Jeanneau smart (or not so smart) parking

[maby]

I was taught never to use reverse when parking - due perhaps to my fathers use of 1950s technology that left us sailing into a few berths. However you have to do a lot of choosing upwind or uptime berths, use of warps and ferry moors, and now I'm more than happy to use both gears.

In recent years I have preferred the Med way of stern to berthing into finger berths as the blast ahead to stop the boat is so much more powerful than the blast astern - and of course you are at the right end of the boat to drive it and judge distances precisely.

I will usually reverse into the berth, but you are still using reverse gear at some point in the process. The trouble with the Jeanneau system is that each transition from foward to reverse requires flipping the sail drive round very quickly - plenty of scope for it going wrong. When I was researching it, I got into contact with an American owner who had put the boat into reverse and his sail drive only made it through 90 degrees - he ended up spinning on the spot!

 

[onesea]

All true, but you still need reverse for delicate close quarters work.

Or do not berth there... I guess I was taught not to rely on reverse, in fact not to rely on ahead either. There are marinas/ ports I will not bother with at times because the parking antics are a PITA.

I might have a good grasp of what I am able to squeeze into or know when I will not, I am not going to put myself in the situation where I spend my time fending of those that do not.

 

[maby]

Or do not berth there... I guess I was taught not to rely on reverse, in fact not to rely on ahead either. There are marinas/ ports I will not bother with at times because the parking antics are a PITA.

I might have a good grasp of what I am able to squeeze into or know when I will not, I am not going to put myself in the situation where I spend my time fending of those that do not.

Hmmm, 'fraid I'm a marina dweller! I need to be able to park my boat where I want to stop the night, not select my location for the night based on where my boat is willing to be parked! The jeanneau 360 docking is absolutely wonderful - while it works!

 

[lustyd]

I will usually reverse into the berth, but you are still using reverse gear at some point in the process. The trouble with the Jeanneau system is that each transition from foward to reverse requires flipping the sail drive round very quickly - plenty of scope for it going wrong. When I was researching it, I got into contact with an American owner who had put the boat into reverse and his sail drive only made it through 90 degrees - he ended up spinning on the spot!

Perhaps I should have said using the engine to stop rather than reverse. Obviously if you're going backwards you'll need reverse but in all my years of boating in lots of types of vessel I've not once been in a situation where I needed to use the engine to slow the boat. Perhaps I'm lucky but I like to think my instructors were good at their jobs

 

[maby]

Why do you need reverse to stop? Perhaps the money would be better spent learning to handle a boat?

I used to sail a 20 foot boat and it stopped pretty quickly as soon as you took the power off. A 43 weighing more than ten times as much keeps on going a long time after the power comes off and puts a hell of a jerk on the warp if you try to stop that way!

 

[Marsupial]

back in the mists of time I recall a yacht engine that needed to be stopped and restarted spinning the other way to select "reverse" things have moved on a bit.

as to the original post, I think there could be an issue with unwanted water in the exhaust if the prop was facing forwards that is astern, and the boat was sailed quickly.

 

[maby]

back in the mists of time I recall a yacht engine that needed to be stopped and restarted spinning the other way to select "reverse" things have moved on a bit.

as to the original post, I think there could be an issue with unwanted water in the exhaust if the prop was facing forwards that is astern, and the boat was sailed quickly.

Not so long ago we had a boat with a yanmar 1GM10 - it was always a bit of a lottery which direction that started in - but you had no control over it - it just decided which way to run relatively at random!

 

[kunyang]

who needs it

http://youtu.be/8alNxLjCBJc

 

[Tranona]

back in the mists of time I recall a yacht engine that needed to be stopped and restarted spinning the other way to select "reverse" things have moved on a bit.

That was the Dolphin 2 stroke petrol engine.

 

[snooks]

A 43 weighing more than ten times as much keeps on going a long time after the power comes off and puts a hell of a jerk on the warp if you try to stop that way!

Well don't tie off both ends of the warp off the Tie one end off on the mid ships cleat, pr run it back to the primary winch, and when your crew steps off the put a turn around the cleat a surge the line out , or you do it on the winch, both work, stopping the boat gently.

 

[davidej]

We nearly bought one till I discovered that they do not have a reverse gear - rely on spinning the saildrive in half a second - great when it's nice and new but in ten years time you could find yourself unable to stop!

Can you explain this -why are you unlikely to be able to stop?

