Backing into a slip - tips, tricks, recommendations?

[carstenb]

bowthrusters are good. but if the wind is blowing they are worthless

[boatman61]

Bow Thrusters... WOFT... and money.. learn how your boat works/handles instead of relying on a zimmer...

[GrowleyMonster]

A bow thruster is a tool, and can be a nice thing witnin its limitations and in the hands of a practiced and knowledgeable operator. But like most tools it aint free. I cant think of any situation I have ever seen where a retrofit bowthruster would have seemed sensible. As original equipment, sure.

FWIW i have docked many 70 to 90 foot single screw trawlers in tight spots and none had a bow thruster. There are ways. Im not a nautical genius, either, and i learned. Most anyone else can, too. By comparison a sailboat with an auxillary is a piece of cake to dock. Just learn how, learn the boat, and do it with crew while you are learning, take it easy and follow all the advice in this thread and it will soon be no harder than parallel parking a car.

[rtbates]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I go do Figure of Eights in astern, then half a hour of touching a mooring ball from every direction, bow and stern.

Then docking is much easier

My boat does much the same, only it's when I'm trying to back in a straight line. Being a modified full keel with a cut away forefoot, the bow blows down wind the second it gets presented to any side wind. Keeping it in line with the stern is futile. In the 23 years that I've owned my Cape Dory I've been really surprised by how little backing I can get away with and still get where I need to go. The few times that I needed to back into our slip for transom work I really hated the lack of any privacy. Any passer by can view our entire cabin below unless the drop boards are in place. I used lines to spin my boat around after going in bow first.

To the OP, no help from me other than use lines to spin her around after going in bow first.