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Old 05-02-2015, 09:26 PM   #66
janice142
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City: Madeira Beach, FL
Vessel Name: Seaweed
Vessel Model: Schucker mini-trawler
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,228
Quote:
Originally Posted by psneeld View Post
One problem with docking with only one method, or relying on lines to get and keep the boat alongside.....is you are setting yourself up for failure when cruising as all the tricks in the book need to be practiced regularly.
I don't know about you boys, but for me getting on the VHF and saying "I'm not very good at docking" brings out all the help one could imagine. And then if the landing is less than spectacular I'm already covered.

But if it's picture perfect I can smile and say "Thanks boys"

For the record, I'm not the best at docking and along side works great for me. Backing into a slip scares the bejeebers out of me! Of course I can bow in and then swap her around with lines. There is a distinct advantage to having a small boat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AusCan View Post
I can reach out the helm window to grab the line, but my midship cleat is about 2 meters foreword. Slipping the line on there is probably more difficult than reaching the dock cleat.
I was going to move the cleat further back but the aft end of the boat doesn't pull into the dock nearly as well.
Ditto on Seaweed when I bought her. The forward cleat was near the bow and the dinky toy pretend cleat only useful for a fender was just aft of the pilothouse doors.

One of the first things I did was add two proper sized cleats about a foot forward of the doors. Seaweed has doors on both port and starboard so docking is not too problematic. Helm is on center.

And if it were looking like an issue, I'd just anchor. That's easy.

Also, I go slow -- which is sometimes a problem (not enough forward momentum) ... It's something I need to practice at a deserted dock once this new engine install is complete.
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