AERE'® Fender Testing

We are continually looking for ways to demonstrate the effectiveness of our fenders. Due to the nature of the product and the many variables encountered, we have not yet found a way to produce consistent empirical results. Simply putting a heavy weight on them until they burst is not a viable test, although that has been done by simply increasing the air pressure many times over the recommended pressure of 3 psi to force a failure.

As you can see from the pictures below, parking a large van on one of our fenders, produces little results as a test, because a boat just doesn't sit there, it is moving in the water and the fender is pushing back as soon as it starts to absorb the impact. All boaters know that with continuously applied pressure we can push a very large boat away from the dock or piling. Note the next time you see a 200 lb + captain pulling out of his slip and his 100 lb first mate pushing him off the pilings.

EXAMPLE

A 40,000 lb + boat, with two of our fenders was slammed repeatedly into an end dock in more than 40 knots of wind. The captain said it was a very uncomfortable night, but the fenders and the boat were fine, and mostly due to the large size (12"x58") of the fenders, he had no damage with the boat bouncing up and down with the large waves.

See the pictures below to see what testing we have done!

The above picture series shows a large van with a 12" x 58" fender draped over the rear bumper. The van was repeatedly backed into a solid concrete wall at up to 8 mph. At this point the rear doors on the van began to buckle and the wall was shaking. Test stopped!

The test below was done to see the difference between our fenders and a well known brand fender. As you can see below we parked a van weighing approximately 6000 lbs on top of the fender. Even before the van was fully on top of the fender, it had compressed down to FLAT, nothing left to protect your boat!

The same van was driven fully on top of one of our 12 inch x 58 inch inflatable fenders. As you are able to see the fender is compressed, but still has a few inches left to go to be as FLAT as the one above. This indicates to us that there is still valuable protection left for your boat, even if you were to park a van on it.

The picture on the right shows the air pressure in the fender with the van parked on top. The first large red mark indicates 3 psi, the normal operating pressure. The pressure increased to slightly over 5 psi with the van on top, far below what the fenders have been tested to.

Just for information, included below is a picture showing the Stainless Steel "D" ring attachment, and the inflation valve.

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Copyright 2002, PRAKTEK, Inc. Web designer, Cynthia Abernathy. Last updated July 30, 2008