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Looking to outfit my new 1987 Outrage 20 with lines and fenders. I would welcome any advice on fender diameter, length and number. In addition lines , diameter, length and number. I will be trailering the boat and tying up to get lunch, fuel or something similar. In addition, where I could buy them online?

Anything else I should consider?

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I guess it is time to let you know we don't abbreviate the year here on this site. It gets too confusing with HP and other things.
http://www.whalercentral.com/forum/vi...d_id=15197

Thanks for your co-operation

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Lines and fenders are personal choices and you can choose any type or color of line you like. Likewise, fenders come in all shapes and sizes.

Let me offer some guidelines and opinion:

An Outrage 20 would be well served by 1/2" lines, though 3/8" would suffice and 5/8" would be manageable.

I suggest you buy three lines to leave on deck; a bow line and two stern lines that live in each stern quarter of your boat.

I suggest you buy lines that already have an eye spliced into one end.

I suggest your bow line be as long as possible *without* being so long that it fouls the propeller if it slips over the bow and trails under the hull while you are running.

I suggest that you stern lines be 5 feet shorter than your bow line, though this is not very critical.

I think that braided line is easier to handle than three strand.

I like the gold/white braid because it is complementary to, and blends with, the Desert Tan gel coat, though some people like their lines to stand out and choose black, red or blue. White gets dirty very quickly.

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Fenders in a small boat can consume valuable space. For this reason I do not use round fenders, though they actually work better. I just use white cylindrical fenders made by Taylor and others.

The fender length should long enough to roughly fill the height between the rub rail and the water line. If you have fenders that are too long they will float in the water and tip. You want them to hang.

Attaching fenders and adjusting their height can be simple or complicated, take your pick. I prefer to have things very simple and reliable and thus I use simple fender whips (the line that is permanently attached the fender and from which it hangs) that I tie off the boat itself without any adjuster in the form of poles, cam cleats, hooks, clips, etc. There are some dazzlingly exotic fender hangers out there [ See: http://www.fendmaster.com/pages/fende...olders.htm ] but I find a simple clove hitch or double half hitch is both more attractive and more reliable.

By the way, it is important to know when to use a clove hitch and when to use two half hitches; both knots are easier to tie than the knot you use to tie your shoes.

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Tom, thank you. Greatly appreciated. One last question, what diameter fender do you suggest? Assuming four are needed.

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For lines on my 18 Outrage I have two 5/8 on my stern cleats that just always stay there. I have had friends that give me grief because you shouldn't need that heavy a line on an 18 but when they pull out their 1/2 inch lines they left soaking in bilge water and they are rotten and unusable they always readily accept my spare to secure their boat. I have a couple of 1/2 and 3/8 lines that stay along with my anchor in the anchor locker. to tie up the bow. For short tie ups, i switched over to using dock buddy, that way it will stretch and i don't have to worry about tides. The thing to remember about lines it they should be rinsed off with fresh water and allowed to dry before they get put away. Rinse off the boat, rinse off your lines.
I like the same small ones that Tom does and use fender whips as well, easy to store, easy to handle. If you plan to raft up with folks, get some of the larger fenders to carry with you on those days. Every time I raft up with friends someone has either no fenders or one lone one they managed to find. I don't care about their boats, i care about mine so I always carry extra.

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Fender diameter is based on the length of the fender. Decide what length of fender you want and there you have it.

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Here's an example of Taylor Made Fenders.
http://www.boatcovers.cc/cgi-bin/cata...?item_id=3

15' to 20' Boats
5 1/2" diameter x 20" long

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I use the basic Taylor Made Hull Gard model:

http://www.boatcovers.cc/cgi-bin/cata...?item_id=5

It's crazy how many colors they make now. I notice they even have a "Sand" color. I wonder how that would look with a classic Whaler hull.