Congratulations on your new acquisition. I'm sure that, like us, you will find it brings a huge value to your life. We've had our boat 14 years now and still enjoy and use it as much as we did when we first got it. Major big benefit to both our lives.
When maneuvering a single engine boat, particularly in reverse, I have found that intertia is your best friend. By altering the direction of thrust and the proper use of the rudder, you can back a single-engine boat for hundreds of yards in close quarters if necessary with total success. It takes understanding how to use the intertia of the boat in combination with thrust and rudder, but it's not rocket science and once you've begun to master it, it is, as Scott said, a lot of fun.
I first learned to do this in 60' narrowboats in England which have flat bottoms, no keel, very shallow draft, and tremendous propwalk in reverse. When we chartered a single engine GB36 I applied the same principles we'd learned in the narrowboats and lo and behold, they worked exactly the same way. The boat had a bow thruster but we never thought to use it unless we were dealing with docking in strong winds.
So learn the intertia behavior of your boat and how to use it to your advantage and you will do fine without a bow thruster. Although a bow thruster can, indeed, make life a lot easier at times.
When maneuvering a single engine boat, particularly in reverse, I have found that intertia is your best friend. By altering the direction of thrust and the proper use of the rudder, you can back a single-engine boat for hundreds of yards in close quarters if necessary with total success. It takes understanding how to use the intertia of the boat in combination with thrust and rudder, but it's not rocket science and once you've begun to master it, it is, as Scott said, a lot of fun.
I first learned to do this in 60' narrowboats in England which have flat bottoms, no keel, very shallow draft, and tremendous propwalk in reverse. When we chartered a single engine GB36 I applied the same principles we'd learned in the narrowboats and lo and behold, they worked exactly the same way. The boat had a bow thruster but we never thought to use it unless we were dealing with docking in strong winds.
So learn the intertia behavior of your boat and how to use it to your advantage and you will do fine without a bow thruster. Although a bow thruster can, indeed, make life a lot easier at times.
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