Parallel parking a boat/car

[mollykins]

I can parallel park a champ but how does it compare to parallel parking a car? I'm just curious seeing as i'm 17 soon.

On one hand, boats, especially the champ I was driving was less manoueverable and the throttle control was dodgey, plus wind and tide can affect you alot. Whereas a car is more controllable and isn't moved by the wind etc.

However, unless you're in a really posh boat or mooring up next to a really posh boat it doesn't matter if you bump a boat a little, plus you have fenders so it doesn't matter if you bump the jetty. And you have ropes so if you don't park perfectly, you can be pulled in a bit. But in a car, you can't bump into anything apart from going on the pavement perhaps, plus where you park is where you park, it's almsot impossible to move the car with a rope to pull it nearer to the kerb.

So seeing as i've neevr driven a car, I can't work it out . . . . any sensible comment are welcome.

 

[PabloPicasso]

not much in common between the two. Boats steer from the back around a nearly central pivot point over the keel. Cars steer from the front and 'pivot' point equivalent would be the back axle.

You don'e have to allow for crosswinds, tides, or water flow when parking a car and there's no prop walk, so less excuses for getting it wrong. Just learn clutch control and you'l be fine.

If you have good spatial skills and can moor a boat ok (a much more challenging prospect than parking a car) then you are ahead of the possy. But like I say, not really much in common apart from the need to use good spatial planning and judgement.

 

[mollykins]

I know there's not much in common, but if I can parallel park a boat ok, will doing the same in a car be a lot more dificult?

 

[mollykins]

It's a similar technique and skills you need, we'll have to see when september comes . . . .

 

[sarabande]

so the motivation for learning to park a boat properly is whether the person you hit is rich or not ?

I hope that, when you get your first boat, someone does not apply the same warped standards when they park next to you.

It's about learning a technical skill, developing spatial judgement, and juggling two or three principal contributory external factors and the in-built physics of boat handling which can contribute to a boat's movement in the x and y axes.

 

[Solitaire]

Boats steer from the back around a nearly central pivot point over the keel.

Applies to yachts, but not to powerboats/motorboats. On going forward the pivot point is approximately 1/3 from the bow, in going in reverse the pivot point moves back to approx 1/3 from the stern. It is more pronounced on stern drives and outboards than boats on shafts, but it is still there.

 

[capnsensible]

It's about learning a technical skill, developing spatial judgement, and juggling two or three principal contributory external factors and the in-built physics of boat handling which can contribute to a boat's movement in the x and y axes.[/QUOTE]

Wow, I thought I was just mooring a boat!!

 

[Clarky]

It's a similar technique and skills you need, we'll have to see when september comes . . . .

If you are a female you will never be able to park without denting the wheels on the kerb ,its a genetic thing...

 

[2Tizwoz]

Perhaps when you feel the need to pull on your mooring lines to get parallel what you will find easier is one of these.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b32_1249797076

A bow-thruster for cars

 

[saltwater_gypsy]

Perhaps fenders (boat fenders not American bumpers) on your car might boost your confidence when parallell parking.

 

[prv]

Parallel parking a car is way easier. There are no other factors beyond the steering and throttle you apply, so it will do the same thing every time and you can go as slow as you like.

Pete

 

[l'escargot]

Parallel parking a car is way easier. There are no other factors beyond the steering and throttle you apply, so it will do the same thing every time and you can go as slow as you like.

Pete

I would say that the opposite is true in all circumstances other than when wind or tide is blowing you off. The other factors can help you - if the wind is blowing you on, just line up with the gap and go in sideways. You can't do that with a car!

 

[alan_d]

Car is much easier. A big difference is that if it seems to be going wrong in the car you can stop and think. If you stop the car it will stay in the same place while you work out what to do next. This is not the case with a boat ....

 

[contessa26]

Self Parking car

Perhaps when you feel the need to pull on your mooring lines to get parallel what you will find easier is one of these.

A bow-thruster for cars

Hi,
Another method that makes parallel parking a car easy, is to buy a VW with this system - readily available on Tiguan, Touran, and Golf... and it works, and isn't that expensive!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16Izr52lpFw

Try it out!

Happy sailing!

 

[mollykins]

Thanks for the replies, I was saying how you feel more pressure to not bump with a posh boat . . . . so park it more carefully.