How many tries...?

I

inkblue

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Jan 18, 2007
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24914
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...did it take you before you could park your boat into your slip without hitting anything?

[8D][:-cyclops][:-hypnotized]
 
25 years and I still bounce her off the rubber rails now and them.....I'll get it right one of these years
 
If your boat doesn't have a "story" on it here and there, it means you aren't using it!
 
Your problem may be that you are trying to "park" it. That's what you do with cars.
 
In our Santa Cruz harbor, we have an 8" surge with a 15 to 25 mph cross wind all the time. You really learn to (crash land) into your slip. It helps to come in deliberately, maintaining your steerage. Otherwise, you will drift down onto your neighbors in short order.
 
I was surprised to be able to dock it with no trouble from day one. Then days two and three came around...

Backing into the slip was easy and uneventful for the first 3 months or so (no wind). Then I decided the only way I'll learn to dock with high winds is to actually go out in them. After skipping off a fuel dock and my own finger dock on the same day, I decided to go out in 15 to 20 knot sustained winds and practice with a couple of bouys. The result was tremendous. After about 30 to 40 minutes of practice I felt much better about bouncing off the dock when I got back to the slip.
 
For breaking when I park at the beach I just approach the beach at a good speed, push down on the "tilt/trim" switch on the black control-thingies to the right of the dash and the boat gets parked pretty good. Plus the engines shut off automatically too!
 
Best advise is to look for a flag blowing in the wind.This way, you know how to adjust for wind. Current most always goes the same way.
 
I learned when I was a kid (14) on a single engine IB. My dad took me out on a typical New England fall day (read windy and cold) and we spent 10 staright hours doing nothing but docking the boat. Bow in, Stern to, Starboard side, Port side, etc.

I learned a few things that day

1) There is no substitute for practice
2) There is no substitute for a spring line

I have also learned over the years that more important than worrying about a mishap while docking is having a plan ahead of time on how to abort and re-try an approach gone bad.

Most I have sen suffer from a pride issue - rather than admit a bad approach and start over, they try to over compensate and recover - leading them into more problems.
 
I solved the docking problem by having lots of great big fenders in the slip. I just bounce off of them as I pull in!!! When I had a slip which was not a side, I was always messing up my bow rails. The boat has a poorly designed system which makes the rails protrude out over the rubrail so they get hit first. Grrrrrr
 
Ah what the heck, I just hang bumpers everywhere and parking's not a problem.
 
Actually with the 48 I've docked it nearly perfectly every time and since day 1. Of course on day one I had to pee every 30 seconds. Now I've gotten it down to only once about 10 minutes ahead of time.

bp
 
The key is to remain calm...easier said than done. Just remember, nobody will get hurt unless you panic and accidently floor it. Fiberglass can be repaired.

The worst docking I had was this year...at the 79th street Boat Basin. The current was stronger than expected and took me quick. I couldn't shift out of gear for some reason and was headed for the dock. I shut down both engines, took a couple of seconds to re-group (found I did not have the throttles to idle, hence no shift) reset, restarted engines, turned around and went in bow first....all within a second or two. My buddy was white as a ghost and very impressed. I was a bit embarassed but in the end, I didn't panic, didn't hit anything and saved a bad landing.
 
I like the one about heading for the beach and trimming the engines on the fly. I do a similar thing with my 9.2 on an aluminum boat. There are about 35 feet of weeds between channel and where I beach the boat. I cruise in at top speed, kill the motor and lift it clear of the water at the channels edge and coast in as far as I can. It is really weird to be zipping along without any sound whatsoever after a couple of hours out...
Graeme.
 
I'm not sure I'm there, yet. I still usually bump something, mostly the forward piling, although not hard. I think I can count the number of times I've made a perfect, touchless landing in 11 years on one hand -- and they were all at transient slips.

But isn't that what rub rails are for? And fenders? Our slip has both a cross current of about 4 knots (depending on tide flow) and a cross wind (usually). So I have to move quickly or get shoved somewhere I don't want to be. But even after I'm in the slip, it is really difficult to to keep the boat off the dock or piling.

Our current boat is much better (much easier to handle) than our previous boat. The old boat was a 32', lightweight, flybridge model that was under powered. It acted like a paper cup on the water, and at times was impossible to get docked. I hated to take that boat out. That was when my wife started adding up all the expenses just to sit at the dock. The best thing we did was to get rid of it and try something different. It takes practice and experience to handle a boat well. And if you are afraid to take the boat out on the water, you don't get either practice or experience.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Ghost

Actually with the 48 I've docked it nearly perfectly every time and since day 1. Of course on day one I had to pee every 30 seconds. Now I've gotten it down to only once about 10 minutes ahead of time.

bp

Click to expand...


Now be a good boy and tell us about the boats you owned before the 48.
 
Uh, that would be the 23 foot single screw inboard (not IO). First time it took me 7 tries to pull her in bow first.

Do you want the stories where the pee goes running down your leg too?
 
never approach the dock faster than your willing to bounce off it....with that said....I crash into the dock almost everytime...sometimes I even get to dock it without much damage!!....
of course followed by sweaty palms...wet shorts....and the utterance of every friggin cus words I can think of......
 
quote:
Originally posted by Ghost

Do you want the stories where the pee goes running down your leg too?

Click to expand...


I will pass - thank you for asking.
 
This is all good to hear. We are not alone. I'm in a finger slip (walkways on both sides) with 9 inches of clearance on each side for my 33 foot cruiser. Sometime when I decide to back off and try again, I just wave to neighbors and tell them I'm doing a "drive-by" and checking out the neighborhood. It's interesting that several times I've been out alone, and there is no one on the dock to assist, my "parking" has been perfect first try. Now when the admiral is with me, it's not quite as smooth. If she would only just listen and follow my polite directions, there wouldn't be a problem.
 
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