Desperate for expert advice?

[Emerald]

I am really beating myself up real bad and ready to admit defeat with my inability to moor up in the Marina between the pontoon and the boat at the side of me. I am just not improving and although I have spoken to more experienced boaters around me I don't seem to be able to master the manoeuvre. The issue I have is that when I approach the mooring (entering bow first) as soon as the bow gets between the adjacent boat and the pontoon, the stern end drifts to the right either with side winds or the flow of water (I am unsure which)? At this point I start to panic (I am not in a happy place at this point) The action of the bow is that it moves to the left and into contact with my neighbours boat. This is really unfair for my neighbours who are really great people and I am sure will ultimately get up tight with me before much longer?

 

I have asked SWMBO to step off the bow onto the pontoon with the rope when safe to do so (if you can call it safe) in order to try and steady the bow but this too has little effect. She can't seem to steady it.

 

Is there someone out there that can advise me from my description if there is something that I am doing completely wrong please?

 

Could I be over cautious, I do tend to go into the mooring at really low speed; when I tried to go a little quicker I couldn't stop in time and embarrassed myself by hitting the pontoon.

 

Should I attempt to reverse into the mooring as a number of boats near me do? or should I just sell up and buy a caravan instead?

Edited August 22, 2012 by Escape

[NB Lola]

Which marina if it's not too embarrassing

 

I had much the same problem in Mercia when it was windy, wot a noob I felt

[Boat&Bikes]

Hi,this is something that most/all of us struggle with on occasion.Keep at it you will improve,the wind can play havoc with a boat but try to learn to read the conditions and just keep trying.Sounds like your not far off anyway if your getting the bow in ok.If your going slow the neighbours shouldnt mind to much as little damage can occur.We have all been there and even those with many years of experience have problems sometimes,dont beat yourselve up.

 

Ian.

[AlanM6]

I find that it all depends on the number of people that are watching, no one about and its easy 5-10 watching its difficult any more and its almost impossible

[Emerald]

Which marina if it's not too embarrassing

 

I had much the same problem in Mercia when it was windy, wot a noob I felt

 

I don't mind people knowing, the more people know I am unsure of myself the more they will be prepared for me doing something stupid. It is one and the same Marina.

[keble]

I don't mind people knowing, the more people know I am unsure of myself the more they will be prepared for me doing something stupid. It is one and the same Marina.

Most of us cock it up from time to time, or more often!

When turning into my marina, and the entrance is very sheltered, I always do it really well. Until last Sunday. Two people watching, and I smacked it not once but twice.

Bizarrely I think it's best not to think about it too much, a bit like playing music: if you analyse it too much it doesn't work.

[Tam & Di]

I am really beating myself up real bad and ready to admit defeat with my inability to moor up in the Marina between the pontoon and the boat at the side of me. I am just not improving and although I have spoken to more experienced boaters around me I don't seem to be able to master the manoeuvre. The issue I have is that when I approach the mooring (entering bow first) as soon as the bow gets between the adjacent boat and the pontoon, the stern end drifts to the right either with side winds or the flow of water (I am unsure which)? At this point I start to panic (I am not in a happy place at this point) The action of the bow is that it moves to the left and into contact with my neighbours boat. This is really unfair for my neighbours who are really great people and I am sure will ultimately get up tight with me before much longer?

 

I have asked SWMBO to step off the bow onto the pontoon with the rope when safe to do so (if you can call it safe) in order to try and steady the bow but this too has little effect. She can't seem to steady it.

 

Is there someone out there that can advise me from my description if there is something that I am doing completely wrong please?

 

 

I am having difficulty understanding what you are trying to do. Is it that you are coming head on into a gap, with a boat to your left and a pontoon to your right, and you are trying to tie to the pontoon?

 

One thing is that with a boat with single screw and single rudder, the stern will always pull one way or the other when you go into reverse gear. With a right handed prop the stern pulls to your left, and a left handed one has the stern pull to your right. To come into a pontoon on your right if you have a left handed prop is dead easy. You put the fore end in at quite an angle, give a burst of hard astern, and the arse end drops into position alongside. If you have a right handed prop though it is much more fiddly coming into a berth on you right, as when you hold back the stern slews out away from where you want to be. You need to come in quite slowly, get the fore end more or less in contact with the berth, and give a very brief burst of forward power with the rudder over to drive the stern in. You might then have to go back into reverse fairly gently to lose any forward motion you have gained.

