Pontoon Fender Invention

May 2, 2013by Alan Kinkead

I have been asked, more than once, "How did you think of the pontoon fender?" So, I thought I'd give a brief history of AKUA's pontoon fender and how it was developed.

My area of expertise is fishing boats and providing protection for them. In the early 2000's (and before), I noticed how many pontoon boats were running with their fenders blowing in the wind. One of my pet peeves: seeing any boat with fenders hanging over the side of the boat flying in the breeze while away from the dock. (See my blog on 'What to Look For") That "messiness" inspired me to develop a fender specifically for pontoon boats.

Lowe Boats, a pontoon boat company, happened to be right down the road less than 2 hours from where I live. I had developed a prototype of my idea for a pontoon fender and took it down to Lowe for their review. They liked my idea and said I was on the right track. Lowe's advice: the fender must fit on the top rail of the pontoon and extend down to the decking area allowing the fender "to bridge" from the top down to protect the delicated corrugated fence that goes around pontoon boats. The fender needed to be sturdy enough to prevent any contact against the fence. With that advice in mind, I created the "fence saver" pontoon fender. Unlike conventional fenders the fence saver gives protection and looks good even when left on the pontoon and the pontoon is away from the dock. To see what I mean, take a look at the product information and picture on this website.

I am pleased to say that the AKUA pontoon fender works as good as it looks. What started out as a way to solve a pet peeve has given many pontoon owners protection for a delicate area of their boat. I am proud to be a part of providing protection to pontoon boat owners.