On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 23:25:05 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

General tip, try to achieve balance between sternway pressure on the
rudder and prop walk. With the rudder set to oppose the prop walk, you
should be able to roughly "steer" in reverse by increasing rpm (and
prop walk) when the rudder begins taking you off in one direction and
decreasing rpm (or coasting astern in neutral) when the prop walk gets
too dominant. Once you get a couple knots sternway up the prop walk is
less of an issue.......but you may not want to get up to that kind of
speed backing into a slip.

Speaking to Chuck's point, although it probably will not work as well
on a powerboat, one of my old sailboat maneuvering tricks was to give
the boat a good shot of reverse while still in the clear, build some
momentum, and then back in at idle speed or totally in neutral. This
requires some practice to learn how far you can glide before losing
steerage. On a sailboat it is quite a long way. The main thing with
reverse is to be quick and decisive with the application of power,
building enough speed that the rudder can get a bite.

The other big trick to master is the "back and fill" maneuver where
reverse is used only to check forward speed, and forward power is
applied in short bursts with the rudder hard over. Depending on prop
rotation, the boat will be much easier to turn in one direction than
the other. I have seen large workboats turn around almost in their
own length using this technique.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 23:25:05 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

General tip, try to achieve balance between sternway pressure on the
rudder and prop walk. With the rudder set to oppose the prop walk, you
should be able to roughly "steer" in reverse by increasing rpm (and
prop walk) when the rudder begins taking you off in one direction and
decreasing rpm (or coasting astern in neutral) when the prop walk gets
too dominant. Once you get a couple knots sternway up the prop walk is
less of an issue.......but you may not want to get up to that kind of
speed backing into a slip.

Speaking to Chuck's point, although it probably will not work as well
on a powerboat, one of my old sailboat maneuvering tricks was to give
the boat a good shot of reverse while still in the clear, build some
momentum, and then back in at idle speed or totally in neutral. This
requires some practice to learn how far you can glide before losing
steerage. On a sailboat it is quite a long way. The main thing with
reverse is to be quick and decisive with the application of power,
building enough speed that the rudder can get a bite.

The other big trick to master is the "back and fill" maneuver where
reverse is used only to check forward speed, and forward power is
applied in short bursts with the rudder hard over. Depending on prop
rotation, the boat will be much easier to turn in one direction than
the other. I have seen large workboats turn around almost in their
own length using this technique.


Thanks to both of you for sharing your experiences. I am going up to the
GB later this morning and do some practicing.

Part of the learning curve (for me) is adjusting to the v-e-r-y slow
response to throttle or gear shift. I get a kick out of it, but it takes
some getting used to. A 36 GB is a heavy boat for a little 120 hp engine
and small prop, but it's fun learning how to deal with it. My head's
"tuned" for much more powerful boats with bigger props, etc. that react
rather quickly. I'll get there with some more practice.

Eisboch

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...



BTW .... Wayne ...

The former owner of Mrs.E's boat ended up buying a 1990 GB 49 footer with
twins.
It's not high powered ... 15 kt cruise ... but it's a thing of beauty. He
spent all last winter traveling the southern hemisphere in it and recently
returned to Kingman for a short haul and cleaning before traveling off
again.

Eisboch

On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 08:44:27 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

BTW .... Wayne ...

The former owner of Mrs.E's boat ended up buying a 1990 GB 49 footer with
twins.
It's not high powered ... 15 kt cruise ... but it's a thing of beauty. He
spent all last winter traveling the southern hemisphere in it and recently
returned to Kingman for a short haul and cleaning before traveling off
again.

Cool.

15 kts *is* high powered compared to ours. We can cruise at 10.5 kts
when we need to but it's much more fuel efficient in the 8.5 to 9
range.

What kind of engines does he have?

Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 08:44:27 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

BTW .... Wayne ...

The former owner of Mrs.E's boat ended up buying a 1990 GB 49 footer with
twins.
It's not high powered ... 15 kt cruise ... but it's a thing of beauty. He
spent all last winter traveling the southern hemisphere in it and recently
returned to Kingman for a short haul and cleaning before traveling off
again.

Cool.

15 kts *is* high powered compared to ours. We can cruise at 10.5 kts
when we need to but it's much more fuel efficient in the 8.5 to 9
range.



What's the breeze like at 8.5 knots? :}

On Jun 11, 12:12?pm, HK wrote:


What's the breeze like at 8.5 knots? :}

Natural man, natural.

On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:12:47 -0400, HK wrote:

What's the breeze like at 8.5 knots? :}

Pretty nice actually. The flybridge is almost always comfortable in
good weather, the only exception being downwind in light air on a
really hot day. We sometimes run a fan in those conditions or retreat
to the air conditioned comfort of the lower helm.

How's the breeze inside the pilot house of your Parker?

Wayne.B wrote:
On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:12:47 -0400, HK wrote:

What's the breeze like at 8.5 knots? :}

Pretty nice actually. The flybridge is almost always comfortable in
good weather, the only exception being downwind in light air on a
really hot day. We sometimes run a fan in those conditions or retreat
to the air conditioned comfort of the lower helm.

How's the breeze inside the pilot house of your Parker?


Great. Got two fans, plus an opening windshield and two opening side
windows, plus the cabin door, plus an opening hatch up forward and two
side ports. Lots of airflow, even when it is dead calm.

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 23:25:05 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

General tip, try to achieve balance between sternway pressure on the
rudder and prop walk. With the rudder set to oppose the prop walk, you
should be able to roughly "steer" in reverse by increasing rpm (and
prop walk) when the rudder begins taking you off in one direction and
decreasing rpm (or coasting astern in neutral) when the prop walk gets
too dominant. Once you get a couple knots sternway up the prop walk is
less of an issue.......but you may not want to get up to that kind of
speed backing into a slip.

Speaking to Chuck's point, although it probably will not work as well
on a powerboat, one of my old sailboat maneuvering tricks was to give
the boat a good shot of reverse while still in the clear, build some
momentum, and then back in at idle speed or totally in neutral. This
requires some practice to learn how far you can glide before losing
steerage. On a sailboat it is quite a long way. The main thing with
reverse is to be quick and decisive with the application of power,
building enough speed that the rudder can get a bite.

The other big trick to master is the "back and fill" maneuver where
reverse is used only to check forward speed, and forward power is
applied in short bursts with the rudder hard over. Depending on prop
rotation, the boat will be much easier to turn in one direction than
the other. I have seen large workboats turn around almost in their
own length using this technique.


Thanks to both of you for sharing your experiences. I am going up to the
GB later this morning and do some practicing.

Part of the learning curve (for me) is adjusting to the v-e-r-y slow
response to throttle or gear shift. I get a kick out of it, but it takes
some getting used to. A 36 GB is a heavy boat for a little 120 hp engine
and small prop, but it's fun learning how to deal with it. My head's
"tuned" for much more powerful boats with bigger props, etc. that react
rather quickly. I'll get there with some more practice.

Eisboch

You taking over Mrs. E's boat?

"Jim" wrote in message
news


You taking over Mrs. E's boat?


If it has an ignition or on-off switch .... I drive.
If it has a saddle and you feed it .... she drives.

It's written into our marriage agreement.

Eisboch