Docking instruction

[nika44]

Lots of great advice, I've asked our dealer to see if they can find someone to tutor us for a few hours.

Dick, how different would a bulb keel (ours has a 5'1" draft) react than a fin keel, there would be less drag, right? And wouldn' that mean it would be more responsive quicker? We have feathering prop I wasn't sure what your initials LH or RH stood for. ARe the feathering props less responsive than a fixed 3 blade?

[imagine2frolic]

http://www.cruising.sailingcourse.com/docking.htm

This might help.....i2f

[deniseO30]

I really enjoyed this thread I started back in Aug 07
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/seaman...-watching.html

I still make every time I dock a "practice session" Saturday night not being the exception. It was low tide at the state marina where the free pump out is. Of course the pump out is alongside the public ramp and the drunked up power boaters were have fun trying to zoom onto their respective trailers. One decided to play chicken with my Oday 30 as we approached dead slow. Already anticipating the inevitable, I had to come to a dead stop as ego man decided to show everyone that he could show that lady on the sailboat who was the hot shot! I knew we wouldn't, but to everyone else it looked like my boat would have t-boned the 15ft or so powerboat that cut right in front and along side between the dock and my boat. geeze.. anyway Mr. ego helped tie the bow line and acted like nothing was amiss.

I decided to back out, because the smaller boats wouldn't give me the space to do a 180, (and finding out the pump out isn't even hooked up yet) my depth finder was blinking blankity blank. I stood with wheel to my back and steered in reverse while using the prop wash also. My Partner thinks I'm pretty cool now since she is new to boating, but I was happy not to embarrass myself.

[sailingfool]

Originally Posted by nika44

...Dick, how different would a bulb keel (ours has a 5'1" draft) react than a fin keel, there would be less drag, right? And wouldn' that mean it would be more responsive quicker? We have feathering prop I wasn't sure what your initials LH or RH stood for. ARe the feathering props less responsive than a fixed 3 blade?

You won't see any particular difference in docking as your bulb is actually located at the bottom of a typical fin keel.

The handling of the feathering prop depends on its design. Some like the Max-Prop provide very similar perforamce to a fixed in forward, and better bite in reverse, as the blades rotate 180 degress in reverse. If your prop has the reversing blades characteristic, you will find the boat more controllable in reverse than a fixed blade would be.

[nolatom]

I think Mr. Pluta had it about right. The side force of your prop, forward but especially aft, will determine how your stern and bow will swing when you have little forward momentum.

But more so will a crosswind. Headwinds and tailwinds you can deal with. A crosswind makes it much more difficult to get into a slip, since you need to carry some speed to counteract the sideslip/leeway from the wind. In a really screeching crosswind, you may have to just delay docking.

But in regular conditions, sounds like you're on the right track..

[Dick Pluta]

Originally Posted by nika44

Lots of great advice, I've asked our dealer to see if they can find someone to tutor us for a few hours.

Dick, how different would a bulb keel (ours has a 5'1" draft) react than a fin keel, there would be less drag, right? And wouldn' that mean it would be more responsive quicker? We have feathering prop I wasn't sure what your initials LH or RH stood for. ARe the feathering props less responsive than a fixed 3 blade?

I was kind of avoiding getting into too much detail but here's an expansion. The boat is moving at some slow speed, let's say 1 mph. If you turn the boat to starboard, the bow will go right and the stern will go left while the whole boat is going forward. In other words, the boat makes a relatively wide turn as it rotates on the keel. The final effect is a nice tight turn. The bulb keel vs, fin question applies to the forward spped part of the equation, so you just have to allow for it in your approach.

I think minimum steerage way is really important because, if you come in too fast and have to use reverse to slow down, prop walk will move you to one side or the other. My Pearson went to starboard in reverse and my dock was to port, so my lovely docking job, right in the middle of the slip, was usually for naught.

LH and RH are abbreviations for left hand and right hand. I forget which pushes what way but it is significant at low speeds and can be either your enemy or your friend. I have no experience with a folding prop.

After all that, please understand that much of it is more analytical than is needed. You'll quickly get the feel regardless of theory but it's good to understand the mechanics. One of my afflictions is my banjo and, when I first bought it some 40 years ago, I bought Pete Seeger's book on how to play the 5 string banjo. On the back cover is one of my favorite quotes. It says" I once asked an old time picker how you find the notes on a banjo. He replied, 'Hell, son. There ain't no notes on a banjo. You just play the damned thing.'.

Good luck with the new boat and best regards,

Dick

[Faster]

Once you get the hang of it, prop walk can be your friend. Our boat walks to port, so when docking to port I put the boat at a 20 degree angle to the dock, come in with just enough speed to still have good steerage, and back down to stop. The propwalk rotates me nicely parallel with the dock and we step off.
Docking to starboard, I'll put the boat into a bit of a rotation (stern toward the dock) at the last second and back down to stop both the boat and the rotation.

We've always had boats that backed up well, and in a new or unusual docking situation usually try to back in... better directional control (we have, anyway) and better brakes as a rule.

[jackdale]

For a couple and a single, I highly recommend single-line docking.

There will be a spot about a 1/4 of the distance from the transom to the bow at which you can place a line that, when attached to the dock opposite the transom, will hold the boat parallel to the dock when the transmission is in forward. You may have experiment a bit to find this point.

Rather than stepping off with a bow and stern breast line, step off when the boat is stopped and tie off (or use a hook) with the single line. When secure put the transmission in forward and the boat will "suck" into the dock. Leave the transmission engaged while you attach the breast and spring lines.

If you have a strong wind blowing you off the dock, use a centre line tie and get the boat secure, and then worry about breast and stern lines.

I teach these methods and it simplifies matters greatly.

While on docking issues, why is the man does the docking while the women deals with the lines. Surely the reverse makes more sense.

Jack

[arisatx]

There is also a new ASA 118 course on docking...

link