 

[maby]

Can you explain this -why are you unlikely to be able to stop?

because engaging reverse thrust involves a very complex bit of engineering that could easily become unreliable when it starts to gets old.

 

[Marsupial]

That was the Dolphin 2 stroke petrol engine.

well done thanks for the memory, its all coming back to me now, what a nightmare, being an ancient 2 stroke starting the beast to go forwards was bad enough but deliberately turning it off and then begging it to restart NOW and spin the other way was the stuff of heart attacks. If you like stress then seek out one of these things and try and berth in a tight spot in adverse wind and tide - nurse de-fribulator NOW - CLEAR. In many we ways we are all a bit spoilt these days with reliable engines and gearboxes.

 

[Grumpybear]

well done thanks for the memory, its all coming back to me now, what a nightmare, being an ancient 2 stroke starting the beast to go forwards was bad enough but deliberately turning it off and then begging it to restart NOW and spin the other way was the stuff of heart attacks. If you like stress then seek out one of these things and try and berth in a tight spot in adverse wind and tide - nurse de-fribulator NOW - CLEAR. In many we ways we are all a bit spoilt these days with reliable engines and gearboxes.

In my youth, having an engine that would start at all seemed to be a luxury. And the boats all belonged to an engineering college......

 

[maby]

In my youth, having an engine that would start at all seemed to be a luxury. And the boats all belonged to an engineering college......

Which is all fine if you are not a marina dweller. Trying to put a forty footer into a finger berth without the ability to engage reverse thrust is a scary thought!

 

[fireball]

Which is all fine if you are not a marina dweller. Trying to put a forty footer into a finger berth without the ability to engage reverse thrust is a scary thought!

I've done just that - albeit a 30'er and the finger berth was East Cowes visitor berths - the bay we were allocated was empty at the time, the wind was steady & light and I had 2 able crew onboard (by able - I mean able to step off the boat with a 4' gap without worrying about it) - ideal conditions - so not like that at all ....

As for smart parking - would I like it? Yes - quite frankly, if it made the majority of my life easier then I'd like it (but could not justify the expense!). Parking a bus like structure can be a bit of a ballsache when the wind/current are not where we'd like them - we do manage most of the time, but a "get out of jail free card" would be nice to have - especially if doing something like trying to reverse into a berth, singlehanded with the wind blowing off - it can be done with just Fwd/Rev saildrive and no bow thruster - but it's a darn site easier with one (I assume cos I don't have one) and would be easier still with the smart parking gadget ...

 

[Stemar]

who needs it

http://youtu.be/8alNxLjCBJc

The version I'd like to see is the one where the reverse cable breaks, so the burst of full astern suddenly becomes a burst of full ahead... (I've always had something of an aversion to cocky types )

It happened to me once, and I was VERY glad to have an escape route

 

[maby]

I've done just that - albeit a 30'er and the finger berth was East Cowes visitor berths - the bay we were allocated was empty at the time, the wind was steady & light and I had 2 able crew onboard (by able - I mean able to step off the boat with a 4' gap without worrying about it) - ideal conditions - so not like that at all ....

As for smart parking - would I like it? Yes - quite frankly, if it made the majority of my life easier then I'd like it (but could not justify the expense!). Parking a bus like structure can be a bit of a ballsache when the wind/current are not where we'd like them - we do manage most of the time, but a "get out of jail free card" would be nice to have - especially if doing something like trying to reverse into a berth, singlehanded with the wind blowing off - it can be done with just Fwd/Rev saildrive and no bow thruster - but it's a darn site easier with one (I assume cos I don't have one) and would be easier still with the smart parking gadget ...

Don't get me wrong - I loved the idea of the Jeanneau 360 docking system till I discovered that they do not fit a reverse gear! I was under the impression that it only came into play if you engaged the joystick - but apparently not - if you are motoring ahead and move the throttle to reverse, it flips the sail drive round very quickly - if it fails to turn that large and complex bit of gear round, you do not have the ability to engage reverse thrust - or may even find that the saildrive is pointing sideways and driving you round and round on the spot - thay happened to one owner I was talking to!

 

[fireball]

By the time I can afford/justify the expense of a 360° docking system they'll have sorted that out ...

 

[maby]

By the time I can afford/justify the expense of a 360° docking system they'll have sorted that out ...

Hopefully so. I just don't understand what they were thinking of when they deleted the reverse gear! The Bavaria solution is far more pragmatic - fit both a bow and stern thruster and programme up a bit of clever electronics to make them all work together.