steering in reverse

[Chertsey]

I was given two very good pieces of advice about reversing by a London trip boat skipper. The first, as has been said, was watch the front of the boat; the second was 'always reverse further than you think you need to'.

 

My experience has also been that steering in reverse is much better once you do dare to go faster. It's counter-intuitively scary, but don't forget, barring some very rare mishap like the prop falling off, it will be much easier to stop than if you were going forwards.

[Naughty Cal]

Reminds me of a Mk1 Ford Escort I once owned. If I went through a puddle too quickly the passengers got wet feet in that too. I would insist my girlfriend wore wellies when I took her out in it (though that was more of a fetish on my part )

 

Our XR4i was much the same when we bought it. We picked it up on a very wet day from a dodgy back street garage in Dewsbury. As we were driving down the M1 on the way home the footwells we filling up with water at an alarming rate

[Guest]

Our XR4i was much the same when we bought it. We picked it up on a very wet day from a dodgy back street garage in Dewsbury. As we were driving down the M1 on the way home the footwells we filling up with water at an alarming rate

 

My first Mini was cleverly designed so as to let the water out of specially designed gaping rusty holes in the floor....we gave up on the idea of a carpet inside it after the first week...

[bizzard]

In my very first car which i had given me ''a year or two ago''A 1936 Fraud 8 Y model i had to wear a wellington with my trouser leg tucked in or a bicycle trouser clip on my left leg when it rained to stop water squirting up my leg through the huge handbrake slot on the floor.

[Naughty Cal]

My first Mini was cleverly designed so as to let the water out of specially designed gaping rusty holes in the floor....we gave up on the idea of a carpet inside it after the first week...

 

Our mini had self adjusting headlights. One morning we found them hanging from the wiring, The bodywork had rotted around them and they evetually gave way.

[IanM]

I was given two very good pieces of advice about reversing by a London trip boat skipper. The first, as has been said, was watch the front of the boat; the second was 'always reverse further than you think you need to'.

 

My experience has also been that steering in reverse is much better once you do dare to go faster. It's counter-intuitively scary, but don't forget, barring some very rare mishap like the prop falling off, it will be much easier to stop than if you were going forwards.

 

[Chertsey]

Cool smiley!

[FadeToScarlet]

When you reverse a NB, i understand the tiller can't really do much.

 

When you put into 'forwards' (sorry) to use the tiller to steer, does the boat actually have to go forwards for the steering to work or is the water getting forced over the rudder enough?

 

I've read a few threads in this section but any other advice would be appreciated...

 

When you steer, the rudder works the opposite way to normal. So point the RUDDER BLADE (When looking astern) in the direction you want to go.

 

Edit to add: Oh, and any steering inputs you have will take quite a long time to be effective, but they will work.

 

Most importantly of all, NEVER stand within the arc of the tiller swing, or allow anyone or anything else to do this. If the rudder hits something, it'll swing over with all the momentum of the boat behind the tiller arm.....

Edited March 2, 2012 by FadeToScarlet

[jelunga]

You could achieve a load moaning/growling noise from the front of the boat,(but avoid the loud slapping noise), by the simple expedient of fitting a bow thruster.

I had SWMBO try that as well using our boat pole. Unfortunatly she again misunderstood the instructions and used the pole as a lever not a pusher. We ended up with two short poles!

Edited March 2, 2012 by jelunga

[bizzard]

Motor bike handle bars would be better, sitting on a saddle looking aft.You'd be so comfortable you wouldn't want to go forward anymore.The twist grip throttle could be fixed up to control the engine,also a thumb operated hooter button would be handy.

[IainW]

brilliant thanks folks, i pity the fool that gets in my way when i try it full speed haha

[bizzard]

brilliant thanks folks, i pity the fool that gets in my way when i try it full speed haha

Full speed astern is all very well but its when you shut the throttle down,the bows tend to swing across out of line much faster than going slower especially if there's a strong side wind,and then the big struggle begins with furious bursts of forward and opposite rudder to try to correct it,made a lot worse because of the astern speed still on.the best speed for astern work is usually somewhere between a quarter and half throttle.But of course boats differ,but not really very much.

 

brilliant thanks folks, i pity the fool that gets in my way when i try it full speed haha

Full speed astern is all very well but its when you shut the throttle down,the bows tend to swing across out of line much faster than going slower especially if there's a strong side wind,and then the big struggle begins with furious bursts of forward and opposite rudder to try to correct it,made a lot worse because of the astern speed still on.the best speed for astern work is usually somewhere between a quarter and half throttle.But of course boats differ,but not really very much.

Generally the shorter the boat the quicker they go off at half cock,but the shorter the boat the quicker you can recover it. Swings and roundabouts.

Edited March 2, 2012 by bizzard

[Mitchell]

Why the need to reverse ? If your a cc'er then you should always be moving forward to the next part of the system and if your not a cc'er then your be permentantly moored . Problem solved??

 

Just an idea . Lol!

