Interesting docking procedures/maneuvers

R

rogerbum

New member
I thought I'd start a thread on the "interesting" methods you see used by others while docking. While out at Neah Bay this past week, I saw one method in particular that cracked me up. A SeaSport just down the dock from me likes to dock stern first. He has a line attached to the port side stern cleat (not midships). One of his fishing buddies holds this line in his hand a the captain approaches the dock. The captain turns away from the dock to line up the stern to the slip. Once he's slow and fairly parallel to the dock, he guns it in reverse. Now he's going several kts backwards and the buddy in the back readies himself to jump off. Just prior to hitting the end of the slip, the captain switches from reverse to forward and guns it again to prevent the boat from hitting the dock. At that magical transition time between going fast in reverse and fast in forward, his buddy leaps off the boat and attaches the line as fast as he can. The forward motion of the boat pulls it into the dock. However, depending on which dock cleat was used and how much line is left over, the bow of the boat may wind up several feet beyond the end of the dock. They then pull the boat back in by hand and eventually tie it up.

The funniest part was once when the buddy couldn't get it tied up fast enough. He did a belly flop back into the boat so they could get a second shot at the "procedure". We had fun watching them every time they came in as nearly every docking was a bit of an adventure. What's the most interesting procedure you have witnessed?
 
Unfortunately, most of the "interesting" dock maneuvers that I've witnessed were self induced. Before the c-dory, I owned a flat bottomed scow. There was no keel of any kind. The bow and stern were also flat. It was basically a twenty six foot shoe box. The beast had no tracking and any turn sent the boat spinning. It was a docking nightmare.
 
chromer":2m5s24lf said:
Were they drinking whiskey? Sorry for that in advance, couldn't help myself
Click to expand...
No - completely sober. Even more interesting to me was that this is a fairly old guy who has been fishing quite awhile. I'm pretty sure he's been docking this way quite awhile. I presume he never had any instruction nor did he read much on boat operation but rather he learned it all by doing.
 
johnr":6uvqhwal said:
Unfortunately, most of the "interesting" dock maneuvers that I've witnessed were self induced.
Click to expand...

Ha, same here! My brain has not yet made the transition from sitting aft with a tiller in my hand, to sitting amidships with a wheel (but still an outboard engine on the transom). Consternation/hilarity has ensued (the hilarity mostly only in retrospect).

There should be some good ones in this thread :D
 
Saw one this weekend....

40+foot beamy sailboat was tied to a long public dock not exactly parallel with the dock. I noticed once tied up myself that the stern was tied close and the bow was very loose causing the boat to point significantly out from the dock on the bow end. There was another boat in front of this boat and the dock was basically full.

A short time later, a small and low powerboat came up to that spot and just slid right into the void created between the dock and the bow if the sailboat while the owners were away. The sailboat owner returned later and looked a bit miffed and promptly tied the stern even tighter to keep away from the intruder boat who had already vanished from the scene.

I'll bet that sailboat will tie up more evenly in the future.
 
A "close to 40" ferrous cement hulled sailboat, came in to the Sequim Bay State Park dock one time. There were about 10 or 12 fenders hanging on the port side, and he is coming in, down wind and with as jib and a mizzen flying. Fortunately there were no other boats on the outs side, because the approach angle was at about 15 degrees. Approach speed, probably 3 knots. Approach warning was "We are coming in" shouted from about 75 feet from the dock. There was no apparent slowing, the mate was over the lifeline at about 3/4 of the way forward from the stern, with a line in hand that was attached to a near stern cleat. Dock contact was confirmed when one the the fenders blew with a BANG! coinciding with the mate jumping to the dock and tieing the aft line (having about 15 or 20 seconds) as the behemoth scrapped by, and reached the end of the line where it came to a stop at the end of the line stretch. Then the full sails were dropped, with considerable struggle. Total dock space used for the landing, probably close to 125 feet. The whole thing appeared practiced and precise. Later I observed there were about a dozen fenders on the other side too :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

IMGP2425.thumb.jpg
 
At a Coast Guard class, we met a couple that told us they had just bought their first boat. It was a single engine 40' Trawler with no thruster. They told of trying to dock it at their marina in Vallejo, CA, the windiest spot in the state! After several attempts, the husband turned the helm over to the wife who was confident that she could do better. She proceded to put a deep gouge all the way down the hull of a 45' SeaRay.

They picked the right boat to damage, however. The owner told them that he had a guy coming the next day to do some other Fiber Glass work and to not worry about it!
 
