Need tips to dock boat without working thrusters

[Mastercraft]

What are tips to steer boat without thrusters. My thrusters work fine yet someday I might not have working thrusters.
2017 R29 diesel 300hp inbd
I typically pull bow first into slip with dock on starboard.
In reverse, backend will always swing to left making the boat go in a clockwise circle.

With my 19ft inbd Mastercraft, in reverse, the backend always swings right making the boat go counterclockwise. Turn wheel to right, it will turn sharper counterclockwise. Knowing this I pull into the dock on my starboard side at a 45 deg angle, then put it in reverse to swing the back end close to the dock. It works very easy.

 

[kelpline]

Sounds like you have it figured out. In areas with strong coastal tides, I always look closely at any kelp hanging on the the float, and try to come in against the current direction.

 

[Mastercraft]

I definitely don’t have it figured out with my Ranger Tug. I have to make a very sharp 90 deg right turn into my boat slip. There is about 3 ft for wiggle room between the dock on one side and another boat on other side. It may be a little more but it doesn’t seem so.
I might not own a Ranger Tug if it did not have thrusters!!!!

 

[jmcelwee]

No offense intended, but plenty of people dock boats all the time that do not have thrusters. You have a working engine, you have a rudder, so just dock it like any 'normal' boat. Come in slow but with sufficient speed to keep steerage, turn at the right point to make that 90-degree turn into the slip, and use your prop walk (or at least know what it'll do to the boat when you put it in reverse). Since you have port-side walk, i'd consider switching to a tie up on the port side, since your stern will end up moving to port as you put it in reverse. Put out fenders on both sides. Practice. 🙂

 

[Martin610]

Like anything else practice makes perfect. Practice docking without the thrusters. Start on a calm day.

There are YouTube videos on how to dock a single screw. When backing down for example, I crank the wheel over to port, give a shot of engine thrust, and it pulls the stern to starboard. With a little practice you'll get it.

-martin610

 

[Red Raven]

We also have a very tight slip in a very tight fairway. As much as possible I try to dock every time without using the thrusters just to stay in practice. We have an R27 classic inboard. The following may not apply to the outboard model.

In addition to the excellent advice given already I’d stress to think about controlling your momentum, both forward and rotational. To make a 90 degree port turn into our to our “bow in starboard tie” with any fairway forward momentum is impossible if there is a boat in the port tie slip next to us. The tug will continue to drift/slip through the turn from the fairway momentum and will kiss the dock on the starboard side before getting fully into the slip.

The key is to completely stop all forward momentum several slips before your designated slip. Once fully stopped I start the boat rotating counterclockwise by turning hard to port and giving very short forward burst of the throttle. Immediately go back to neutral and judge the rotational and forward momentum. If done perfectly the boat will drift very slowly all the way into the slip. If there is too much forward or rotational momentum short pulses in reverse (with the wheel still hard over to port) can be used to slow the rotation and forward momentum to ease into the slip.

This takes lots of practice to know where to stop the momentum and how much thrust to give to start the rotation. I took me more than a year to get it right and I still mess it up now and then and resort to using the thrusters, especially if there is any wind or current. I recommend going to an area of empty slips with a wide fairway to try this repeatedly first.

If in the same fairway approach but into a bow in port tie it is much harder as your momentum is to starboard. In this case, I would go slightly past and come from the other direction to get the momentum to port. This will require rotating the boat 180 degrees within the fairway using the “back and fill” technique (alternating forward and reverse thrust with rudder hard over), which in a narrow fairway can be quite a challenge!

Good luck! Controlling the boat without thrusters is very worthwhile and satisfying (and necessary when the thrusters inevitably fail at the worst possible moment!)

Curt

 

[Morelords]

I've been practicing not using the thrusters this season, and I pretty much do exactly what Curt describes. Great description Curt!