Docking - back in or just pull in

Oh yeah, forgot one thing...
DO NOT touch the steering wheel while backing in. Use shifts and throttles. Tiny little SeaRay rudders are useless in reverse. Leave them amidships once you get into your closed quarters area.
 
rondds said:
Oh yeah, forgot one thing...
DO NOT touch the steering wheel while backing in. Use shifts and throttles. Tiny little SeaRay rudders are useless in reverse. Leave them amidships once you get into your closed quarters area.
Click to expand...


I absolutely agree with this statement. Might as well not have a steering wheel while backing.
 
Stern in. Much easier for on and offloading people and gear.

As others have said, practice practice practice. Pick a calm day and go out and play around somewhere to learn the boat. Find an empty "safe" slip and go in and out from both sides and angles and learn how your boat reacts. If there is no empty slip, go in open water on a calm day and toss a fender (without rope) in the water and practice spinning around and backing the stern up to the fender from various sides and approaches. No throttle and no steering with the wheel. Just go slow, bumping in and out of gear rather than leaving it in gear. While you are are learning that will minimize any minor mistakes. Did I say no throttle? No throttle. Once you know the pivot point and how fast the boat reacts to being in gear in the combinations of port/starboard forward and reverse you will get very comfortable. If you know what your boat will do, you won't be panicky at all in tight quarters.

Also, every marina will send dock hands to your slip if you radio ahead. Don't be shy about using them. That is why you pay the fees for the marina. Just radio ahead and request assistance at slip XXX with lines. They will help make sure you don't bump anything you shouldn't and you can toss them lines to help control things without risking injuring your helpful mates.

And most important of all, don't yell at your crew. If they are a spouse, it will impact your boating enjoying more than you know. :smt001
 
Stern in is the norm in many marinas on the Bay and up and down the Potomac River. We've always stern docked.

As others have said practice practice practice. Straighten your rudders and practice using just your throttles. My dealer spent a day with me when I moved to twins. They had me start by pulling up to the fuel dock. It's easy to get used to using the two props to maneuver. Stay away from the wheel. After trying a T dock, try your slip. Go slow. Read the conditions.

We have a 40' finger on our slip. I pull up to where the finger is right off my starboard lined up with the helm. I then put my starboard engine in forward and push my bow away from my slip. I use quick pulses in reverse on my port engine and I can turn my boat and line up the stern with my slip. Quick pulses in and out of gear.

Once I'm lined up I back it right in. Once you're lined up and backing up face your stern. Have someone on your swim platform ready to hop off and grab a line as you backn in.
 
rondds said:
Oh yeah, forgot one thing...
DO NOT touch the steering wheel while backing in. Use shifts and throttles. Tiny little SeaRay rudders are useless in reverse. Leave them amidships once you get into your closed quarters area.
Click to expand...

I think you just nailed it here for me, I was trying to use the twins and the rudder at the same time in reverse and that's when it all went wrong. Thanks for all the great advice, especially about not worrying about the ego
 
.....and don't have the wife on the swim platform (or anybody else) while backing.

I see this a lot and it makes no sense. It is a recipe for disaster.......distracted captain, boat in and out of gear, wind, current, spinning props directly under swim platform.....I don't get it.
 
With our previous boat we could do either (bow in or stern in) but we preferred to go stern in. It kept the canvas out of the weather and although it was tricky with a cross-wind at times in our old marina, we just altered our angle of approach and that solved the problem. Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this but be sure to always use power *into* the wind. If you're applying throttle to move your boat with the wind you will quickly lose control. Just like an airplane that's landing, you will have the most control when you are going into the wind.

With our 450 we have no choice but to dock stern in. Because our marina has us in a 40' slip and we overhang by about 5', and the fact that our power cable wouldn't make it if we docked bow in, plus ease of loading people and gear - we've just learned to go stern in. We're lucky to have the pod drives that allow us to move the boat in any direction we want but we still take it really slowly and apply a concept we like to call "auto-docking". Engage your throttle, then back to neutral and wait - see what effect that had on the movement/attitude of your vessel. Engage, disengage, watch/observe. You'll be surprised to see how little throttle is actually needed to dock your boat once you get the hang of it. If it's windy, it's the same concept but just aim into the wind and apply a bit more throttle and don't panic. You can always add more throttle if you need to but it's much more challenging to try to undo adding too much.

Good luck! I do most of our long-range cruising and my husband does our docking (since I have to let him drive the boat at some point!) but we are going to start taking turns to make sure that we are both adept at doing both tasks because you never know.

Sandy
 
One more item that i learned on this forum. When docking NEVER apply throttle to the engine in forward. Leave your hand on the engine in reverse and lightly apply throttle to that engine if you need to center your pivot. This is especially useful when leaving the slip and you are in the middle of a fairway drifting towards a boat bow across the fairway.

It's get much easier!!! Don't worry about what folks think we were all in your shoes at one point or another.

Another aspect is to know how your props spin and know that putting one prop in reverse while back into the slip will pull your stern in a direction either away or towards that finger pier.

Enjoy hope to see you out on the bay!!!!
 
we docked at a new marine this year and were in a finger slip. the day we put in the marina owner stood at my slip to help. i backed it right in the first try. he was pretty surprised. so was i...lol. i got lucky. but i backed in every time and only had to do a re-take 2 or 3 times all year. granted my boat is 8'6" and i have about 5' between me and our slip neighbor. having a single engine i turn in my seat and look backwards and aim my inside swim platform for the front of the neighbors boat. the drift pushed me perfectly into my finger. i have fenders zip-tied all along my finger and have my fenders hanging off the cleats
 
rondds said:
Oh yeah, forgot one thing...
Tiny little SeaRay rudders are useless in reverse.
Click to expand...

