Dock choice opinions

[Laskadog]

Hi all,

We just bought a 28 foot monohull with inboard engine but haven't motored in and out of the club with it yet. Our previous sailboat had an outboard, so prop walk wasn't an issue. We will be requesting a new berth next spring (the current berth is way too exposed to the wind) and want your opinions on what is the best dock for us.

Here are the facts. The boat has a port prop walk. Dominant winds are West, then North. Once we pull out of our berth, we need to head north to exit the club. The yacht club only has finger berths.

My best guess would be a berth that faces W, with the dock on the starboard side ofnthe boat. That way, prop walk will help the bow point north when backing out and the fequent N winds won't constantly push the boat against the dock.

Any other points of view?

[S/V Illusion]

Don't worry about it. You can learn to manage prop walk easily. What you can't change is the prevailing wind. If you intent to stay in a marina slip, you will want the prevailing wind across the bow which will make it more comfortable in the cockpit, particularly with a dodger.

[JPA Cate]

Generally speaking, a berth you enter upwind works out easiest. Entering it in the northerly will blow you off, but if it is double fingered, no worries. Otherwise, use lots of fenders. Coming in a little hot can help, and of course having your lines ready before you enter the marina is a good idea.

Ann

[Steve Bean]

You might like a little book, "Dockmanship," by David Owen Bell, available at Abebooks.com, under$5.00.

[billknny]

Don't forget, sometimes it is easier to back the boat out than to try swinging the bow through the wind at low speeds.

Generally, it is easiest to have a slip where you pull in with the bow into the wind. In places where the wind blows hard from the same direction all the time, an upwind slip can command a significant price premium for that reason.

If you do not know how to use lines to warp a boat around as you leave the slip, it is a good skill to learn. When I taught big boat handling, it was sometimes hard to convince the more macho guys that using lines to turn the boat wasn't some type of "cheating." For odd some reason they thought that "real sailors" didn't need such tools.

[John_Trusty]

Literally thousands of good postings, YouTube videos, and formal classes about docking - the scariest part of boating. Here's a couple of pointers for your particular question ...
1 - It doesn't matter which dock you choose, the wind will be in the wrong position and it will be scary - get over it.
2 - Practice, Practice, Practice - you can read all the posts and articles you want to get the theory, but nothing is a substitute for having docked your boat a few hundred times.
3 - If it's your own permanent dock, make the inevitable crashes while you practice less damaging. I figured out where I was likely to hit, or what was the hardest, and padded the hell out of that spot. In my situation, I have a seawall in front of me in a dock that is barely long enough. I have nightmares about running the bow up on that steel. I rigged a V-shaped nest of line from the finger pier and center posts to catch the boat if I screwed up the engine controls or came in too hot. If I didn't have that option, I would have mounted fenders on the wall. The nice thing about owning the dock for the season is you can customize your fenders to fit your fears.

[thinwater]

Practice docking with focused practice, like school. When you get e new slip, come in 5 times in a row, focusing on what is happening and why, not getting docked. If the approach is not right, blow it off. You need to plan for a blown approach too.

Then practice up wind, down wind, and backing, each at least 5 times. You don't just need to know your home slip you need to know all slips.

Finally, consider what happens if the engine quits. Maybe someone left a line in water. Maybe it is a fender tail. Perhaps a bit of fishing gear that got lose. It will happen. In the open, shoot to windward while you still have momentum and anchor. If you are in the fairway, kill speed if you can an get to windward and grab something. Many times getting secured to docked boats is safer than trying to wrestle with a balky engine or bad situation. It's awkward and embarrassing, but often results in no damage if you grab on and stop the motion. The worse damage is when someone looses control and then tried to motor off before they have a plan. A rope to the windward side can be a smart way.

But mostly...

• make sure the engine is warm. They seldom stall after running 10 minutes.
• practice repeatedly.
• Have a good plan to bail from a bad approach. They happen to everyone, and pushing a bad approach is the best way to screw up. Rather like parallel parking when you line it up wrong.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by John_Trusty

. . .
1 - It doesn't matter which dock you choose, the wind will be in the wrong position and it will be scary - get over it. . ..

Can't quite agree with that -- most areas have prevailing winds, so not all docks are equal. I choose carefully among visitor berths when I'm cruising, if there is any choice.

The best dock will have you coming in against the prevailing wind, which blows parallel to the pontoon. If that's not an option, then you want a dock where the prevailing wind blows you on, not off -- provided there is good shelter so your boat isn't damaged by being bashed against the dock in storms. That's because springing off against the wind is reasonably straightforward (especially if you go out in astern), but getting ON to a windward dock can be annoying.