 

You are also very dependent on what there is to tie to on the pontoon. If you have something you can put a line onto at the fore end you can fix to that or take a turn of your line on it and drive gently ahead to get the stern in. I'm guessing though from your description that there is not anything there that allows you to do that. There's no way your crew can just hold onto a line and for you to drive the boat against that.

 

It is very difficult to put anything like this into words, but hopefully this might give some indication. Let me know if it makes sense at all and I'll take it further if needs be.

 

One thing that would help generally is to get the feel of the boat - go somewhere you can play with it. Go fairly fast, then put it in hard astern and see what happens - how quickly you can stop and which way the boat slews.

Edited August 22, 2012 by Tam & Di

[Emerald]

 

Bizarrely I think it's best not to think about it too much, a bit like playing music: if you analyse it too much it doesn't work.

 

There might be something in that actually, that is perhaps why when I am talking to people about it they seem a little vague with their responses.

 

I am having difficulty understanding what you are trying to do. Is it that you are coming head on into a gap, with a boat to your left and a pontoon to your right, and you are trying to tie to the pontoon?

 

 

Yes exactly that.

[Tam & Di]

There might be something in that actually, that is perhaps why when I am talking to people about it they seem a little vague with their responses.

 

Maybe they don't have any practical suggestion?

 

Yes exactly that.

 

 

OK, and do you know if you have a left handed or right handed prop? At the risk of teaching grandmothers to suck eggs, if you were sat in the mud behind your boat and the blades rotate clockwise to drive the boat forward away from you, that is a right handed prop. That should tell you which way you expect the stern to slew when you go into reverse gear - the other way of course is just to go into reverse on a straight section of canal and see what happens, or to look at the prop shaft from inside the boat.

[Emerald]

Maybe they don't have any practical suggestion?

 

 

 

 

OK, and do you know if you have a left handed or right handed prop? At the risk of teaching grandmothers to suck eggs, if you were sat in the mud behind your boat and the blades rotate clockwise to drive the boat forward away from you, that is a right handed prop. That should tell you which way you expect the stern to slew when you go into reverse gear - the other way of course is just to go into reverse on a straight section of canal and see what happens, or to look at the prop shaft from inside the boat.

 

From your description I believe it to be right handed?

[Athy]

Pole. It's not just there to decorate your boat's roof. Don't be afraid or ashamed to use it.

[bizzard]

Its wise no matter how good you get at steering into that gap to station your partner in the front well armed with a nice soft perhaps plastic broom or mop ready to gently fend off that other boat as you enter, if done gently people on that other boat might not even feel it, keep one handy at the stern end for you to use too maybe.

[Tam & Di]

From your description I believe it to be right handed?

 

 

That does make it more difficult, as I've tried to explain. You do have to come in more slowly to tie to something on your right if you have right-handed blades, but that leaves you vulnerable to any winds or cross currents. You've not said what there is to tie to on the pontoon, but I'd guess it is not something you can put a line onto quickly and eaasily at one end or the other. That what you really want, as you can then get the other end in by driving the boat against that initial line to get the other end firmly against the side as well.

 

If my explanation has made any sense you just need to keep at it, and you should find it gets easier. Just learn something from each time you don't get it exactly right - don't see it as a failure, more as a learning experience (God, that sounds so sanctimonious it's not true!)

 

Only you can decide if a caravan would be easier - try parking one of those in a narrow gap in a muddy field and you'd probably go back to the boat idea anyway.

Edited August 22, 2012 by Tam & Di

[Phil Ambrose]

If your neighbours are nice people why not go cap in hand and ask them if they would come and give you the benefit of a practical demo,I'm sure they would be delight to offer assisiance if you explained the problem you are having.

