polyurethane or polychloroprene a mounting ring 16 extends around the pipe 10 and is bolted to the upper end of the bend stiffener as viewed in fig1 the lower end of a cylindrical adapter 20 is welded to the upper surface of the ring 16 by an annular weldment 22 the inner diameter of the adapter 20 extends in a spaced relation to the corresponding outer surface of the pipe 10 to form an annulus which receives a cylindrical insert 24 the inner surface of the insert 24 is in contact with the corresponding outer surface of the pipe 10 and the outer surface of the insert is in contact with the corresponding inner surface of the adapter 20 the outer surface of the lower end portion of the insert 24 is welded to the lower end of the adapter 20 and to the upper surface of the ring 16 by an annular weldment 26 the insert 24 is split e g it is formed by two sections 24 a and 24 b fig2 each having a semi circular cross section to facilitate the assembly of the insert in the above annulus between the pipe 10 and the adapter 20 preferably the insert 24 is fabricated from polyurethane the outer surface of the adapter 20 is stepped fig1 and an annular tapered flange 30 is welded to the shoulder formed at.