"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 16:25:00 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 07:15:20 -0500, "Eisboch"
wrote:

First of all ... before I make a fool of myself ... are you talking
singles
or twins?

Either or.


Ok. Twins. Although I have no experience handling twin outboards, I've
often observed docking techniques, particularly stern in, of boats
equipped
with them. It seems to me that because of the lack of distance between
the
engines and props, they have a harder time pivoting to maneuver. Even
though you have the advantage of vectored thrust, the boats I've seen
still
seem to struggle to pivot without also moving forward or backward.

It's a common mistake for twin outboard owners to treat their engines
as two separate engines exactly because of that reason. Because of
their proximity, it is much easier to treat them as one or even use
one engine to maneuver when maneuvering.

When I'm in instructor mode, I always make the owner show how they
make a 180 and nine times out of ten, they will put one in reverse,
one in forward and attempt to spin the boat around without using the
wheel. And it never works. Good object lesson.

If they knew what they were doing it should work. I never used the wheel
when sterning in or pivoting....just make sure the drives are perpendicular
to the transom. ;-)