Another important question is prop kick, but that can usually be regulated by your choice of whether to go in forward or back in. You want the prop to walk the stern away from the dock when you are in astern (irrespective of whether you leave the berth in ahead or astern). For this reason, I almost always berth starboard to (my prop kicks to port). If the wind blows you onto the dock, then getting in is trivial, so I will typically enter such berths bows-first. Getting off I will use spring lines if there is much wind, and prop kick bringing the stern away from the dock is a BIG help. If there isn't much wind, I can usually get off a leeward dock without spring lines, but I have a bow thruster to kick the bow in and stern out when leaving, which is a great help. With a little boat, you can sometimes even push the boat around by main force to get her pointed in the right direction.

Lastly don't forget about current. If you have a choice of berths which are more or less affected by the current, take the one which is less affected. Marinas with strong currents are kind of hell, at least, can severely limit you in timing of your harbor maneuvers.

[Laskadog]

Thanks for the advice all. I'm not actually nervous at all about docking, I'm actually pretty good at it. I've just only done it twice with prop walk. The right technique for each situation always works for me. My question is which dock would you favour IF you had the choice. So far from what I've read, I'm guessing into the wind (that one was pretty obvious) and docking to starboard.

My concern was would I rather dock to port so that when I come in and reverse to stop, the boat hugs the dock OR dock to starboard so that when I leave the boat pulls away from the dock (helpful when single handing).

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Laskadog

My concern was would I rather dock to port so that when I come in and reverse to stop, the boat hugs the dock OR dock to starboard so that when I leave the boat pulls away from the dock (helpful when single handing).

There is some wisdom to that but there are other factors to consider, such as how long the finger piers are...if they are half length, coming in bow first can be more challenging, particularly if you're single handing.

I'd recommend that you take the boat out and do a bunch of maneuvers around a buoy (which simply provides a fixed point of reference). What does it take to stop the boat, how much does the stern kick to port up until full stop, etc. Also practice the distance in reverse before the rudder bites and gives you effective steerage.

Learn to spin your boat clockwise, alternating bursts of forward and reverse. Prop walk helps you do it in little more than your boat's length once you get good at it.

Coming in stern first can often be easier if you have a good handle on how your boat maneuvers because if you need to bail due to wind, current etc. it's often easier to do it in forward than in reverse.

Last slip I was in for any length of time was up a tight fairway, to port, with a finger pier on the far side. I would pull just past the finger pier and back in, prop walk pulling my stern into the slip and ultimate up against the finger pier. I'd toss a capture line over the first piling to port as I backed in to control the bow.

There are lots of ways to skin the cat and they all depend on the specific layout, conditions, and your ability to maneuver your boat.

[Souzag818]

Only thing I want to add is using a midship line. Single hand all the time and have learned to use that as my go to line. Step off, quick wrap around a dock cleat, then grab bow and stern lines. Lead them to mid ship also-widest part of the boat- pretty easy to do by yourself.

[BlackHeron]

Midship line is a MUST IMHO. I don't see how many boats get by without them. It makes docking much more simple. I never step off with only one line, and almost always one of them is a midship.

Depending on conditions the other line may be a stern or bow. But that midship is the primary line you want to deal with much of the time, especially if you are needing to come in hot due to wind/current to a regular pier or quay. Aim for a cleat/ring, get things stopped & secure quickly, and then deal with your secondary line depending on conditions before wind/current take the bow or stern away from you especially if blowing off-dock.

After that point you can re-position the boat to your liking, and run your bow/stern/F&R-springs however you want them.

YMMV

[SteveSpring]

I would personally rather have a berth where I was generally being blown off. It irritates me when my usual prevailing SW wind changes to an Easterly and the fenders are constantly squishing against the pontoon. I single-hand, and use a mid-ship to stern bridle line when coming in, and that gets hooked over the 1st cleat on the end of the finger pontoon. Rudder hard to port and forward gear engaged pulls the bow in to the pontoon.

When leaving, I get the spring lines off, with everything ready to go. I have the bow and stern lines ready to slip. Quickly remove the bow line and throw it up on to the foredeck (at this point I need to move quickly as the bow will start to blow off), do the same with the stern line, and give the stern a gentle shove off the pontoon and step aboard. Engage reverse to get some way on (then into neutral to avoid prop walk), some more reverse, etc.

The prevailing wind will want to blow the bow off (plus I have virtually zero steerage in reverse as it's a long keel), sso I just let it do its' thing, then use hard rudder and prop wash in forward, then reverse for prop walk to turn the boat 180 deg in its' own length as others have mentioned. Then I motor out the channel.