Dock Fender Rubber Rebuild

The challenge

A dock fender takes the load every time a vessel comes alongside, and repeated berthing tears and gouges the rubber face. Once chunks of rubber are missing, the fender no longer spreads the load the way it was shaped to, so the cushioning falls off and the impact carries through to the quay structure and the hull. The damage spreads from there, and the loss of profile leaves the berth working with less protection than it was designed for. The owner needed the fender back to a working shape without pulling and replacing the whole unit.

Our approach

We start by assessing the fender to map the tears, gouges, and missing rubber against the original profile. We clean and prepare the torn faces so the repair keys into sound rubber, then rebuild the missing sections cold with a flexible Belzona 2000 Series elastomer that moves with the fender instead of cracking off it. We build the material back to the working profile and dress the surface so it spreads load the way the original shape did. The whole repair is cold-applied on the fender in place, with no hot work and no replacement unit.

1. Assess and mapWe inspect the fender to map the tears, gouges, and missing rubber against the original working profile.
2. Surface preparationWe clean and roughen the torn faces back to sound rubber so the elastomer keys into a solid surface.
3. Rebuild the missing rubberWe rebuild the gouged and missing sections cold with a flexible 2000 Series elastomer that flexes with the fender.
4. Reform and dress the profileWe build the material back to the working profile and dress the face so it spreads berthing load like the original shape.
5. Cure and return to serviceWe let the elastomer cure and inspect the rebuilt face, then hand the fender back ready to take berthing loads.