Cool product: POP Fender

Making peace in the cockpit locker.

The boat watchers. Port Vell, Barcelona. October 2023.

One of the cool things I saw at the 2023 Barcelona boat show (aka Salón Náutico International de Barcelona, aka Saló Nàutic Internacional de Barcelona) was POP Fender.

Contents

What’s a POP Fender?

POP Fender is a collapsible, low-maintenance fender. It’s an alternative to bulky, inflatable fenders. POP Fender is from Austria, just launched in 2021.

Credit: POP Fender

Material: TPV plastic

Diameter: 250mm (10 inches)

Height: Expands to 620mm (24.5 inches), collapses to 250mm (10 inches)

Price: $100-136 for factory colours, more for custom colours

Shop at POP Fender

My inflatable fenders take up a lot of space in my cockpit locker. I can deflate them, I guess, and a lot of sailors do that when they don’t expect to use them for a while. But I use marinas (too) often, so I just leave them inflated, and that means I battle with them to get at other things under the cockpit.

POP Fender would be a great peacemaker in my cockpit locker. It’s rigid plastic, arranged as telescoping sections. You can collapse it instantly down to a compact 250mm x 250mm (less than 10 inches) before tossing it in the cockpit locker. A comparable Taylor Made Super Gard fender, when inflated, is 165mm (6.5 inches) in diameter by 560 mm (22 inches) high.

You can choose the colour of each section to match your boat or mood, and they don’t squeak or scuff your hull. POP Fender claims that they’re actually dishwasher safe. And they claim that the material is recyclable, or at least less unrecyclable than conventional inflatable fenders. Pretty cool.

A selection of POP Fenders, as seen in Barthelona

Pros

Cons

At your service

Humbly yours,

Marc, Supreme Purser