 

Ref the mention of the use of poles, a chap who moors opposite me boasts about never having had to use a pole, his wife stands on the bows looking interested and does nowt,always kissing my boat and a few weeks back hit us with a terrible clang, nearly lost the end of my finger as I was slicing mushrooms at the time.

 

Phil

[FadeToScarlet]

You could put a line of floating fenders alongside the neighbour's boat so you can't hit it, and practice.

[Cosy Toes]

I would just go in backwards. Let's face it everyone knows that boats aren't meant to steer well in reverse

Good luck

[PhilR]

Tam & Di has probably, partly, hit the nail on the head with paddle wheel effect.

 

I suspect you are using too much engine power when attempting to moor. There is a common misconception that narrowboats don't steer without a lot of engine power. If you watch old boaters handling boats in tight spaces you will probably notice that this is usually done quietly and smoothly without a lot of engine revs.

 

It is difficult to picture your mooring situation from your description, but you might find that a mooring bollard fixed to the pontoon about 12 feet back from where your bow is normally moored will provide a strapping point for your crew to slip a rope over and then you can gently bring the stern in under forward engine power. If you think through it you should be able to have a bow rope made up to the correct length with an with eye splice

[Boaty Jo]

Sounds like a bow-thruster would come in handy

[NB Lola]

When it blows across mercia, from experience there it is nigh on impossible, to help Escape, it was one of two factors we considered when we decided it was time to explore further afield, the other consideration, being able to park nearer our boat when loading/unloading.

[bizzard]

And making matters worse is the shallow draught up forward ''little grip on the water up forward'' coupled with the tall boxy cabin sides on most modern boats and probably a cratch hood all adding to the windage. Rolling up the cratch covers will make quite a significant difference in windy conditions.

[Suzie_q]

When it blows across mercia, from experience there it is nigh on impossible, to help Escape, it was one of two factors we considered when we decided it was time to explore further afield, the other consideration, being able to park nearer our boat when loading/unloading.

Of the five or six times I've moored at Mercia so far the worse ones have been when my neighbour wasn't there!!

As soon as I came out the wind took the bow and because of nothing to keep me straight on the port side we ended up nosed into the reed bed.

Coming back I ended up at an angle across the mooring and had to rope it round.

If as said on here you take it slow a light rub against your neighbour should not be a problem. I do totally agree if you worry about it to much it tends to go wrong.

 

It's like lock entry when there is a big crowd. Always messy!!

[loubyscooby]

Oh I feel your pain, Mercia wind is something to contend with. Im lucky in a way as I has a WB so don't have a boat next to me when mooring up. Everyone here is so friendly so why don't you ask someone near you to come on board and offer some advise as you do it, that's what I did.

 

I also spent an afternoon going in and out of my mooring to see how the boat handled and what I needed to do. I have got so used to taking my boat out in the most appalling conditions - taking advantage of people who are around to help take her to the PO - that I recently almost went into panic mode when I went out and there was little wind to help.

 

My only bit of advice is practise, practise, practise and buy a bottle of vino for your neighbours.

[Zayna]

I feel for you, but you shouldn't be so hard on yourself, you're clearly trying your best. I hope that it gets easier for you soon, everyone is giving really good advice and I'm sure there will come a day when you wonder what all the fuss was about.

[Guest]

Mercia and Barton Turns can be a pain when it's windy. I messed up my approach to my pontoon a couple of times at Mercia as it was a tricky S maneuver from the entrance and once got completely pinned on the diesel point at Barton.

 

They are wide and open and even a slight breeze can knock you off track.

 

It does get better with practice but some of the pontoons at Mercia are trickier than others because of the lay-out, have you though about asking the office for a move to a pontoon that might be a bit easier?? - they are a pretty helpful lot at Mercia and there is no harm in asking.

[Emerald]

have you though about asking the office for a move to a pontoon that might be a bit easier?? - they are a pretty helpful lot at Mercia and there is no harm in asking.

 

 

I have indeed visited the office & explained that I am a novice boater and would be better suited to an end single berth. Unfortunately they are like hens teeth but I am being placed on a waiting list should one become available.

 

Thanks everyone for all of you replies.