Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 11-29-2016, 05:16 AM   #21
Moderator Emeritus
 
Bay Pelican's Avatar
 
City: Chicago, IL
Vessel Name: Bay Pelican
Vessel Model: Krogen 42
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,993
Basically I avoid docking unless there are dock hands and/or friends on the finger pier to catch the lines. With the windage that the typical trawler has you can loose control once you slow down.
__________________
Marty
Bay Pelican is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 06:10 AM   #22
Guru
 
angus99's Avatar
 
City: Signal Mtn., TN
Vessel Name: Stella Maris
Vessel Model: Defever 44
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 2,742
Two words . . . and the first one is "cluster.'

Dave, this should make you feel better. (I didn't even need a dock for this comedy of errors.)

On our first trip, delivering our Defever from Palm Coast to the Chesapeake, I fell victim to the dreaded schedule. I drove a rental to town, picked my son up at the airport at 9:30 pm and planned to be underway as early as possible the next day--on a boat neither of us had run before nor fully understood.

After several delays--and with making it to the mooring fields at Fernandina topmost in my mind--we left Palm Coast a couple hours later than planned. We were enjoying the lovely Florida views for at least a half hour when it dawned us that we'd turned south into the ditch instead of north. Chalk up another hour.

We arrived at Fernandina in the dark and tried to pick up a pennant from one of the balls. I grabbed one by hand and thought I could hold the boat until it steadied in place against the heavy current--before walking it to the bow. (I'd done this with our 7,200-lb. sailboat; how much harder could it be for a 44,000-lb trawler?) In the dark, I hadn't noticed the pennant was covered with tiny mollusks. The current ripped it out of my grip and the barnacles, or whatever, made hash out of my hand.

With all the blood and cursing, my son--on the helm--didn't notice that we'd drifted over the pennant and were now fouled and firmly stuck on it. After flirting with the idea of diving on it -- in the dark, in the strong current and with a bloody hand (what could go wrong with that?)--I decided we'd stay put. I woke up a couple guys on an adjacent sailboat who dinghied our anchor up-current for some additional piece of mind. (They couldn't have been more helpful.)

The next day, a diver freed the prop in about two minutes and reported no visible damage. We stayed put another day and night and just reviewed every system on the boat. We also practiced picking up a pennant the right way until we could do it in the dark if we had to.

Of the many lessons I learned on this fiasco, number one for me was that being in a hurry just compounds the likelihood of mistakes. Two was: things can go wrong quickly. And three was: never tell my wife about my stoopid boating tricks.
Attached Thumbnails
IMG_0304.jpg  
angus99 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 06:30 AM   #23
Guru
 
cardude01's Avatar
 
City: Victoria TX
Vessel Name: Bijou
Vessel Model: 2008 Island Packet PY/SP
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 5,290
Embarrassing docking

On boats, s@$t happens, all the time.

I've done so many stupid things on our boat I don't really get embarrassed any more.
cardude01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 06:53 AM   #24
Guru
 
menzies's Avatar
 
City: Jacksonville
Vessel Name: SONAS
Vessel Model: Grand Alaskan 53
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,235
What is kind off funny but sad at the same time, is the people who camp out at boat slips with their sandwiches and Thermos to watch the fun.

Beach Blvd slip here in Jax has a whole population of them!

I guess we are in NASCAR country, where everyone is just watching for the crash!
menzies is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 06:56 AM   #25
Enigma
 
RT Firefly's Avatar
 
City: Slicker?
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 16,563
Greetings,
Mr. dh. If you're really concerned about your docking performance as conveyed in post #1 you probably worry about matching sox as well. Life's too short. Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things...

__________________
RTF
RT Firefly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 08:20 AM   #26
Senior Member
 
TONTOROSS's Avatar
 
City: Portland, OR
Vessel Name: Cool Water
Vessel Model: C&L Puget Trawler
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 278
Quote:
Originally Posted by RT Firefly View Post
Greetings,
Mr. dh. If you're really concerned about your docking performance as conveyed in post #1 you probably worry about matching sox as well. Life's too short. Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things...

RT is on the money! I've hurt our boat, cussed me, cussed lines, cussed current and wind. Cussed the lack of Rudder Indicator. Took bad advise. I stopped. Said the heck with it and rolled along. Much better at driving my boat now. Still have problems parking in our slip. Now I don't care who see's what. Make like a duck -- let the water slip off your back.
TONTOROSS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 08:24 AM   #27
Senior Member
 
garrobito's Avatar
 
City: Oakland
Vessel Name: Arcangel
Vessel Model: Buewater 40
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 149
..been there more than one time.. Worst was tried to go out from pier 39 (very touristic spot so in front of 2000 people watching you) and:
a) forget disconnect ac line from shore post
b) no release a line attached firmly at a cleat
c) forget wife on port (non intentional... that time..)
d) abandon unwelcome crew/friends/visit on shore..
..very funny when you recall... 10 years later...
garrobito is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 08:39 AM   #28
Guru
 
City: Galveston, Texas
Vessel Model: 24" El Pescador
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 744
You can still use the boat again......Right? Right??
__________________
Ken Diestler
Galveston, Tx
ktdtx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 10:30 AM   #29
Guru
 
Alaskan Sea-Duction's Avatar
 
City: Inside Passage Summer/Columbia River Winter
Vessel Name: Alaskan Sea-Duction
Vessel Model: 1988 M/Y Camargue YachtFisher
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 8,050
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crusty Chief View Post
Be thankful you only damaged your pride, could have got ugly. Might have even pulled a Crusty Stunt!

