On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 22:55:26 GMT, "gunnar199" u25155@uwe wrote:

I have a 27 foot carver with twin 180hp stern drives. This is the first tein
engine boat i've owned. I understand
using the throttle and clutches for steering . I need help on how to stop and
maintain my position when waiting for the draw bridge to open .

Maintaining position fore and aft is straight forward and relatively
easy so I assume that is not your question/problem. Where things can
get tricky is in a cross wind which is trying to blow you sideways out
of the channel.

Every boat is a little different and you need to practice when it is
not critical. Assuming you are comfortable with rotating your boat in
position with one clutch forward and the other in reverse, one
strategy is to rotate at a slight angle to the channel, go straight
back to recenter, then repeat going forward.

Some boats can be walked sideways by setting the rudder opposite to
the rotation implied by the clutches. For example, if you put the
port engine in forward, stbd in reverse, the boat will normally rotate
in a clockwise direction. However, if you put the helm over to port
at the same time, that will counteract the clockwise rotation but the
prop wash will push the stern to starboard. Every boat reacts
differently to this maneuver so practice, practice, practice...