlet. If you have one of these available and you want the fastest inflation, these are the units to buy.

A new product on the market is a high volume and high pressure pump (a combination of the turbine to get a fast fill and the diaphragm to get the final pressure), the desired pressure on this new pump is set with a adjustable dial on the pump. These pumps have automatic shut off at a designated pressure.

What is "psi"?

This stands for "pounds per square inch." It is a unit by which air pressure is measured.

What pressure should my fender/dinghy/etc. be inflated to?

Inflatable marine products such as dinghies, AERE’ Inflatable Fenders, and AERE’ inflatable boats generally work on the principle of low pressure, high volume.

Do I need an air gauge for my AERE' fender?

AERE’ Inflatable Fenders use only one psi of pressure and can, due to compression, withstand pressures many times that. A gauge is not needed for your AERE’ fenders.

As a rule of thumb, 1 psi of pressure in an AERE’ Inflatable Fender or a dinghy feels like a soft grapefruit if you squeeze it with your full hand. Three lbs. is quite hard and you will find it difficult to dent it with your thumb.

Do I need an air gauge for my dinghy?

CAUTION!! Over pressuring your dinghy can be dangerous. You should have an air pressure gauge for a dinghy; just feeling with your hand is not usually correct as the tendency is to under inflate! An under inflated product will work more and increase wear and tear. The pressure in your dinghy should be periodically adjusted and maintained within minor variance from the specified pressure. Always consult your manufacturer for the correct inflation pressures.

How fast will this inflate?

Pump speeds, rated in flow rate in either LPM (Liters Per Minute) or GPM (Gallons Per Minute) gives you an idea of how fast a particular item will fill up. The higher the volume the faster it will blow up. However, the amount of pressure needed (only 1 pound for the AERE' Fenders and 3 pounds for most dinghies) will change the amount of time needed. Higher pressure requires more time and more effort on the part of the pump.