Like, forgot to turn on the thrusters, or didn't disconnect the fresh water hose and rip the hose fitting out of the boat or..........you get the idea.

Have a cocktail when you get back and chalk up another learning experiance.

Cheers!
Really? Funny you never mentioned those to me.
Alaskan Sea-Duction is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 10:33 AM   #30
Senior Member
 
Retriever's Avatar
 
City: Seattle, WA
Vessel Name: Akeeva
Vessel Model: Nordhavn 50
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 449
No property damage...no big deal! We all screw up from time to time.

A few months ago I took my mom over to Bainbridge Island for the night. When we arrived back at Elliott Bay Marina the next day, I pulled into the slip and put a turn on the stern line, then walked forward to secure the bow line. It was a bit of a reach to the line and I asked my mom, still on the boat, to use the bow thruster to move the boat towards the dock. Instead, she shoved the throttle forward! The stern line came off the cleat and the boat surged forward. The rubrail hit a piling and the boat stopped...thankfully, the only damage was a few bent screws securing the rubrail.

The lesson? Never ask a guest to do something unless you've given them explicit instructions. Never assume, even if they've spent a lot of time on the boat, that they know what to do.
Retriever is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 10:38 AM   #31
Guru
 
Alaskan Sea-Duction's Avatar
 
City: Inside Passage Summer/Columbia River Winter
Vessel Name: Alaskan Sea-Duction
Vessel Model: 1988 M/Y Camargue YachtFisher
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 8,050
Westview (Powell River) B.C. Wind blowing from the south, right up the entrance to the harbor. High tide. I should have kept going.


After getting around the "pole" there was dock space on the down wind side of the dock. This harbor is tight. As I was turning the bow around into the wind a hugh gust came through blowing us off the dock and I hit my first boat! Lucky for me it was an aluminum, so ASD has the battle damage. Thanks to the guys that jumped out and grabbed a bow line. The next day at low tide I became aware just how close the stern was to the break wall and grinding my props.
Alaskan Sea-Duction is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 10:40 AM   #32
Guru
 
menzies's Avatar
 
City: Jacksonville
Vessel Name: SONAS
Vessel Model: Grand Alaskan 53
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,235
Quote:
Originally Posted by Retriever View Post
No property damage...no big deal! We all screw up from time to time.

A few months ago I took my mom over to Bainbridge Island for the night. When we arrived back at Elliott Bay Marina the next day, I pulled into the slip and put a turn on the stern line, then walked forward to secure the bow line. It was a bit of a reach to the line and I asked my mom, still on the boat, to use the bow thruster to move the boat towards the dock. Instead, she shoved the throttle forward! The stern line came off the cleat and the boat surged forward. The rubrail hit a piling and the boat stopped...thankfully, the only damage was a few bent screws securing the rubrail.

The lesson? Never ask a guest to do something unless you've given them explicit instructions. Never assume, even if they've spent a lot of time on the boat, that they know what to do.
Hopefully you were bow in?
menzies is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 11:38 AM   #33
Senior Member
 
Retriever's Avatar
 
City: Seattle, WA
Vessel Name: Akeeva
Vessel Model: Nordhavn 50
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 449
Quote:
Originally Posted by menzies View Post
Hopefully you were bow in?
Yep, and the boat only had 5 or 10 feet to gain momentum.
Retriever is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 11:50 AM   #34
Guru
 
dhays's Avatar
 
City: Gig Harbor
Vessel Name: Kinship
Vessel Model: North Pacific 43
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 9,046
Quote:
Originally Posted by RT Firefly View Post
Greetings,
Mr. dh. If you're really concerned about your docking performance as conveyed in post #1 you probably worry about matching sox as well. Life's too short. Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things...
Not overly concerned but never hurts to share a mea culpa. As others have pointed out, time on the water will always provide opportunities to practice humility.
__________________
Regards,

Dave
SPOT page
dhays is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 11:52 AM   #35
Guru
 
Lou_tribal's Avatar
 
City: Quebec
Vessel Name: Bleuvet
Vessel Model: Custom Built
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 4,375
Quote:
Originally Posted by TONTOROSS View Post
... Still have problems parking in our slip. Now I don't care who see's what...
Especially when most of people who may have seen you would not be able to park it better then you have.
As a newbie and as my first boating year I was always worrying about parking it nicely knowing people are looking etc... until the day I saw one of the more experienced boater hit another boat in the bow while trying to turn around to get back in a slip... since then I am thinking that I am not better but neither not worse than anybody else. We all do silly things or mistake one day or another, just be happy there was no damage and enjoy.
Lou_tribal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 12:02 PM   #36
Guru
 
porman's Avatar
 
City: Duvall, Wa. USA
Vessel Name: Beach Music II
Vessel Model: 2003 Mainship 430 Trawler
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 1,040
Quote:
Originally Posted by menzies View Post
What is kind off funny but sad at the same time, is the people who camp out at boat slips with their sandwiches and Thermos to watch the fun.

