Tips for marina berthing singlehanded?

I most emphatically don't put myself forward as any sort of expert like this - my boat lives on a swinging mooring and I am only an occasional visitor to marinas. That said ... as I have a long keel, a high bow and a small engine, I find that 80% of the battle is getting the right berth in the first place. Into wind (I don't do "backwards") and port side to (because the burst of reverse to stop her pulls the stern round to port).

If I get a berth like that, it's generally pretty straightforward. Turn into berth, aim to have the bow almost touching the finger while half way in and doing walking speed, then full belt astern for ten seconds or so straightens and stops her. What happens next depends on the wind. If there is none or little I can shove the boat around by hand as needed while doing stuff with ropes. If there is a bit more I generally have a line aft from the midships cleat ready, stick that on to the end of the finger, put the engine in slow ahead and sort out the rest.

If the berth is awkward it takes a lot longer and may involve going somewhere else temporarily and then warping into where I want to end up, or asking for help, or going somewhere else.
 
Not sure if I can put this across clearly but I moor bows to in Spain and there are posts at the stern for the stern lines. I have a line fixed from one of the posts at the stern to the dock with a loop where the midships cleat is when she's on the berth. Once she's between the posts, I stop the boat and pull her in using the said fixed line then drop the loop over the midships cleat. Once that is on, she's going nowhere and I can attach the mooring lines at leisure before opening a beer.
 
Rick_A said:
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Must admit though I love sitting in marinas watching boats come in too fast with their crew jumping onto the pontoon to try and stop the boat.
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Judging the amount of way to have on relative to the windspeed/current is crucial imo. Never too much.

Read a great tip on here but have not tried it yet - one of the hardest berthing situations (even if fully crewed) is when the wind is blowing you off the pontoon. If you are a late arrival quite often the leeward pontoons are all taken so in this situation set your fenders to leeward and then simply come alongside the leeward boat, make fast and then just warp your boat over onto the windward side at your leisure.
 
Storyline said:
Read a great tip on here but have not tried it yet - one of the hardest berthing situations (even if fully crewed) is when the wind is blowing you off the pontoon. If you are a late arrival quite often the leeward pontoons are all taken so in this situation set your fenders to leeward and then simply come alongside the leeward boat, make fast and then just warp your boat over onto the windward side at your leisure.
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I've done that! It's a little more work, but has the added advantage that you end up being blown off the pontoon - I set my warps so I'm about 6" clear - so bingo, no squeaking fenders.
 
Prepare the lines and fenders both sides. My 40 footer has a scoop stearn, so I always reverse in until a foot from the main walkway, stop her with a dab of ahead then step smartly off to attach a short stern line. Then when the wind is blowing her off technology steps in with the bow thruster remote control, which I've remembered to hang round my neck, turn on and test (?!) being used to bring the bow back in and tied up. Works great unless I forgot the preperation, in which case I go back out, set up and try again.
 
I use a single spring line running from bow to stern with plenty of slack in it. I hop ashore close to the midway pontoon cleat and quickly belay the line to the cleat so neither bow nor stern can now go far and I can tie off the bow and stern lines at my leisure. It works and I am amazed that its not a technique used more often though it does work best when there is a cleat on the pontoon about midships.
If there isn't one, then there is enough slack to take a turn round the cleats at either end of the pontoon, doing whichever end needs belaying first.

There isn't a central cleat on the boat and nor do I use a fixed loop.
 
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I think I do similar to Ianj99. I have a 27' trimaran that I nearly always singlehand and it's always a bit interesting coming into marinas, especially if they have allocated me a spot 6" narrower than the boat..... (Thanks Burnham). I can't really spin on the spot so need to have headway in order to turn, and as soon as I do stop the wind does rather tend to take over rather quickly. I attach a long line to the stern cleat then pass it outside everything to the bow cleat so that I have one big loop. I then try to come alongside or into the berth going ahead, slow the boat right down about a foot off and parallel to the pontoon and then quickly step ashore with the loop of rope. I drop it over a cleat/bollard near the stern and then take the tension as the boat stops whilst walking forward pulling the bow in with the other hand before dropping the bow end of the loop over another cleat/bollard. You can then stand in the middle and pull either end in before wrapping excess loop around one of the cleats. It obviously helps having such a light boat.

If it's a finger berth and the wind is going to blow me off it as soon as I try and come in I will motor head to wind and stop with the centre of the boat level with the end of the pontoon. I can then step onto the end of the pontoon with my loop and the wind will rotate the boat around me and reverse it into the berth.
 
