Boat docking,,,,

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NewbieFromNJ

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Been watching videos of boat docking. This captain appears comfortable with his method but what do you think?

 
Interesting. All of the vessels are bow in - I suspect because they do not have a narrow fairway and can back out at their leisure.
 
Been watching videos of boat docking. This captain appears comfortable with his method but what do you think?

:flowers:forgive my views, but the guy would've advocated not to make this educational video, as he seems to practice only for yourself.:facepalm:

Practice makes perfect, but why all the need today to share on social network...
 
Interesting. All of the vessels are bow in - I suspect because they do not have a narrow fairway and can back out at their leisure.

brings the pier model is really a risk to swiming platform, I think them he drives the bow first?
 
When traveling with the current in that situation, your water speed has to be slower, for a safe ground speed, which produces the effect that you see. Going against the current allows a faster water speed with the same ground speed with less tidal current effect pushing the stern over. The more you practice, the better you get at it.

Ted
 
Practice makes perfect, but why all the need today to share on social network...


At the end of his video he was essentially pleading ignorance and asking for any advice viewers may have.


Interesting. All of the vessels are bow in - I suspect because they do not have a narrow fairway and can back out at their leisure.


That is certainly one possibility. It may also be that because the current and prevailing wind that bow-in is easier than stern-in. Also the front of the slips have a V in the slip. Stern-in would make the effective length of the slip shorter.
 
He needs to learn to transition from forward momentum to sideways momentum as he parallel parks to bring the stern in.

If his bow in technique works for him fine. But I'd be more incline to come in against the tide and current using a fender or adding protection to the piling.

But he's going slow and using common sense which is great.
 
I love watching other people dock.



I do as well. Whether they do it poorly or well, I always learn something.

This video did give me an idea. I want to get drone for video and photos (just have to convince my wife). I'd like to shoot a video of me arriving and leaving my slip for my own education and critique by the TF community. That perspective from above could be helpful.
 
I do as well. Whether they do it poorly or well, I always learn something.

This video did give me an idea. I want to get drone for video and photos (just have to convince my wife). I'd like to shoot a video of me arriving and leaving my slip for my own education and critique by the TF community. That perspective from above could be helpful.

Just be aware that battery life on today's drones are very limited - the DJI Phantom batteries last around 17 minutes. So before that it auto returns to the starting point - not good over water. You would have to have someone on shore operate it for you.
 
He needs to learn to transition from forward momentum to sideways momentum as he parallel parks to bring the stern in.

If his bow in technique works for him fine. But I'd be more incline to come in against the tide and current using a fender or adding protection to the piling.

But he's going slow and using common sense which is great.
:thumb:

Plus...a shallower angle with no wind or tide may help.

Into the slip....there's no way he can do that with more than about a half knot or more of current and definitely not any current with 15-20 knots of wind.

Half knot of current and 5 knots of wind with higher puff might be prefect for that boat as the current and wind may help turn it perpendicular, but as much as he described would be a disaster in my experience.


At least there are finger piers on both sides....
 
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I realize that a canoe is extremely small compared to a trawler. But I have a question?

Does the technique of a "ferry glide" work with a large boat?
 

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Wow....only time I have had to do something like that in a powerboat was towing a barge against tidal flow in the middle of a noreaster.
The throttle was on the pins and if I didn't find eddies and slower current from side to side...I was getting drug backwards out the inlet into the stormy sea....not an option so trying this and praying was the only things working.
 
Just be aware that battery life on today's drones are very limited - the DJI Phantom batteries last around 17 minutes. So before that it auto returns to the starting point - not good over water. You would have to have someone on shore operate it for you.



Yup. I have the logistics figured out, I just have to convince my wife that a drone is not evil incarnate.

FWIW, my goal is a DJI Mavic Pro
 
I call fake! That can't be a dock at the Jersey shore.

Where is the Ferris wheel? Roller Coaster? Tilt-a-Whirl? Snookie and 'the situation'?

Where can I get a sausage sandwich or a pizza? Or a drink!

Are those empty parking spaces in the back? Oh yeah, now I know it's fake.
 
Pretty sure he's in SoCal.

Mentions Los Cerritos channel which is off Alamitos Bay near Long Beach.

New Jersey has Palm trees?
 
The OP is from Monroe TWP. NJ. He has a video made in Calf. from U-Tube. That is my take. That slip is designed for Bow entry.


