docking blues with twins

hardee · Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:30 am Post subject:

Warren asked:

"Harvey, how do you adapt this for entering a slip from a fairway?"

It is easy. Since the stern is where the OB's are and that is where the control is coming from that is the portion of the boat that moves laterally, when the OB's are turned. Reversing the propulsion of one engine will twist the boat, but you want to contact the dock first and not have too much twist. AND for sure there isn't room to do the "half arc" approach in a slip, usually.

SO.... BACK IN. Approach your slip. Using the throttles and F-R gearing, rotate the boat to point away from your slip, THEN gently back into the slip, with a slight twist towards where you want to contact it. 6" to a foot from that point, the far side (NO not the cartoon Rolling Eyes

) the opposite side of the boat from the dock OB needs to go into Forward with just a slight power bump to overcome the rearward inertia, and then twist the bow towards the doc.

An alternative to the forward power bump and twist might be to put a stern line onto a cleat, and then put that farside Wink

engine into forward at idle and it will bring the boat over to the dock and hold it there. Shocked

just want to make real sure that stern line and cleat are up to that.

I have used that only a very few times when there is an off dock wind or current. It is quick to get the stern line on, ( a loop over the dock cleat and then a twist and tie on the boat cleat), and then bring the boat to the dock and stabilize before disembarking to do the bow line. Takes longer to write it out here than to do it.

Love My Twins, "Port and Starbird"

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

Sea Angel · Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 6:06 pm Post subject:

At the marina where Sea Angel is kept we have floating finger piers that reach out from a bulkhead abt 35' long. These piers are 90 degrees to the tidal flow and face south.

The preferred method I have to use here is, center the helm, use the throttles, BACK INTO the CURRENT to swing the CD onto the current side of the pier. This is done so the fork lifts can pull the boats out in a safe manner. It does get very interesting when the wind is opposite the current with all the sail area of the CD25 and the shallow draft.

SO, SLOW in rev, 90 degrees to the dock's end, at this point I start my approach to start the swing, 4-6' from the pier end and abt midships. I use the outboard eng in rev.; the inboard from idle to fwd to control the rate of turn. I try to keep far enough away fro the dock to allow recovery from wind gusts as they come down the Creek. When I am positioned between the docks, usually abt 2'-3' from it, I take the engines out of gear and let the current bring me to the dock. All this is done only with the throttles. I will make minor adjustment to have the CD land parallel. This must work... No 'dings', so far.

I must admit that the worst time I had it took 10 tries because of wind conditions and no space on the current side of the dock.. I ended up tying off at the end of the dock and pivoting in. This is what happens when there is but one open dock with boats occupying both sides of each unit. Trying to thread the needle without hitting another boat can be fun, at times like this.

Bottom line- PRACTICE, PRACTICE, and MORE PRACTICE; as it was suggested before; in open waters and at your home dock with various conditions. Remember, speed is an ingredient for much trouble.

Art

smittypaddler · Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 9:26 pm Post subject: How a pro does it

My neighbor Jeff in the slip next to mine is a professional captain who lives on his boat when not working. His boat draws 3.5 feet, and that's about how deep it is in his slip, and he's about 20 feet from shore. A single screw and no side thrusters, yet he maneuvers his big boat better than I do with twin outboards. I'm envious. There are photos of him maneuvering out of his slip here:

http://smittypaddler.com/cds/cdc/fl11/d110326p.htm

matt_unique · Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:35 am Post subject: Re: How a pro does it

c-ness · Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:32 pm Post subject:

Great pics, but I'm not even close to that league! In our current set up, we have a fairly narrow fairway with lots of boats extending beyond their slips with their engines [ok, I do too]. In order to enter the slip I have to make a sharp right hand turn [docking on the starbord side]. Thus, while I can dock reasonably easily coming straight in, the turn has caused some difficulty, especially since the prevailing wind forces me from the dock. BUT, all the tips here have helped. I'm getting more confident that I can make the turn and head into the dock. All I need to do is get reasonably close to the dock. I have lines from bow and stern cleats ready in the cockpit. I can simply step off and tie to the dock cleats to fix both ends of the boat.