G It varies a lot with all multi screw (except tractor tugs). From the
look at the picture, I would think she'd "walk" fairly well ( I'm
talking about sideways motion, not prop walk).
Just out of curiosity, when you set up to "walk" to stbd, how do you set
your engines and rudders? .... and which part has the problem keeping
up, bow or stern?

otn

Jeff Morris wrote:
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