KnotConnected
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2012
- Messages
- 221
So I'm feeling mighty dejected after my first run out this year. Much to my appreciation, the 454 fired up cleanly and performed rather well. We went out for a quick jaunt into the bay to run the engine up and then came back in at a gentle cruise.
Getting back into the slip, however, has me back on boattrader.com this morning. We had ~10-15 MPH winds with gusts up to 20 pushing me directly off of my slip (in the slip, my bow faces North, wind was straight out of the West, and I slip port-side stern-in). We also had a ton of rain off-and-on, so the current through the marina was pretty swift. Despite having two dockhands at the marina prepared to catch a line for me, i could *not* back her into the slip. After about 5 or 6 ugly attempts (bow and sometimes entire boat blowing over into the empty spot next to me, blowing over almost 45 degrees into the neighbor finger pier etc) and a bucket full of colorful language, I finally got it in by coming up perpendicular to my slip having the girlfriend toss the midline to the dock hand and pivoting it around the mid-line into the slip.
Is a 28' mid-cabin with a 10' beam too much boat for a single I/O? I've seen my buddy handle his 28 footer with single 454s beautifully, but his profile is a lot lower and squattier, with much less windage. Did I purchase a boat that is inherently going to be near impossible to maneuver in certain situations, or is this one of those "stick with'er kid" things that will get better with time and practice?
Getting back into the slip, however, has me back on boattrader.com this morning. We had ~10-15 MPH winds with gusts up to 20 pushing me directly off of my slip (in the slip, my bow faces North, wind was straight out of the West, and I slip port-side stern-in). We also had a ton of rain off-and-on, so the current through the marina was pretty swift. Despite having two dockhands at the marina prepared to catch a line for me, i could *not* back her into the slip. After about 5 or 6 ugly attempts (bow and sometimes entire boat blowing over into the empty spot next to me, blowing over almost 45 degrees into the neighbor finger pier etc) and a bucket full of colorful language, I finally got it in by coming up perpendicular to my slip having the girlfriend toss the midline to the dock hand and pivoting it around the mid-line into the slip.
Is a 28' mid-cabin with a 10' beam too much boat for a single I/O? I've seen my buddy handle his 28 footer with single 454s beautifully, but his profile is a lot lower and squattier, with much less windage. Did I purchase a boat that is inherently going to be near impossible to maneuver in certain situations, or is this one of those "stick with'er kid" things that will get better with time and practice?
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