Subject: Walking my R29 CB out of my slip, fairway and docking
During my 2nd day of factory training we spent time walking my R29 CB about in close quarters; to/from my slip, exiting to my slips fairway, docking in an empty Guest moorage dock. All done without using the boat's bow/stern thrusters. It was fun and something people really should practice doing.
The thing to always keep in mind is that when the bow moves one way the stern will always be moving in the opposite direction. With this in mind it becomes easy to move the boat around in close quarters by gently pulsing going forward and reversing with the rudder hard over one way or the other - also keeping in mind that when reversing there's a small amount of 'prop walking'. The R29 (rudder amidships) when reversing will cause the stern to move slightly to port.
So as you exit the slip into the fairway this back and forth with rudder hard over to port or starboard one can straighten the boat up to be parallel to the fairway and exit cleanly. This same technique can be used when docking and have the boat simply walk sideways to the dock side..... all being done without using the thrusters.
This boat maneuvering technique is a useful thing to practice doing when you find an empty space at a moorage, or even out on the waters on a calm day. It's great fun.
Note: On my R-25 Classic its stern thruster was very useful moving the stern in either direction with 'real purpose'. On my new R29 CB I find the stern thruster is not as good/responsive in moving the stern with 'real purpose'. I was told this is because the R29 CB is much heavier and the stern thruster has a much harder time moving the stern compared to the lighter R-25 Classic.
Try the 'walking' technique as it's a useful skill to have IMO. 🙂
P.S. This technique quite likely is something the R41 will do all by itself and without the use of traditional bow/stern thrusters (and maybe with use of a simple toggle-stick mechanism). :lol:
During my 2nd day of factory training we spent time walking my R29 CB about in close quarters; to/from my slip, exiting to my slips fairway, docking in an empty Guest moorage dock. All done without using the boat's bow/stern thrusters. It was fun and something people really should practice doing.
The thing to always keep in mind is that when the bow moves one way the stern will always be moving in the opposite direction. With this in mind it becomes easy to move the boat around in close quarters by gently pulsing going forward and reversing with the rudder hard over one way or the other - also keeping in mind that when reversing there's a small amount of 'prop walking'. The R29 (rudder amidships) when reversing will cause the stern to move slightly to port.
So as you exit the slip into the fairway this back and forth with rudder hard over to port or starboard one can straighten the boat up to be parallel to the fairway and exit cleanly. This same technique can be used when docking and have the boat simply walk sideways to the dock side..... all being done without using the thrusters.
This boat maneuvering technique is a useful thing to practice doing when you find an empty space at a moorage, or even out on the waters on a calm day. It's great fun.
Note: On my R-25 Classic its stern thruster was very useful moving the stern in either direction with 'real purpose'. On my new R29 CB I find the stern thruster is not as good/responsive in moving the stern with 'real purpose'. I was told this is because the R29 CB is much heavier and the stern thruster has a much harder time moving the stern compared to the lighter R-25 Classic.
Try the 'walking' technique as it's a useful skill to have IMO. 🙂
P.S. This technique quite likely is something the R41 will do all by itself and without the use of traditional bow/stern thrusters (and maybe with use of a simple toggle-stick mechanism). :lol: