backing out of a slip

[Vern/Lenore Durkee]

Hi, everybody--It's been a while since we last posted--and we lost our password...{: We love our Cape Dory 26--and with restored teak and topsides, she's a beauty. But all this does not help with a problem we have always had with this boat--and that is how to back out of a slip in a non-lubberly fashion. The boat has an 9.9hp outboard mounted aft of the rudder. She is also heavy and needs full throttle to maneuver. She will not respond otherwise.

Backing out, she consistently and almost immediately goes to port (when we need to go to starboard) and in the narrow confines of our club docks, we have had some close calls. It is embarrassing, but we also run the risk of becoming the most feared boat in the area.

We understand that this portly tendency is because of the spin of the prop. Some have suggested that if you put the boat tiller in one direction and the motor tiller opposite, this should cancel out the tendency to back either port or starboard. This does not seem to work.

The best solution is to use a mooring. but in this area having a slip is a lot more convenient. Yesterday, after we docked, we wrestled the boat around so that she is now facing out. Help! --Lenore

[sharkbait]

Practice practice practice. You are correct that the prop walk will cause a boat to not back straight out. You have to remember that the boat rudder doesn't work if there is no water flowing around it. You might try starting from as far to starboard in your slip as possible. Try applying a lot of throttle before you ever release the boat from the dock to start the water flowing. Applying throttle until you get the boat moving well then shifting to neutral and letting the boat coast out of the slip. If this fails then you should consider using a spring line on the starboard side when leaving the dock. The problem with outboards is that they are seldom aligned with the rudder, they are usually mounted off center, and cannot force water to flow across the rudder.

Just my 2 cents

[Bob Ohler]

Vern - Here is the secret: Use a springline. Attach a springline on the starboard side. Use short bursts of power rather than leaving the engine in reverse. This will help to prevent prop walk to port. Attach the springline to either a midship cleat or take it around a winch and then tie it off on a cockpit cleat. Continue to back-out, using only short bursts of power. When the bow has cleared the pilings, stop paying out line. Cleat it off. Apply more reverse power and watch the boat turn on the proverbial dime. After you have made the turn, uncleat the springline and either hang it on the piling or even toss it if you have to.

Try this and refine to your boat and slip. This will make you look like a master when backing out of the slip. I used this technique on a CD25D and now on our CD30.

Bob Ohler
CD30B
sv Aloha Spirit
CDSOA Member #188

[sharkbait]

If you use a spring line make it twice as long as necessary and attach one end to a mid-center boat cleat wrap it around the starboard dock post or cleat and hold on to the other end. After the boat pivots just release your end of the spring line and haul it aboard.

[Andy Denmark]

Lenore,

I agree with Bob Ohler -- a springline is the easiest solution. I use a fairly long piece of 1/4" braided line (50 ft) and make a continuous loop. One end fastens to a cockpit cleat with the line only looped around an outboard dock cleat or piling. The other end I hold firmly in my hand. After the boat backs out and turns the way you want her to go then simply toss the loose end overboard (don't try to coil it) and pull it in from the cleated end (quickly, please). Works like a charm. (Don't throw the loose line near the prop -- LOL) A few trial runs using this method will have you backing out like a pro.

Another thing that works fairly well when backing Cape Dories is to never turn the rudder more than 10-15 degrees from center. More than that at these slow speeds and the rudder acts more like a brake than a steering surface. Of course, it wants to go hard over but hold it tight and don't let it do that.

Hope this helps .........
________
Hash

[JWSutcliffe]

We always use a spring line to back out of our slip, without exception. It makes the whole procedure routine, instead of something between confusion and disaster. One enhancement we found was to use braided polypropylene line, which floats so avoids most of the risk of snagging the prop.

[j2sailor]

Hi Vern and Lenore,
All are good answers. You have no prop walk with an outboard--only inboards (shaft angle causes most prop walk). Outboards use direct thrust. The offset of the outboard is causing your problem.

As suggested, make sure you use polypropylene when using a spring with an outboard. Shallow, exposed outboard props love to suck up nylon mooring lines.

When backing, attach the spring on the same side you wish your stern to move. If you want it to move to starboard, attach the line to the starboard quarter and vice-versa.

Best - Captain John
www.skippertips.com

[Chris L]

I guessing that your 26 has the outboard in the well much like my CD25. Backing up is nothing short of difficult with these boats if the outboard is unable to be rotated in the well. This seems to be because the prop sits higher than the upper edge of the rudder and there is no water flow from the prop on the rudder. My solution has been to walk my boat back and turn it a the end of my dock then motor away uneventfully!

[Jim Cornwell]

Is a midship cleat or a stern cleat the most effective to use for this maneuver?

[JWSutcliffe]

I use the stern cleat, with one end of the line cleated off and the other free to run through my hand as I stand at the wheel. Using the stern cleat provides more leverage pivoting the hull.

[Oswego John]

I've founf it best to use the stern cleat backing out and to use the mid cleat backing in.

I use an end piling or finger slip cleat when backing out. I use a cleat that's located about midway in the slip when backing in.

O J

[N Moore]

I also have a new-to-me CD 26 but I have a Mediterranean mooring meaning there is no dock to use for the spring line. I am attached to the dock at the bow only and there are 2 stern lines running to tires off the transom. There are boats on either side within inches and boats behind me at a distance of about 60 feet. Any advise for me?

Nancy Moore

[Russell]

Hi Vern and Lenore,
All are good answers. You have no prop walk with an outboard--only inboards (shaft angle causes most prop walk). Outboards use direct thrust. The offset of the outboard is causing your problem.

This is absolutely incorrect. Offset may be adding to the problem, but to suggest outboards have no prop walk is absurd. Step in a dinghy, with a centered outboard, put it in reverse with the motor pointing strait, and watch yourself go in circles. Outboards most certainly have prop walk, all props do, fancy feather propers help alleviate it, but nothing eliminates it short of duel props countering each other or jet drive.

[sharkbait]

Nancy there is not much you can do with such tight clearances. All I can suggest is to walk the boat out.

Russell you are correct about outboards and prop walk. I drive one on the lake quite often and experience the prop walk every time that I back the darn thing off the trailer.

[Paul D.]

Dave Gerr has a nice section on props and prop walk in his Nature of Boats book. It seems to have something to do with pressure on the water downward as opposed to upward. I thought it was very strange but it made sense.

I also suggest trying the spring line methods or simply walking the boat out. We do this with our 33 as I am rather lazy so a 26 should be no worries. The Annapolis book of Seamanship has a good section on using spring lines if you want to get a visual. I just keep the bloody book onboard to act as my navigation rules. So much more valuable reference and i solves heated arguments on many topics!

All the best,
Paul