[C320-list] Bow Thruster

[Bill Culbertson]

Sorry for confusion by sloppy wording.  The slips at TBM are all doubles in that there are two boats per pier separated by a stand-alone pylon.  Assuming bow-in, one boat of the pair has a port tie to the pier with the pylon on the starboard aft quarter (me).  The boat to starboard of that 1st boat has the pylon on its port aft quarter and the pier to starboard.  The 12 ft wide refers to 12 ft of water between the pier and the pylon.  Our piers are fixed height concrete and the pylon is rusted iron.  I envied the Marina Del Rey slips which were floating, single docks shaped like home plate (well the ground around home-plate actually) nestling our babies in a crib of blankies.
   
  My port tie means that prop-walk brings me toward the pier when I reverse to stop momentum and that's good.  I had a senior moment re: my port tie thinking the the prop-walk hurt rather than helped but I was thinking of our gas dock (where the prop-walk always pulls me away from the dock so I'm gentle with reverse).  The port turn just means that the turn is wider and less flexible than if it were a starboard turn.  It's more of a hassle when backing out because I need to turn to port to leave down the fairway and the prop-walk when backing is trying to turn the bow to starboard.
   
   -bill

Pat Moriarty <patm at psiurethanes.com> wrote:
  I don't follow you if you have a port turn that is ok but if your 
slip is12 ft wide why is it a port tie? I have a starboard turn and a 
port prop walk so I have a little problems with cross winds half the 
year and the other half is ok. We have the same basic layout of 
marinas but not sure I even have 50 foot. Will agree that when I got 
to move into a 14 ft slip it took the stress way down with the 30MPH 
cross wind.

Pat #130

At 01:44 PM 7/12/2006, you wrote:
>Mark,
> Hello from a fellow Lake Erie 320 owner. We have Harmony at 
> Toledo Beach Marina on the Michigan shore not far from Bolles Harbor.
>
> Don't know if you've been there or what you consider barely 
> enough room but Pelee Row of TBM does not have gobs of room 
> either. Our slip is just under 14 ft wide for a just under 12 ft 
> wide boat. The fairway leading to the slip is 50 ft wide from the 
> end of our pier to the end of the pier of the slip directly across 
> the fairway from us. It sure doesn't look or feel like 9 ft in 
> front of me and 9 ft behind me when I've made the final turn to be 
> pointed into the slip. Probably at least partly because most 
> everyone sticks out a foot or two beyond their pier. And, of 
> course, we have a port turn into a port-tie slip just to make it challenging.
>
> It can be a nail-biter in any kind of breeze (especially 
> cross-breeze or tail wind) but you get better with practice. So 
> you'll want to practice, practice, practice. Take a day when you 
> don't have family or guests and just do it over and over. There is 
> no substitute for developing a feel for how the boat responds to 
> your actions and conditions. The more you do it the easier it 
> gets. Not only practice entering/leaving the slip but also turning 
> the boat 360d in its own length, how long does she take to stop, 
> how much does she continue to turn after you've "completed" a 90d 
> turn, etc. Are you familiar with the maneuver of wheel hard to 
> starboard and alternating fwd and rev to spin the boat with no 
> forward or reverse progress? That's a great one for retrying a 
> botched slip entry before you hit anything.
>
> Avoid the mistake of dreading it so much that you don't go out 
> when you should and won't go out singlehanded. If you only leave 
> the dock when there is no wind to make the return easy, then the 
> sailing won't be much fun.
>
> -bill
> Harmony #859
>
> Mtimney at aol.com wrote:
> We recently moved our 320 to a new location on Catawba Island, Ohio. Our
>slip is located in a very narrow channel, where there is barely 
>enough room to
>make the turn in fair conditions. Has anyone investigated or installed a bow
>thruster in their 320? If so, which manufacturer/model, and what has your
>experience been with the unit?
>
>FYI, I couldn't locate any past threads on this subject in the archives.
>
>Mark Timney
>Second Wind #349
>
>
>
>
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