[The Pipe]

Why the need to reverse ? If your a cc'er then you should always be moving forward to the next part of the system and if your not a cc'er then your be permentantly moored . Problem solved??

 

Just an idea . Lol!

A bit like when mine was at Tardibigge a choice of locking down 20 locks and back up 33 a total of 53 locks or just reverse her up 13.

[IainW]

Why the need to reverse ? If your a cc'er then you should always be moving forward to the next part of the system and if your not a cc'er then your be permentantly moored . Problem solved??

 

Just an idea . Lol!

 

It was dark and i had to get water from a pontoon in the marina. Didn't fancy going out into the proper darkness and turning around cos our lights are rubbbish! No audience but plenty of expensive yachts to bounce off! I ended up doing it too slowly i think which meant when i needed to correct the steering by going forwards, progress was painfully slow. It worked though - thanks for all the advice...

 

Unfortunately CC'ing is a little limited up on the Scottish canals but we try our best :-)

[Mitchell]

Sorry guys , hope you didnt take it the wrong way .

[Variable]

So by now you're realising there's no simple answer to your question. The answer is to experiment because every boat and every circumstance is different. Boat reversing is dabbling with ultra-chaos, where a tiny change in input has a wildly unpredictable outcome. Some things are constants though: any wind will turn your attempts to manoever into a shambles. The degree of failure of any manoever is directly proportionate to the audience. Despite all factors appearing to be constant, the boat will never do the same thing twice.

Seriously though, some things seem to happen most of the time. I find that if I trickle the engine it will go left a bit, and if I gun it it pulls right. Overall I prefer to take it slowly unless it's windy. Over long distances I gun the engine to get the boat moving then go into neutral and coast; re-align the boat, and repeat. Reversing seems slightly more controlled if my bow water tank is full. I wish I had a bow thruster.

[Guest]

Works as a sea anchor. I did try it once asking SWMBO to tie a rope round her waist and jump in but this was not sucessful. I am sure it would have worked if my instructions were followed but all that happened was a load moaning /growling noise from the front of the boat followed by a loud slapping noise. I then felt a strange warming sensation with a swelling on the left side of my head, accompanied by the most wonderful sight of shooting stars during daylight I have ever seen.

I abandoned this option for future use.

 

Oh, how funny - have a greenie!

[Speedwheel]

I thought it was popularly known that a narrow boat will generally reverse in precisely the way you want it to, provided nobody, absolutely nobody, is watching.

 

Your ability to reverse as intended is in some strange way inversely related to the size of the audience.

 

At a large festival or boat show, the tiller somehow no longer in any way controls what the rudder, and hence the boat will do.

 

This is a fundamental law, and no amount of skill will change it.

 

Ahmen to that. You forgot however that if there is anyone watching who has a video camera, the likelyhood of such a cockup is multiplied by at least a factor of 10.

[Richard10002]

When you reverse a NB, i understand the tiller can't really do much.

 

When you put into 'forwards' (sorry) to use the tiller to steer, does the boat actually have to go forwards for the steering to work or is the water getting forced over the rudder enough?

 

I've read a few threads in this section but any other advice would be appreciated...

 

I would say that the simple answer to the question is "No", the boat doesnt have to be moving ahead.... The fact that you ask the question, in the way that you ask it, suggests that you understand the principle. The burst of ahead, with the tiller over, should be enough to start the bow swinging the way you want, and you can then go back to powering astern.... Until the bow swings off again

[tillergirl]

Well I hope it does help with the steering otherwise when Pugwash reversed out of Shireoaks Basin in 2010 there must have been some divine intervention

[theiC]

My best advice is to take advantage of any opportunity to use a decent area of open water to try various things and see... Different combinations of thrust, speed, and tiller will achieve different things on different boats, loading does make a difference, and then once you've got a basic understanding of how your boat behaves (and therefore, how it can be made to behave), you can apply this in the particular circumstances in which you want to manoeuvre. Variables like depth, wind, current, etc, are best managed so that they're in your favour. Finally, never embark on any manoeuvre without having thought it through completely, including how you'll get out of trouble at each stage...

[Chertsey]

I would say that the simple answer to the question is "No", the boat doesnt have to be moving ahead.... The fact that you ask the question, in the way that you ask it, suggests that you understand the principle. The burst of ahead, with the tiller over, should be enough to start the bow swinging the way you want, and you can then go back to powering astern.... Until the bow swings off again

In fact you can do it while the momentum of the boat is still taking it backwards, and be back in reverse again before it stops.

[Tam & Di]

In fact you can do it while the momentum of the boat is still taking it backwards, and be back in reverse again before it stops.

 

 

Just think of it as steering a 2' boat with a 50-70' rudder

 

(that's more a reply to what way to hold the rudder over in reverse that was asked at some point)

Edited June 11, 2012 by Tam & Di

[Chertsey]

Just think of it as steering a 2' boat with a 50-70' rudder

 

Oh, I like that.