New 280BR with twin B1s. Can't get the hang of it!!

C

chrishick

Member
May 20, 2011
76
Sarasota, FL
Boat Info
2000 280 BR
Engines
Twin 5.7L Carbs w/B1 drives
Hi all,

I thought I was getting pretty damn good at boat handling. Wrong. I started boating in 2007 with a 185 sport, moved up to a 24' Crownline deck boat, then an 2006 260 dancer and now a 2000 280 BR. I was probably considered a menace with the 185 sport, but I practiced and got better. I was very proud of my abilities by the time we bought the 260 dancer. The BIII is soooo responsive in low speed maneuvering and I got to be quite the captain. I could turn that thing in it's own length in tight canals and had gotten complements from strangers from time to time when docking at restaurants and such. The captain was happy......

With the new boat and the twin BIs I just can't seem to get the hang of it. I've had it for about 2 months now, so I'm still getting used to it, but I'm beginning to wonder if I will ever be as good as I was with the BIII. When approaching a dock at low speed I could throw the BIII in reverse and stop on a dime, where the BIs I just keep on going. They don't seem to grip the water as well. I think part of the problem is with the single control I could put it in reverse and give it a "little" throttle at the same time to slow my forward progress. The new boat has the dual controls (don't know what they're called, zero effort maybe? Has 2 handles for shift and 2 for throttles) so it's very hard for me to shift to reverse, then change controls for a little throttle, then change back to shift into neutral.

The boat doesn't seem to back and turn as well either. With the BIII I could crank the wheel over, shift into reverse and pull the stern into the dock. With the BI's it doesn't seem to be nearly as responsive. I'm sure some of this is just the differences between the BIII and BI prop designs.

My other problem is I have had a few times that I have grabbed the wrong controls. Trying to shift from neutral to forward I have grabbed the throttles instead and gunned the motors by mistake. My fear is that when on a plane and wanting to back of the throttles I will grab the shifters by mistake and shift to neutral at WOT:wow: Hasn't happened yet, but I worry about it.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm still doing pretty good. Better than most of the weekend yahoos you see out on the water. But my confidence is just not at the same level that it was before and I'm not sure I'm getting any better even though we've had the boat out 8-10 times since we bought it. Maybe I just need to give it more time.

Any advise from you seasoned twin engine boaters? Am I just being too hard on myself? Any suggestions for keeping my hand on the right controls at the right time?

Thanks for listening:smt001
 
Yeah, you're being a little hard on yourself. The 280 is a big heavy boat with a smaller relative bite from the props and that will take some getting used to. Overall though, she's a great handling boat. I love the Morse levers. Hopefully you'll come to appreciate them too. I keep my right hand on the shifters as soon as I'm in close-quarters, so I don't worry about mistaking the throttle for shift. I'm more likely to over-throttle on a single-lever, but I think the more you use them, the more natural it will become. I've never grabbed the shifters under way, but my Alpha's would resist a shift under load anyway. I'm not sure about the Bravos.

I rarely throttle up in close-quarters. In absence of high winds or current, you should be ok by just giving her extra time to react. The good thing about a bigger, heavier boat is that she's less susceptible to getting pushed around in the first place.

The 280 WILL pivot too. Most of the time I treat her as a single, but there are times that the twins come in handy.
 
I have a single Bravo I on my boat and you are correct, there is HUGE difference in handling compared to the BIII's I've owned. Do you have 3 or 4 blade props? My boat came with a 3 blade, 23P prop but also had a spare 4 blade, 22P prop....I am using the 4 blade and the extra blade provides more bite and gives me much better control.
 
Tonka Boater said:
I have a single Bravo I on my boat and you are correct, there is HUGE difference in handling compared to the BIII's I've owned. Do you have 3 or 4 blade props? My boat came with a 3 blade, 23P prop but also had a spare 4 blade, 22P prop....I am using the 4 blade and the extra blade provides more bite and gives me much better control.
Click to expand...
They are 3 blade, I think 21p. I was kind of thinking with 2-BIs might equal 1-BIII, the two props would make up the difference but that doesn't seem to be the case.
 
I've had similar issues with my 280 b1s. What I found that works best is after spinning and pivoting just treat her as a single drive. Put the port motor in neutral and do everything with the stbd motor. Then you are only dealing with 1 shifter and then only 1 throttle if you needed.
 
Yeah, I drive it just like a single. I've tried one in forward and one in reverse for pivoting, but it seems to work just as well to use both for thrust vectoring. I use both throttles or both shifters because it's just as easy (probably easier) to grab both throttles at the same time than try to use only one.
 
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