Beach Blvd slip here in Jax has a whole population of them!

I guess we are in NASCAR country, where everyone is just watching for the crash!
Our marina is located right next to a launch ramp. Our boat slip has a perfect view of the ramp. I have to admit that I sometimes watch the antics that go on. I've seen boats slide right off trailers onto the ground, boats launched still attached to the trailer, boats pulled out of the water with the engine still running, boats launched with no lines attached and no one on board. I did miss the truck that went under water when the owner forgot to put it in park. My friends told me about that one.
porman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 12:13 PM   #37
Guru
 
Crusty Chief's Avatar
 
City: Pahrump, NV
Vessel Name: Pairadice
Vessel Model: Sold Selene 47
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 1,967
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alaskan Sea-Duction View Post
Really? Funny you never mentioned those to me.
That's why I refer to them as Crusty Stunts! Kinda like the second wife, something's are better left alone.
__________________
John & Tracey
Boatless
https://mvpairadice.blogspot.com/
Crusty Chief is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 01:08 PM   #38
Guru
 
Alaskan Sea-Duction's Avatar
 
City: Inside Passage Summer/Columbia River Winter
Vessel Name: Alaskan Sea-Duction
Vessel Model: 1988 M/Y Camargue YachtFisher
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 8,050
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crusty Chief View Post
That's why I refer to them as Crusty Stunts! Kinda like the second wife, something's are better left alone.
Oh I see! They must have been really really bad....
Alaskan Sea-Duction is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 01:23 PM   #39
Senior Member
 
City: Seattle
Vessel Name: Poach
Vessel Model: Sabreline Trawler
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 234
I had mine going into Point Hudson (Port Townsend) early one morning--schedule driven of course. At the time I was running a 50' flushdeck (name withheld on request) with twin GMs. The winds were south blowing 20+ and I was going to my assigned spot on C dock, a finger pier running north/south. No big, I intended to go in stern first so that I was starboard side-to. I commenced my turn and got broadside to the wind, and that's when the fun began. Over the next eternity, many magic words were uttered, boat hooks alternately fended off or pulled on, lines were tossed and released, engines alternatively screaming in vain efforts to maintain control. The gods were watching (and undoubtedly rolling in laughter) I hit nothing, damaged nothing, scared every boat owner in the marina and eventually got it temporarily side-tied to another moored vessel. Single malt came in right handy as soon as we were secured. Of course, the wind laid down as predicted about 2 hours later and I was able to move the 100 feet over to the finger pier.

I have one other marina disaster to self-report, unrelated to docking. I was pumping out the holding tank across from the dock from the fueling station about 10' away. I did the uh-oh while pulling the hose out of the deck fitting, and showered the boater across the dock. Haven't been back there since.
Poach is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-29-2016, 01:58 PM   #40
Guru
 
BandB's Avatar
 
City: Fort Lauderdale. Florida, USA
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 21,449
Quote:
Originally Posted by porman View Post
Our marina is located right next to a launch ramp. Our boat slip has a perfect view of the ramp. I have to admit that I sometimes watch the antics that go on. I've seen boats slide right off trailers onto the ground, boats launched still attached to the trailer, boats pulled out of the water with the engine still running, boats launched with no lines attached and no one on board. I did miss the truck that went under water when the owner forgot to put it in park. My friends told me about that one.
I think I've witnessed most every possible issue but launching ramps still win by far with the most. Failure to put the drain plugs back in smaller boats is the most common. Vehicles in the water is not uncommon. Then there's the launch the boat off the trailer very nicely, just no one is holding a line so boat floats off on it's own. Quite a few cars off the side of the ramp and stuck in the mud too. Then back onto the trailers, a lot who drive on quickly and with no issues 99% of the time but off to the side and flip over or on past the winch stand and into the back of the vehicle. The only one I've personally been a part of there was launching without drain plug. In smaller fishing boats was no problem, just take off and plane them and the water goes out, then stick the plug in from the inside.

Docking a single engine pontoon boat has to be the most difficult. With enough wind, there's just no way to do it really well.

No one injured, it's not too bad. Boat not injured it's not even an accident. On smaller boats, I always depended on being able to put them into reverse to stop the forward progress. A bit of a hard landing when one choked off in the process. On jets, maintaining plenty of power and then reversing hard is essential.

I've had many times of making several runs to the dock as I'm never embarrassed to try again. And I've had a couple of times I asked for a different dock or slip because I knew if I got in without trouble, I'd just have to deal with getting out.
BandB is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Trawler Port Captains
Port Captains are TF volunteers who can serve as local guides or assist with local arrangements and information. Search below to locate Port Captains near your destination. To learn more about this program read here: TF Port Captain Program





All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:00 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2006 - 2012