Having a “used but nice” pontoon boat allows me to try out different accessories. If I mess up the installation, I only have myself to blame and then listen to “input” from a special someone in my life.

When I raft up or visit docks I like to hang fenders off the side to protect my pontoon logs or other parts of the boat. Tying them to the top rail of the fence is the usual and easiest way to do it, but I have a lot of bench seat backs going around the sides so that’s not possible in my situation.

Last summer I installed some TACO Marine Pontoon Boat Fender Lock kits; they’re around $79 on Amazon and they’re stainless and pretty robust. I got out my cordless drill, some thread locker and a tape measure and installation was actually pretty easy.

I found the center of my fence rail and drilled a 1/8-inch hole. That’s the pilot hole for both the bottom and top of the rail. After opening up the top rail hole, I drilled the bottom hole to the 1/4-inch needed to fit the fender lock. I then de-burred the bottom hole with a slightly larger drill bit.

The top of the rail needs a 3 3/4-inch hole and after I drilled it I de-burred that too. (Pay no attention to the dirty fingernails.)

The rest is simple. Drop the upper part of the kit in the hole, making sure the rubber ring gasket is still on the barrel of the lock. Before putting the bottom washer and bolt into the upper part, I added some red threadlocker so it wouldn’t come apart. And that’s it. I put three on each side of the boat and they work great.

When you don’t want them on the rail, they’re easy to pop off and store on board. I also found that they are perfect for handing the extra dock line after you tie up. Quick, easy and very handy.