porman
Guru
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2014
- Messages
- 1,060
- Location
- Seattle, Wa
- Vessel Name
- Beach Music II
- Vessel Make
- 2003 Mainship 430 Trawler
Sorry, the midship line suggestion was for normal single handed docking, not windy conditions.
Dave... you leave boat in gear, walking completely away from the controls, while a single dock line is holding the boat's position?? OMG my friend; please be very careful. What could happen, due to several different types of unexpected occurrences, is scary to say the least!
I find myself anticipating the wind and taking an approach that initially looks like I'll be colliding with my dock, only to have the wind nudge me over just enough to enter the slip perfectly. It's tricky and sometime I get it wrong but that's what fenders are for.
Now that I've had the boat for a few years, I've also gone from making "passive" approaches to more aggressive approaches. By doing so you have more response and control. Just know your stopping distance. Also I find the extra revs needed to stop the boat also give me more prop walk which also does a better job of pulling in the stern. A few times I've had people on the dock go from a look of concern to, "oh, you obviously know what you're doing." It comes with experience, I guess.
There's really only one good option to make docking it easier in wind and that is bow thrusters. I know all those who will say they've docked single engine boats for 100 years and never needed them, but there are conditions in which the ability to dock is very poor on a boat like yours.
Otherwise it takes the application of more power than you're probably comfortable in applying in that situation. You have to come in hard and tie quick to overcome the wind. That is contrary to the advice most will give which is designed to prevent damage as it increases the risk of damage if you're too hard or lose power while trying to go for forward to reverse or any number of other things.
Dave... you leave boat in gear, walking completely away from the controls, while a single dock line is holding the boat's position?? OMG my friend; please be very careful. What could happen, due to several different types of unexpected occurrences, is scary to say the least!
Art, Art, relax my friend, cardiac arrest in play! Quite the normal set up and one I would have were there a midship cleat available, however, too short a boat for the application in my case, on larger boats it is quite common to have folks utilize a midship spring line and then hold in gear to set the remaining lines. Most commercial boats have a permanent midship line expressly for the need.
In our case, I utilize the grapple hook from the bridge to the dock bullrails at the mid ship point tying off the grapple hook to a bridge point (Helm chair) remaining in gear as required till I secure a proper stern line. There is no stringent amount of power, just the dead idle setting.
Now with twins such as you have, and maybe a thruster, this whole procedure takes a different hue.
Al-Ketchikan
Not seeing how you get a line over a cleat from the helm single handed while the wind is pushing you away from the dock?
Coming in to dock against the wind is probably the most difficult docking/undocking situation there is.
Solved that problem (for my wife) with a product called the docking stick. Inexpensive for a pair on Amazon. Her lassoing skills are now flawless (and less stressful...)
https://www.amazon.com/Docking-Stic...pID=51Xjae9eXeL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
Here is the Aussie product at: WRINO boat hook mooring system for easy boat docking from onboard
Been around a while, available locally at Whitworths.
Here is the Aussie product at: WRINO boat hook mooring system for easy boat docking from onboard
Been around a while, available locally at Whitworths.
Pretty lucky with our flying bridge controlled, easy to handle, twin screw, 12'6" beam boat... and... the gated, covered, 16' wide, dual finger-dock slip we berth in. Due to loading and other placement reasons it is to our advantage to dock bow-in and back out when leaving. Also, there is a fairly wide expanse of water to get out into [100' +/-] with the center of a full, uncluttered channel just a couple hundred feet away.
Metal posts that help support the roof are positioned perfectly for both spring line cleats on either side of our boat's gunnel. We have two short lines that wrap around each post and hook right onto the cleats - easy peazie for initial hook up with two aboard! Additional to those short springs we eventually fasten two lines off bow and two off stern to dock cleats before leaving... in wait for another weekend aboard. That's six lines fastened to dock and there are a few boats to wind side of us for wind break!
To dock her in our berth with just me aboard: The metal posts go right up past the edge of fly bridge. Super easy to bring boat to full stop next to posts, grab post with boat hook, pull boat hard against finger dock, and... tie temp line off bridge that I have ready. Then I scurry down to hook on the two short springs around the posts and hooked to gunnel spring line cleats. Another Easy Peazie docking experience.