yes looked at these, ah dear, more information to take on board. Not sure I will engage with the obvious benefits of an Arduino, but looks like a good idea. Still real interested in a couple of these tho, when, if, you can organise it.
A midship cleat, yes. Just to underscore this. It’s all you need really. A bow thruster, a working engine powering against it too is good. Don’t forget the fenders too.
Or keeping one eye on the pontoon and the other on the toddler who is about to fall in. I actually hadn't realised the amount of stress I had ben under until I handed back the keys - I was literally flooded with the feeling of relief
If you are single handed,100% of the crew are on the pontoon belaying the midships line to the pontoon cleat. This means that the whole crew will have to get back on board to put the engine back into gear. Quicker to take a bow line and belay that and then a stern line, or vice versa (your vessel may vary).
With a midship cleat you have less distance to walk than a bow cleat, so it’s quicker surely? More to the point, on my boat and most I think, it is fairly easy to balance the boat alongside with the engine and a forward or aft running midships line whilst you sort out extra lines. With the bow thruster it is easier still.
It depends on the situation, of course. But if one takes your berth ( on the very rare time that it is actually vacant
) on an end pontoon ( i assume it is yours . Or are you squatting? ) it would be very easy for the opposite end of the boat to swing away from the pontoon before one had the chance to secure it ( even if one DID have the line held), if there was an offshore wind. I have had this happen in a couple of places. It is OK on a finger berth with another boat alongside to trap one in place but not where one might drift out into the middle of the Orwell with the boat held by one end on a bit of string..Worse still with an engine running.. But having a mid cleat it is not beyond one's ability to just lasso the pontoon cleat with a big loop & one end on the boat's cleat & the other ready to make off in one's hand. .Being aboard does give one the chance to avoid running up the chuff of the next boat down the line.
That’s an excellent and very sensible post.
I make a large bowline loop in a warp already belayed to the midships cleat. The warp is about half the length of the boat. If the wind is away from the pontoon (which is the more tricky one), I can back up to the pontoon (the boat goes reliably backwards dead into the wind) under great control and loop the the warp over the bollard which is where I want the stern to end up. Then motor forward, steering to bring the boat alongside and parallel. This is all much easier than it sounds. Then when alongside, leave the engine in gear, and that at leisure fasten the stern, bow and other spring.
10 tonnes, long keel, lots of windage and I agree with the methods and the midships cleat. I use a long light alloy tube to place my midships loop over the cleat as it takes away the feeling of a fairground lassoing competition. Drop it when hooked as its tied to the loop.
My boat is a fraction the size of yours but even on mine I’d be reluctant to step onto pontoon until at least one line is made fast. Are you saying that you step onto pontoon with a line in hand before any other line has been made fast? If things go tits up I’d rather be on the boat than on the pontoon watching the unmanned boat going off on its merry way.
I cannot anchor for long, due to sea sickness. Plus I only carry light mooring gear for emergency & do not have an anchor winch. That means a rope rode( I rig a tripping line to take the weight of the anchor & some chain) back to the cockpit.
Each to their own approach, but when solo I would think it is safer not to step off a sizeable boat onto the pontoon until AFTER the boat is secured. Big risk that the boat will blow out and be too heavy to hold. Or one time you will discover that you didn't put the engine lever fully back into neutral, and is still in reverse and pulling back away from you - seen that on too many occasions!
On some boats, that's the correct procedure. Many modern boats would drift sideways way before you got to your berth if you didn't have some way on, and so the reverse is required. Prop walk is a useful feature when you're comfortable with it, as are bow thrusters. Don't assume all boats work the same way yours does, especially when half a century of change has taken place in design!
So, modern designs are better then? Sounds more like a design fault. Sorry I disagree that you need lots of speed to control modern boats. Across the pontoon from Concerto are 3 sailing school boats, all less than a decade old, and they are in and out of the berths regularly, frequently with a student at the helm. Coming in they generally glide in with minimal reverse. It takes practice and can be done, but watching the sight lines for drift is so imortant so corrections can be made to your course. Using too much speed causes greater momentum and that in itself causes even bigger problems.
Nobody said that. I said different boats are different. You're telling everyone your berthing method is perfect but without the caveat that your method works on your boat and may not work on others. I never said modern boats need lots of speed, mine needs enough that it would hit the pontoon without some astern though, and that's even assuming there's only light winds and no tide. With tide or stronger wind it needs a little more speed and a little more engine. That's not a lack of skill, it's just what the boat needs.