We went sailing with a friend who had recently completed building a 55 foot fiberglas Roberts Cutter. Since he was an engineer, he made every piece of wood and fiberglass twice the thickness called for in the plans. The boat was 6" down on her lines when launched, with out any gear or liquids aboard. As we came back into the dock, he was powering at about 3 knots., with a 25" folding prop. His slip,was right in front of the San Diego Yacht Club dinning room and bar. I quietly suggested that perhaps he might want to slow down-or at least test the folding prop to be sure it would open. "Nope this is the only way to dock this boat." Well, despite full reverse, the prop failed to open in reverse. With lots of yelling, the 80,000 lb boat went right up over the 8 foot wide dock sinking it, and his 75 lb CQR anchor pretty well destroyed the beautifully varnished transom of the one million dollar motor yacht in the slip on the other side….After finally stopping forward motion, the boat slid back into its slip and the damaged dock began to float again. I was told he never took the boat out again after that show…
 
The specific prop in this case was a Maxi Prop.
service_fig4_repaired.jpg



This is one of the high end props, which allows water flow to push the blades into a feathering position. The centrifical force of the hub rotating will cause the blades to swing into driving position, if the centrifical force is not adequate to overcome the water flow by the feathered blades, the prop will not open. In this case, the prop was in the forward position by right hand drive engine. To reverse, the blades have to go thru the feathering position to the left hand rotation, and reverse. There has to be enough of a pause in this process to allow the blades to feather, and then with the reverse direction to deploy. The blades are flatter (without cup) than normal prop blades. In this case they did not deploy and stayed feathered or folded.

There is a second type of prop, which greg illustrated.

I used what is called Martec folding prop when racing.

folding-propellers-racing-sailboats-2-blades-22170-175951.jpg


This is not an efficient prop for powering, but there is very little drag when the prop is folded. (You also have to line the prop shaft up so that blades are up and down, to avoid one blade flopping down, and causing more drag.)

I would change out props on a weekly basis at times by free diving. I would put a 3 blade fixed prop on the shaft if we were going cruising, or would be powering for any length of time, and not racing. The Martec is very simple and easy to remove.

In the boats we built we used a Sabb engine, with a controllable pitch prop,
The concept was that there was no gear box for neutral, forward and reverse. The prop could be lined up, fore and aft, so very little drag, or it could be feathered, so that there was no forward or aft motion, or you could use an adjustable amount of pitch, to drive the boat forward or in reverse. The controllable pitch prop is very efficient, and when motor sailing one could choose a very high pitch. If the boat was working into heavy seas, then a low pitch would be chosen. I usually put the throttle at 1500 RPM and then changing the pitch to get the best speed.

108156.jpg
 
I've intentionally avoided this thread for as long as I could but the train wrecks called my name.

What I usually see, if I notice anything at all, is a husband and wife pair yelling at each other. docking really stresses people out. I think docking is the single reason my dad sold his boat.

I treat docking like driving a clutch. I try to keep it as smooth as possible so my passengers dont even know its happening. my wife and I have a good routine of just barely drifting in, but whenever I have a new buddy on the boat it can be a little more trying.

I do envy those larger boats I see come in with thrusters at the weirdest angles and then just slide right into a spot that looks custom made for them.

my goal is always to launch and retrieve slowly without getting wet, and to dock the same way, with no peculiar rushing or panicking...
 
I have gotten much better over time, but I still have some anxiety when in tight quarters or parallel parking in between two boats (one in front and one behind).

I really need to master the spring line techniques as there have been several times that this could have come in handy to docking or departing.

Perhaps mastering the lasso technique could have proven helpful as well.

The thing which has proven most helpful was for the crew to become familiar with the routine which afterwards becomes just that.
 
Yup, our rule is don't approach the dock any faster than you are willing to hit it. But... :oops: I sure do dock by braille from time to time.
 
The docking technique I see around every ramp that just blows my mind is the slide in and brace method. Without fail, if you are at a ramp for more then a hour, at least one if not more boats will approach the dock at a good clip and turn off the motors as one or more if not all members of the crew leap to the dock and run forward of the boat just to turn and hold the boat with brute force from slamming the dock. Many time members of the crew will have ropes and fenders in their hands but not tie them to the boat until after they have stopped it from ramming the dock. Have they no idea what a gear shift is for???? . I loose faith in humanity every time I see it happen.
 
starcrafttom":hhphu374 said:
turn off the motors as one or more if not all members of the crew leap to the dock and run forward of the boat just to turn and hold the boat with brute force from slamming the dock.
Click to expand...

I never understood that. I always let the motor idle for even a little bit longer after the boat is safely tied to the dock. for one thing, its my only real control if the docking goes awry. for another, my understanding was that letting the motor idle after jetting in from the fishing hole was the ideal way to let the block cool before shutting it off... a lot of times there may be a 5 minute put through a harbor before I even get to the dock, but still... leave motor on until I'm safely tied.
 
Back
Top