Corners of the dock well

[TSully980]

I have a ten foot wide dock well. I haven't much room on either side of the toon to get it in there. Especially when it's windy. I am not your most experienced boat driver. My wife isn't strong enough to keep the boat from hitting the corners of the dock when I can't get lined up or keep it lined up. I have been able to obtain a couple of scratches on the toons from hitting the metal frame on the corners of the dock. Anyone have any suggestions on what to cover that corner with so when I do hit there won't be any scratches or worse yet a hole? I did order and received from Overton's the dock corner that should work but I'll have to figure out a way to mount them as I don't have a solid surface on either side of the corner just metal framing. I don't think a corner wheel will work because if the water is choppy and the toon goes up and down the wheel will probably get caught between the toons and the deck and break. Any ideas?
Thanks

[dtruly]

Some of the slips at our marina have peeled the tread off discarded tires with the sidewalls removed. This provides a long strip when rolled out flat which can be screwed to the sides of the slip with flat head, even recessed, screws. This makes a good low profile bumper along the edge of the slip. We have four whole tire bumpers in our slip which is wide enough to accommodate our pontoon. They are held in place by a section of sidewall being sawed free, bent back and screwed onto the walkway leaving the tire hanging part way into the water. This does require more clearance, of course.

[Bamaman]

Line your metal slip with wood (with bolts) as it's not as bad to scratch your boat as bare steel. Then mount commercially made plastic bumpers on the wood. The big mail order retailers have all kinds of materials to line boat slips.

We used to use old 4" fire hose to line boat slips, but it's not easily found.

[HandymanHerb]

Mount some roller guilds to hold the toons off the dock

[Bryden24shp]

Line your metal slip with wood (with bolts) as it's not as bad to scratch your boat as bare steel. Then mount commercially made plastic bumpers on the wood. The big mail order retailers have all kinds of materials to line boat slips.

We used to use old 4" fire hose to line boat slips, but it's not easily found.

#2 on the fire hose! I bet you can get some at the Osage Beach Fire Station... We save the old ones here at the plant, we use for them Hose Handling drills. I'll talk to my Captain to see if I can grab one for ya, if you want... I'll be coming back to the lake Sunday night! My slip at Heron Bay is lined with the white vinyl L mouldings. I bought them from the dock store by the Grand Glaize bridge. Maybe we'll see ya on the Lake over the 4th!

[TSully980]

Thanks everyone! Good tips.
I'm going down to the lake tomorrow and I'm actually staying there for the next 9 days. YES.... 9 Whole days and nights! I think I've had a weeks vacation once in the last ten years. And that week wasn't one I planned to have and hope not to have another. Anyway........ I have some sixteen inch long and eight inch wide corner bumpers sitting here in front of me that I'm going to see if that will work. Brian I would be interested in anything that will help. I have been trying to locate some rollers to no avail though. The ones I've seen for sale are to much money. Around six hundred for two of them. There should be a cheaper fix.
Thanks again!!!!!!

[Bryden24shp]

I'll talk to the Capt tomorrow! If I can get it, I'll PM ya with my cell # so we can get it to you!

[TSully980]

Here's what I did for the corners. I don't have pic's. Anyway................
I bought some cca plywood and lined the corners. This was a bitch. Attaching the wood to the metal with stainless self tapping screws.
Doing this while my body was contorted laying down in all different positions. All the while trying to not drop anything in the water.
Well after all the measuring and cutting and drilling I had the wood installed. Then I lined the wood with some rubber membrane. I was concerned about the corner still present on the wood. So I doubled up the membrane there. I was thinking that if I hit to hard over time the corner might put a hole in the bumber. So I now have to attach the bumper. I ordered 16" long corner bumpers from Overtons. They only sent me enough screws to mount one. So I came up with some other stainless screws to do the other one.
So it's done and has been tested. I hit pretty hard one afternoon when it was windy and everything held up good except for the two fenders that the rope broke on. The rope has only lasted a year! But the "EZ fender holders" didn't budge (Bryan). Need new rope.
Will see how long that cca holds up. Already have the others cut for replacement when needed!

[landlockedsailor]

We had exact same problem. One of the toons scratched on the corner metal coming in. Ordered and installed Overton's corner dock guards. Perfect, worked great. Will add pics tomorrow, have company tonight. They install on the top, wooden part of the deck and hang down over the corner.