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Post by TonyDunkley on Feb 27, 2017 19:34:01 GMT
I would like to know why the stern tip cat fenders were topped off with a button fender for towing with cross straps, I found it a pain in the arse, three tipcats were much better. Firstly we need to get the terminology right, . . . and the term 'button' fender is just another example of working boat terminology that has taken on different, modern day, meaning. A 'button' was a very small roundish fender, covered with cotton line, and not ever found anywhere other than level with, and on the end of the floats on a butty's ellum. The larger version, used in conjunction with two tipcats, was never called anything other than a 'back' fender. It's true that three tipcats will tend to to stop the butty riding up on the motor's counter a bit better than two tipcats and a back fender when you ease off a bit sharpish, or in bridgeholes, but the advantage is at best only marginal. A back fender, in place of a third tipcat, is much easier to lift when necessary in single locks, and that's why they were preferred. A third tipcat tends to jam down in place behind the first two because the chains run from the ends of the fenders, but the chains from a back fender run over the top of the two tipcats to a couple of staples placed much closer to the centreline of the counter than the staples for the tipcats.
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Post by TonyDunkley on Feb 27, 2017 19:41:41 GMT
Are tip cats the long tapered sausage fenders Yes, . . when new they're sort of cylindrical and reducing in diameter towards each end. To fit and stay in place properly on a motor's counter they had to be flattened a bit in the middle and the ends bent and pulled round to a snug fit. The best tool for doing this was a 14lb sledgehammer used sideways on instead of the normal way.
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Post by tadworth on Feb 28, 2017 19:08:14 GMT
Ta Tony. That's solved that one.
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