Try taking it out in a 3 or 4 foot beam sea, or try backing it into a
tight slip in a 20 kt crosswind.



wrote:
Windage is an issue on a boat like this, to the point where some of us
wouldn't even attempt to back into a slip in a stiff crosswind. Going
in bow first may look less glamorous and makes it harder to serve
cocktails over the transom, but it does leave the business end of the
boat out where it can do some good rather than wedged between two
floats, or a float and an adjacent boat- with the bow still blowing
down the fairway.

Another docking issue, rarely addressed, is accessibility of the crew
and/or dock hands to the lines, cleats, pilings, etc etc. One reason why
I don't like 'wedding cake' style boats... or even sundecks... is that
line handling is a big problem.




The increasing popularity of these high profile designs from many
different manufacturers
probably explains some of the rapidly growing demand for bow and stern
thrusters.

Interesting point. Probably true.

Although the counterpoint is that boats are more reliable and easier to
handle than they were 20+ years ago. Design has progressed a bit, and a
modern boat (all else being equal) is going to be much easier... add an
awkard superstructure, you just even things up a bit



Don't draw your entire conclusion on this boat from the superstructure,
it's a lot less flat-bottomed than much of its competition and should
prove adequately capable in conditions under which most pleasure
boaters would consider leaving the dock, (or remain out in if
conditions changed).

At least up this way, you'll see entire marinas full of
pleasure boats of all descriptions waiting out uninviting conditions in
the Strait of Juan de Fuca or the Strait of Georgia. We're a bunch of
wussies who won't put out into relatively open water with moderate
little 25-knot breezes blowing. On days like that, it really doesn't
matter whether you've got a "wedding cake" boat or a stabilized full
displacement tuna troller- everybody with a choice (and that's really
nearly all) remains in port.


True. But the guys with the really salty Cape Horn type boat like to
claim bragging rights. This tendency is even more noticable in
sailboats. The heavy displacement super-seaworthy types are usually seen
motoring up & down the ICW in fair weather, the only ones who go out
when it's dirty weather are the racers... universally regarded as crazy...

Fresh Breezes- Doug King