Last time I backed into the slip with a strong x wind, I went much
further down the fairway, backed her pretty fast, made the turn and
stopped just in time. I was kinda proud of the 'parking job' I did,
till I reached for a dock line and noticed I was in my neighbors'
slip.

Scotty



"DSK" wrote in message
...
Scott Vernon wrote:
Any idea how much speed is lost from one, if any?

None at all, if you get the really cool expensive retracable kind.

There are a couple of things to reduce drag from the tunnel. One
(simple
& cheap) is to work up a sort of fairing at the leading edge of the
tunnel so that the flow is diverted when the boat is moving
forward...
helps but not perfect, obviously. Another is to make the tunnel as
small
as possible, except that this reduces the amount of horsepower you
can
get into play; which can be helped by putting it deeper & further
forward.

I agree with Oz1, there are times & places where a bow thruster is
really handy. It greatly extends the range of maneuvering
possibilities
in tight places and crosswinds.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King