"DSK" wrote in message

If the boat moves when you push it, it's not a crab crusher. Maybe you
mean a sustained shove? I can move our tugboat by hand, but it takes a bit
of grunt & some patience.


It depends entirely on the conditions at hand..... but you've seen the
specs on Overproof and it is most certainly in the Crab Crusher quadrant.
With a constant firm push ( or sustained shove as you put it) ..... I can
back it to the end of a finger pier and maneuver it to point in the general
direction required prior to stepping aboard and engaging the engine. This is
what I routinly do when departing a slip. I rarely use tha auxilliary to
back out of a slip since the vessel is relucant to heed the tiller... even
with manipulation of the throttle/gear.

Another good point you mentioned earlier was warping. Not rocket science,
in fact to me it seems quite obvious... although some precautions are in
order. And people get awfully funny about stringing lines across fairways
inside the marina. I thought of training our old dog to take a spring line
in his teeth, swim it out & put a wrap on a piling, then bring it back
when the boat was clear. Don't know if my wife would have agreed to let
her baby do that, though.

I can't see a circumstance that would require spanning a fairway to warp a
vessel out of a slip and setting the bow to the wind. I use a bow and stern
spring. ...when backing the vessel I place pull to the bow spring and use
the stern spring to control direction. Once the vessel has reached the point
amidships to the end of the finger pier or slip... I simply pull in on the
stern spring while fending off the vessel. Once momentum is established I
step aboard and put the vessel into gear. Both spring bitter ends are in the
cockpit and can be removed and stowed when clear of the marina.

I'm not saying this should or could be done with every vessel, nor am I
recommending it's use to anyone else... it's simply what works for me.

People who have difficulty docking and departing from a slip should
seriously consider the alternative of a mooring and use of the community
dock to load and unload quests and supplies as these locations are often
much easier to approach and depart.

CM