Timid to dock my boat

[paultjohnson]

Re: Timid to dock my boat

Perhaps take something that floats, like 1-2 ltr pop bottles , make yourself 6-8 [or whatever] little floating buoys, tie rocks to em with rope. Find yourself about 5- 10 ft of water and set up a little practice course with them that mimics your docking situation/dimensions. Like a little drivers ed course. Practice making the turns etc. Ignore the snickers from onlookers.

 

[Mike Zee]

Re: Timid to dock my boat

Put the fenders on and practice out of the way after you get out. Do some slow speed maneuvers, you will get the hang of it. One thing, i have 2 boats. My 17' handles worse in close than my 23'er. I think it is a prop thing. Small 3 blade vs larger sized 4 blade. Perhaps your older boat had a different set up (Most likly) and you are just used to that?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Timid to dock my boat

Perhaps take something that floats, like 1-2 ltr pop bottles , make yourself 6-8 [or whatever] little floating buoys, tie rocks to em with rope. Find yourself about 5- 10 ft of water and set up a little practice course with them that mimics your docking situation/dimensions. Like a little drivers ed course. Practice making the turns etc. Ignore the snickers from onlookers.

I don't know about anyone else here, but I can picture myself sucking one or two of those pop bottles with ropes into my prop on a bad day.:redface:

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: Timid to dock my boat

I don't know about anyone else here, but I can picture myself sucking one or two of those pop bottles with ropes into my prop on a bad day.:redface:

I suppose you are right. Probably not worth the hassle. You would need spotters or something to make sure that didnt happen. If ya ran one over ya would have to shut down the boat etc....I didnt think that thru very well I guess...Duhhhhhhhhhh or is it DOH !

 

[LiFeStArTs@FoRtY]

Re: Timid to dock my boat

First of all, make sure you don't have a tail wind. If you do, go past your slip, turn around, and come in AGAINST the wind. Same goes for current. Too many boaters try to "park a car" into the slip. Also, the tips about using reverse to swing your stern out before pulling are very good.

 

[Andy'sDelight]

Re: Timid to dock my boat

I have to make a lefrt into a short canal with boats on each side. My slip is on my port side once I'm in the canal. What I do is try to center myself in the canal, turn hard to starboard just as my bow is reaching my slip, as the stern starts swinging i cut to neutral, turn hard to port, then go to reverse. Once my stern is aligned with my slip I punch it into forward with just enough thrust to stop my swing, then reverse straight back into slip. The bimini will definitely give more credence to the wind effect, however unless it is flat out honking you shouldn't have to worry bout it. Believe it or not I get more anxious pulling out of the slip when there's a strong crosswind coming from my starboard side. When my nose edges out the wind likes to grab the bow and start pushing it to port, away from where I need to go and thus making it much harder for me to swing out. Normally when I pull out I head straight out of the slip with a slight direction to starboard so my stern doesn't hit my neighbor. Once I clear my slip comfortably I reverse with wheel hard to port, then pull straight out of the canal once I have straightened out. .

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Timid to dock my boat

+1 on going against the wind/current

+1 on backing. Boats steer from the stern as cars steer from the front, so backing, the boat follows the motor. Outboards make this very easy, visually.

Don't drive slow the whole time. Instead, bump in and out of neutral, and coast a lot. Like bumping a clutch on a stick on a hill. This not only gives you better control, it keeps you from shifting directly from FWD to REV.

 

[JAL51974]

Re: Timid to dock my boat

I agree with the last post: use the Neutral and bump into/out of it. I have a 19' bayliner and a new slip this year and it is nerve wracking at first to learn how to maneuver a new situation. Go slow and glide in/out of neutral as you use the forward/reverse thrust. We are talking about slight bumps forward-neutral or neutral-reverse no speed at all. With a helper aboard and a boat hook it is simple even if you get near the other boat to push off at these slow speeds. Did I say slowwwwww? doing it by myself is still very challenging but I do it. I both tie up bumpers on the dock edge and have bumpers tied to my boat. And yes stow the bimini for leaving and coming into the slip, it just gets in the way visually for me and sometimes does catch the wind. Practice and good luck. YOu will get it.

Joe

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Timid to dock my boat

If you ever get a chance, watch the contests among watermen docking boats. Here, they use 40' deadrises, and for the contest, they have to approach head on, swing around and back in between 4 pilings set barely wider than the boat, and get 4 lines on. They do it in about 30 seconds, and they fly.

don't try it at home, kids.

 

[adam7]

Re: Timid to dock my boat

I just paid for a slip for the next month and have been going through the same troubles. For one, my idle was a little high (1500rpm) and I reduced that (1000rpm) which helped a lot. That and the bumping in and out of neutral and just taking it extra slow has definitely helped. We got back at 9pm last night and someone was in our spot. They actually came down while I was sitting there thinking about what to do, but while I was thinking I was maneuvering the boat bumping in and out and neutral, fwd, and rev to hold my position steady. I found that exercise to be very helpful to determine where the water was moving me, and how much input I needed to stay still or move and at what speed.

I have been pulling in bow first mainly because its easier for my wife to hop onto the dock from there. I'm not all that confident in the handling of the boat in reverse, which is why I haven't tried coming in backwards yet. It just doesn't go exactly where I would expect it to.