And the answer is:

It varies a lot with the cat. Some have long keels, others have daggerboards. Some have
steerable drives, some have a single outboard, some have a widely spaced diesels. Some
have little windage, others a lot.

My boat has long keels, low windage on the bow (more aft), and widely space diesels. She
can pivot in place very nicely but has little prop walk. People have told me they could
make it go sideways, but when I've challenged them to try, they've always failed. I often
have to dock on a face, which is actually often tough - I usually rely on getting close
enough to snag a cleat, then springing in the rest of the way. If I have a few hands
around to help I can usually get the boat anywhere I want. The hands don't have to do
much of anything, but I find it difficult to singlehand because the visibility around the
edges is limited.

This morning I had a special challenge - I had to back into a TravelLift the is about 6
inches wider than my beam. The wind started light, but picked up to about 15 knots cross
as I was coming in. The real problem was that one prop had trouble staying open in
foreword - I had to do most of the work with just one engine. This made it difficult to
stay lined up. I felt that I totally turkeyed it, but I was complimented by the Lift-
Meister and dockhand, and no damage was done. I found that the gearing that forces to two
blades to open together had totally sheared off.

Here's a pic taken slightly later:
http://www.sv-loki.com/Img_1616a.jpg


--
-jeff www.sv-loki.com
"The sea was angry that day, my friend. Like an old man trying to send back soup at the
deli."




"otnmbrd" wrote in message
k.net...


DSK wrote:

In harbors the world over. I mean everywhere, We all know where they put
Multi-Hulls. on the very end slips of finger piers or bouyed mooring.

The Captains Nemesis wrote:
Interesting.
Here the cats tend to be deep into the marinas (other than casuals)
because they have the ability to turn in there own length under power


No doubt that cats under power with wide spaced twin engines are very
maneuverable under power.


Let's face facts; a Multi trying to manouver ( Over even making a simple
turn in tight quarters) is not a pretty thing. Even under power.

Skilled hands make light work under power. Juggling thrust can walk a
cat sideways and maneuver in ways that monos can only dream.


I'd like to see that. Theory suggests that with small props & rudders, prop
walk and kick aren't going to move it sideways much. In practice??

Interesting .... I'd have thought the opposite.
Since "walking" is highly dependent on rudder power and most sailboats
tend to have better than average power in this area and a "cat" doesn't
tend to have a great deal of wetted area and or windage (exceptions
noted), I'd have guess them to be good candidates for "walking".

otn