Reverse Woes

[GaiaOrion]

Hi,

I have a 28 foot Ontario, she's a three blade prop , and I cannot get her to turn when pulling out of our berth, she seems to want to go to starboard what ever I do.....any suggestions? I only have about one boat length to turn the stern to port and get the bow pointed down stream to the lake...right now my wife walks the bow down to the end of the dock, gives her a push and jumps on, not the best manouvre .

Mike.

[deniseO30]

Seems like you don't have enough room for the rudder to take effect when reversing. My boat takes a good few moments to start responding in reverse by first racing the engine and then slowing it down when the boat starts moving in reverse. Or? maybe your over propped? I've heard that 3 & 4 blades will walk the boat sideways allot more.

[poopdeckpappy]

she seems to want to go to starboard what ever I do.....

Thats her natural walk, mine walks to starboard also ( which matters not as I have 300yds behind me ) about all you can do is keep the steering midship, and motor/walk it out until you have enough flow pass the rudder to get some steerage, nutural the motor, turn to port then use short brust of reverse, clear your dock and gear foward, hard over and gas it, kick that stern over

Silent prayers aren't a bad idea either

[cwyckham]

Sounds like classic prop-walk. The key is to plan ahead for it. If you know that the stern is going to kick Starboard on the way out, then you have to get creative on how you come in to the slip in the first place, or use warps to get the stern where you want to go. A diagram would help us all brainstorm your best approach.

Why not back into your slip and come out forwards? That way you'd have plenty of prop-wash over the rudder to get you turned in the right direction on the way out.

If you plan for it, you can think of the prop-walk as a feature, not a bug. It's like having a 90 degree stern thruster. It makes you crazy maneuverable at low speeds as long as you plan to only want your stern to go to starboard! For example, you can spin your boat around in its own length counter-clockwise with the wheel hard to port and using short bursts of forward and reverse, but you can't turn it around the other way because of the propwalk. So just always go counterclockwise.

Chris

[DwayneSpeer]

Give your engine short bursts of throttle when in reverse to get the boat moving and then put the trans in neutral. That will minimize your prop walk.

[dhays]

Originally Posted by GaiaOrion

I have a 28 foot Ontario, she's a three blade prop , and I cannot get her to turn when pulling out of our berth, she seems to want to go to starboard what ever I do.....any suggestions? I only have about one boat length to turn the stern to port and get the bow pointed down stream to the lake...right now my wife walks the bow down to the end of the dock, gives her a push and jumps on, not the best manouvre .

Others have mentioned prop walk, but what about that "downstream" part? Sounds like there might be a current that is flowing across your stern port to starboard that may be part of your problem. If you have a left-handed prop, then that would simply compound your problem.

You could try and loop a spring line mid-ship on the port side and rather than have your wife walk the bow, just maintain tension on the line as you back out to keep you from swinging to starboard. Once you are out in the channel, release on end of the line and retrieve it on board.

The other option is to back in. I'm not good at this myself, but with practice you could be and it would make getting out a breeze.

One caution about using high reverse throttle to get rubber bite, keep a firm hold on your tiller or wheel to keep the rudder from swinging hard to the stop.

Dave

[GaiaOrion]

I'll try the short burst and neutral, unfortunately I have another boat on the oe side, so the spring line will not work. I also am battling a slight current as well, great ideas and thanks again ever so much. One day I hope to be able to add my advise to a newby !

M.

[dhays]

Next time you are at the boat, snap some low res photos and then post them so we can see the exact situation you are dealing with.

Dave

[lydanynom]

Originally Posted by GaiaOrion

I'll try the short burst and neutral, unfortunately I have another boat on the oe side, so the spring line will not work.

If you put a couple of good fenders at the beam and use a line running from a point just forward of the beam to a point more forward on the pier on the starboard side then back to you in the cockpit and keep tension on it as you come back it should be enough to counteract the tendency for the stern to walk to starboard, shouldn't it?

Give it a shot of throttle to get it moving then put tension on the line to slow the boat and draw it back up against the pier and pivot the bow toward it, repeat until you are out. Or you could stay on the throttle steady and slip the line out around a winch or a cleat, but that would be hard on the fenders.

What do you think?

[sailjunkie]

Lots of good advice on this thread, but the best seems to be using prop-walk to your advantage.

Reversing used to give me fits during the first 2 years that I sailed keel boats. Fortunately, I received some very good advice during an instructor's course that has served me well ever since.

From a standing start, reverse at full power UNTIL you feel the boat start moving in the direction that you wish. Then throttle back to your desired speed and steer as required.

My caution is that I have never tried this with a standard 3-bladed prop. Also, I KNOW that it won't work if the prop shaft is off-centre, as is the case with many C & C's.

A long-term solution might be to consider installing a Kiwi folding prop. Our boat came with one already installed, and we experience only slight prop walk to starboard when in reverse. After coming out with us, my buddy installed one and reports that reverse prop-walk issues have pretty much disappeared.

Still, the immediate solution may be to reverse as I suggested above.

Hope this helps.