Size of the rudders has nothing to do with it in reverse. The reason they don't work is that you are pushing water towards your bow away from them.

On a side note, I agree, leave the steering wheel alone when backing in.
 
At our slip, we bow in 95% of the time just because we would rather view the water than the dock and levee. When we go to visit other marinas or and other docks we stern in .
 
BleednBlue said:
Man I see this alot even with I/Os. Makes me cringe every time.
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There is a CSR member with a 380DA out here in the Bay Area that was backing in with his wife on the swim platform. He needed a redo so put it into forward and may have used a bit of throttle and had no idea she went for a swim! Lucky that there were people on the dock to help her and get him to understand he had lost his first mate. I try to have my wife stand at the transom door with off on.
 
Besides crew on swim platform (very good point), I'd suggest you have all your guests take a seat and do nothing unless you instruct them to, esp if they're not "boat people." Guest will always offer to help, and the last thing you need to be worried about is inexperienced "helping hands." If you do need them to do anythin, be very specific with your instructions. Whatever your normal crew does (wife, kids, etc.) have them stick to their tasks when guests are on board. Stick to your system. (Jimmy grabs the spring line, Alice is on the bow with the boat hook, Sally gets the stern lines cleated, etc.)

Also, turn down the stereo and don't chat with anyone. I don't know about the rest of you guys but if I'm distracted in any way, it tends to effect the outcome. Maybe I just can't walk and chew gum at the same time (?)
 
HUMPH said:
At our slip, we bow in 95% of the time just because we would rather view the water than the dock and levee. When we go to visit other marinas or and other docks we stern in .
Click to expand...

Ya know ... There is something to what you say .. and I have been thinking about just that. At our Marina - by the way its positioned - Stern to the back would be MUCH more scenic. And my marina isn't that social. I may have to try that this weekend
 
rondds said:
Besides crew on swim platform (very good point), I'd suggest you have all your guests take a seat and do nothing unless you instruct them to, esp if they're not "boat people." Guest will always offer to help, and the last thing you need to be worried about is inexperienced "helping hands." If you do need them to do anythin, be very specific with your instructions. Whatever your normal crew does (wife, kids, etc.) have them stick to their tasks when guests are on board. Stick to your system. (Jimmy grabs the spring line, Alice is on the bow with the boat hook, Sally gets the stern lines cleated, etc.)

Also, turn down the stereo and don't chat with anyone. I don't know about the rest of you guys but if I'm distracted in any way, it tends to effect the outcome. Maybe I just can't walk and chew gum at the same time (?)
Click to expand...

THIS 100%. If I'm going to need someone to secure lines I give people tasks before I enter my marina. Other than that I ask everyone to just be seated and let us dock. People have a tendency to ask to help and it's easier if they stay out of your way.
 
ROBOPTI said:
Ya know ... There is something to what you say .. and I have been thinking about just that. At our Marina - by the way its positioned - Stern to the back would be MUCH more scenic. And my marina isn't that social. I may have to try that this weekend
Click to expand...

When we had our last hydraulic leak and couldn't use our boat (last August), we stayed at our marina for 4 days and because our stern faces West, we had a lovely view of the sunset at night and got to meet a lot of people who were walking by our dock. We're moored at Fisherman's Terminal which is mostly commercial boats so I'm sure we looked a little crazy having a "stay-cation" in our home marina but we really had a lovely time and made the best of our non-trip.

Sandy
 
rondds said:
Besides crew on swim platform (very good point), I'd suggest you have all your guests take a seat and do nothing unless you instruct them to, esp if they're not "boat people." Guest will always offer to help, and the last thing you need to be worried about is inexperienced "helping hands." If you do need them to do anything, be very specific with your instructions. Whatever your normal crew does (wife, kids, etc.) have them stick to their tasks when guests are on board. Stick to your system. (Jimmy grabs the spring line, Alice is on the bow with the boat hook, Sally gets the stern lines cleated, etc.)

Also, turn down the stereo and don't chat with anyone. I don't know about the rest of you guys but if I'm distracted in any way, it tends to effect the outcome. Maybe I just can't walk and chew gum at the same time (?)
Click to expand...
And how. All guests get a pre-launch talk and a pre-dock talk. And they get a polite but firm "everybody stop talking, even to each other" instruction for docking (because 9 out of 10 times they're in the cockpit), and sometimes in the middle of anything else that's going on if the situation warrants. Seeing, feeling, and hearing what the boat is doing are critical. For kids, I tell them to make like we're on an airplane--sit down and remain seated until the captain says it's ok to move about the cockpit!

WDCboater said:
THIS 100%. If I'm going to need someone to secure lines I give people tasks before I enter my marina. Other than that I ask everyone to just be seated and let us dock. People have a tendency to ask to help and it's easier if they stay out of your way.
Click to expand...
SOOOO important that everyone understand expectations. Flexing a plan to accommodate a change in conditions is way better than operating in reactive mode.
 
WDCboater said:
THIS 100%. If I'm going to need someone to secure lines I give people tasks before I enter my marina. Other than that I ask everyone to just be seated and let us dock. People have a tendency to ask to help and it's easier if they stay out of your way.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. The only time we have any guests help on board is if I know they currently own a boat or were boaters for years growing up. Otherwise I agree that it causes unnecessary potential safety issues. We also turn off the stereo. Why not make the docking process as safe as possible?
 
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