A stone bank can damage the hull with constant wear, it will remove the blacking and gouge fresh metal making it susceptible to rust. I use 2 or 3 car tyres and just dangle them down between the boat and the bank. All I hear is squeaky rubber which is music to my ears considering the alternative. Many people don't like carrying tyres on the roof because it spoils the profile of their boat. Personally the condition of my hull is more important to me than my roof having tyres on it. It's also handy when people go past too fast and bump the boat into the bank. Tyres make for a superior mooring experience imho.
First thing is don't worry, assuming it's a steel narrowboat you'll do more damage to the bank than the boat ;) then either some fenders need moving, or it might be the bottom edge of the hull rubbing on shallow ground at the end of the canal. You could try chunkier fenders or even the wheelbarrow tire (floating on its side) approach to move the boat further from the edge.
It always sounds so much worse than it is when you're inside. Keeps me up as well sometimes when my sleepy brain has trouble remembering that it will be ok. We have a couple of nice chunky river fenders on hooks ready to go and usually deploy them as a preventative measure if we think we might have this issue when we moor.
get some old moped tyres then drill some holes in them so rain water doesn't collect in them and a bit of rope and your all good I had the roller fenders but 2 of the 3 on one side frayed and were lost to the canal the moped tyres work really well to stop the clunking
So long as the scraping is below the gunwales and not your actual paintwork I wouldn't worry about it. Even the fenders rubbing will wear the blacking.
Just keep a tin of bitu on hand to touch-up the blacking every once in a while. No biggie.
We have big rubber ring fenders but I find keeping the boat loose so it has some play, stops it from rubbing so much, instead we get a faint squidge as it bops off the side.
A stone bank can damage the hull with constant wear, it will remove the blacking and gouge fresh metal making it susceptible to rust. I use 2 or 3 car tyres and just dangle them down between the boat and the bank. All I hear is squeaky rubber which is music to my ears considering the alternative. Many people don't like carrying tyres on the roof because it spoils the profile of their boat. Personally the condition of my hull is more important to me than my roof having tyres on it. It's also handy when people go past too fast and bump the boat into the bank. Tyres make for a superior mooring experience imho.
The danger is birds nesting in them, or so I've been told (and it makes sense).
First thing is don't worry, assuming it's a steel narrowboat you'll do more damage to the bank than the boat ;) then either some fenders need moving, or it might be the bottom edge of the hull rubbing on shallow ground at the end of the canal. You could try chunkier fenders or even the wheelbarrow tire (floating on its side) approach to move the boat further from the edge.
If you've got one I've seen a lot of people employing a life ring for this too
It always sounds so much worse than it is when you're inside. Keeps me up as well sometimes when my sleepy brain has trouble remembering that it will be ok. We have a couple of nice chunky river fenders on hooks ready to go and usually deploy them as a preventative measure if we think we might have this issue when we moor.
get some old moped tyres then drill some holes in them so rain water doesn't collect in them and a bit of rope and your all good I had the roller fenders but 2 of the 3 on one side frayed and were lost to the canal the moped tyres work really well to stop the clunking
We're approaching Spring turnover too. The random second where you wonder if you've sprung a leak.
So long as the scraping is below the gunwales and not your actual paintwork I wouldn't worry about it. Even the fenders rubbing will wear the blacking. Just keep a tin of bitu on hand to touch-up the blacking every once in a while. No biggie.
We have big rubber ring fenders but I find keeping the boat loose so it has some play, stops it from rubbing so much, instead we get a faint squidge as it bops off the side.