John
 
Interesting. All of the vessels are bow in - I suspect because they do not have a narrow fairway and can back out at their leisure.

To maybe help answer your question about bow in. Look at the shape of the slip, not a true rectangle the inner corners are angled off with extra dock area and backing in with a broad stern might make a 36 ft. dock closer to a 32 footer also more risk of dinging the stern. It might not matter with a narrow boat but that slip is not looking all that wide.
 
Looks good to me..he got it into the slip twice and the boat doesn't seem to require any repairs.

Everyone will do it a little differently.
 
Many bulkhead slips are too shallow to back in...some places post bow in only.

Docking WITH the wind AND tide is a recipe for disaster....bumping things will occur at 2 -3 times the speed easily. Damage is much more likely.

Docking in benign conditions...heck...no big deal either way.
 
Seems to me he comes at too sharp or too shallow an angle for the particular circumstances. I don't have the benefit of sound, but it also seems he approaches too fast, and the boat seems to behave as having twin engines.
 
I realize that a canoe is extremely small compared to a trawler. But I have a question?

Does the technique of a "ferry glide" work with a large boat?

We've done ferry glides in sea kayaks across channels when adverse wind and/or current was trying to push us off course.

All of us have sort of ferry glided our trawlers though...sometimes when moving down a marinas fairway you'll find the rudder has to be put to one side or the other and the boat ends up crabbing at an angle straight down the middle. Pretty slam dunk indication of current.
 
We've done ferry glides in sea kayaks across channels when adverse wind and/or current was trying to push us off course.



All of us have sort of ferry glided our trawlers though...sometimes when moving down a marinas fairway you'll find the rudder has to be put to one side or the other and the boat ends up crabbing at an angle straight down the middle. Pretty slam dunk indication of current.


Never heard of a ferry glide, but I understand crabbing. Works fine except if your fairway is as narrow as mine is.

Seems to me he comes at too sharp or too shallow an angle for the particular circumstances. I don't have the benefit of sound, but it also seems he approaches too fast, and the boat seems to behave as having twin engines.


That was my thought as well Mark as I watched the video.
 
... it also seems he approaches too fast, and the boat seems to behave as having twin engines.
Less sure about twins, but the slip approach seem fast. Though provided fwd momentum is controlled, once in, the worst that can happen is bouncing off the padded fingers either side.
 
Leaving my home berth. Use of the bow thruster here was not needed except to exercise it. (Click on photo.)

 
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Less sure about twins, but the slip approach seem fast. Though provided fwd momentum is controlled, once in, the worst that can happen is bouncing off the padded fingers either side.

Bouncing off or sliding on the white-rubber "padding" leaves white streaks on my hull, requiring periodic application of acetone to remove.:banghead:
 
Bouncing off or sliding on the white-rubber "padding" leaves white streaks on my hull, requiring periodic application of acetone to remove.:banghead:
Something to be said for white hulls.
 
Greetings, I’m killing time at a hotel in Alabama, work is done, so here goes...

I started posting on youtube because there were so few CHB trawler videos online and it’s a nice distraction. My son and I have burned hours watching boat launch videos, I knew a docking video would get attention.

The locals on the dock have a limited perspective. Power friends all have twins + thruster and just don't understand how or why a single with no thruster. My sailor friends offer excellent advise but their boats actually react to rudder input.

1. Slip is 30’ There is room to back in. Slip is about 18” (total) wider than the boat. I have yet to master moving astern along a specific line, with "back and fill."

2. Concrete piling and narrow finger = caprail and handrail make contact before fender to finger.

3. Single engine

4. The marina is in the middle of a multiyear dock replacement. The only slips available where along the channel, which is the least desirable spot due to boat traffic and current. It appears to be the basin with the highest ratio of liveaboard and borderline derelict vessels. I’ve grown to love it out back, easy parking and the liveaboards watch and report on everything.

5. Gopro wide angle lens makes speed appear much faster than actual. My approaches are max 3 down to 1.5 knots at final. Any less and the rudder has no effect. Any less than 1.5 and the current drags me away and rotates the stern too far out of alignment.

6. Based on advice... I now turn in later and use the momentum to square up the stern. When I time the turn in at the exact moment, I drift in without touching the fingers. But I have to be exact with the turn in otherwise the current pulls the stern toward the concrete piling... see #2.

7. Alamitos Bay, Long Beach CA.

8. No wind speed gauge, I’m not a sailor, estimating speed on ignorance and local forecasts.
 
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