Triassic said:
I think I do similar to Ianj99. I have a 27' trimaran that I nearly always singlehand and it's always a bit interesting coming into marinas, especially if they have allocated me a spot 6" narrower than the boat..... (Thanks Burnham). I can't really spin on the spot so need to have headway in order to turn, and as soon as I do stop the wind does rather tend to take over rather quickly. I attach a long line to the stern cleat then pass it outside everything to the bow cleat so that I have one big loop. I then try to come alongside or into the berth going ahead, slow the boat right down about a foot off and parallel to the pontoon and then quickly step ashore with the loop of rope. I drop it over a cleat/bollard near the stern and then take the tension as the boat stops whilst walking forward pulling the bow in with the other hand before dropping the bow end of the loop over another cleat/bollard. You can then stand in the middle and pull either end in before wrapping excess loop around one of the cleats. It obviously helps having such a light boat.
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Yes that's how I do it depending on wind and tide and availability of a central pontoon cleat. My 10ton ketch has no brakes so I cannot zip in and do a crash stop but at least it is not blown off course too rapidly and I do sometimes step onto the end of the pontoon and use the line like the reins of a horse to walk the boat into position. There's always time to get the line round a cleat if a gust comes along.

There is another feature of this method which I hope never to try out and its this: How does a 60+ diabetic singlehander get back aboard a high sided yacht even with a harness and lifeline attached? I doubt I have the grip & arm strength to haul myself up the lifeline nor even if I could kick myself high enough to grab the toe rail.
But by leaving the fore aft line attached, there is enough slack for it to reach the water midships. It can then be used as a 'step' and knelt or stood on to make recovery possible.
Ian
 
davidwf said:
I use a loop held open by threading the loop through some clear plastic hose, attach to midships cleat and drop over cleat at the end of the pontoon now power against it with helm hard over, boat will then sit happily against the pontoon while you attach the other warps.

This only really works well if pontoon is the same length or longer than your boat, marina shortened my pontoon when they replaced it and I have actually downsized the boat as a result. Original one was 10m now got an 8m on order. The issue was that I was having to leave the cockpit to get the loop on.

Alternative that works if the pontoon is too short is to reverse in drop the loop over the very last cleat and power forward again with helm hard over.
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+1 for using a pipe to 'stiffen' the loop when dropping over a cleat on a pontoon. I use rigid water pipe two thirds the height of my topsides with a spliced loop mooring line threaded through it. I rig it to either my centre cleat or stern cleat, depending on where I'm berthing. Drop the loop over the pontoon cleat, cinch it up on the boat cleat, engine in gentle forward, helm hard over and she swings herself in gracefully. I used to just throw a loop over a cleat but that was too hit and miss, literally!

In my home berth I've also rigged a pole and hook on the end of the pontoon to hold my permanently rigged stern line at chest height so I just have to lean over and drop it over a cleat and then step ashore leisurely to attach the bow line and springs while the boat holds itself under engine. I'm not a fan of jumping off the boat since a friend fell in doing so when I was taking a boat alongside a finger berth and left us a few feet off it. It took two of us to get him out, so solo it's a no no.

It can get a bit nervy in my home berth as the electricity distribution box is a couple of feet from where my bow comes to rest. The day that I miss the cleat is going to be very interesting :ambivalence:
 
We found that all these mid spring or quarter spring ideas do not work too well on our boat as it has a saildrive. There is a big distance between the prop and the rudder and so you do not get enough prop wash over the rudder to hold the stern in, unless the spring is almost at the back of the boat.

Look here

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?416353-Women-Drivers-(Helmspersons)/page4

reply 40 to see how we modified the approach and we use this method all the time.

As described previously,it allows us to alwauys head for the "blowing off" pontoon, so we have a quiet nights sleep with no squeaky fenders.
 
Stem fenders

Don't think anyone has mentioned a stem fender. One of those things that you tie to either side of the pulpit and it protects the stem when you ram the main pontoon.
Mine, a reasonably robust version, cost £80 and has saved my stem gel coats several times. If the line to the centre cleat is too long, if I miss the outer cleat with the hose reinforced loop or any other of the possible cock ups the stem fender means no damage.
Of course fenders on both sides if one is parking in the usual double bay. Maybe no dignity but also no damage.
 
birdseye said:
I've never been refused help in any marina and when we had a cat we used to ask for help every time there was any sort of cross wind.
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Can be a bit overwhelming... We visited Turgutreis Marina near Bodrum in Turkey. It had only been open one year and was large and mostly empty. So we had three "joker" boats giving us conflicting instructions in broken English as to what they wanted us to do!

Mike.
 
doris said:
Don't think anyone has mentioned a stem fender. One of those things that you tie to either side of the pulpit and it protects the stem when you ram the main pontoon. Mine, a reasonably robust version, cost £80
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Good point, I bought a foam filled one this year for the same price as yours. It's fiddly to attach without fender clips, but agree about its gelcoat saving properties.
 
For berthing I do something similar to Ianj99 and Triassic (posts #28/9).

I rig a very long warp from the bow to the mid cleat and then on to the transom. Also have a bow fender, but rarely need to use it. So entering any berth (I have to lock in and out of my marina), becomes very easy as you can secure the boat with the aft line and then use the forward part to complete the job. Being continuous means you can also adjust the lengths if the berth cleats are not quite in the correct position. To assist in rigging, the middle of the warp is marked so I ensure there is plenty of length in both parts. If I remember correctly it measures 3 times the overall length of the boat. Using 4 individual warps is so much more difficult and would never entertain this in any circumstances, included fully crewed.
 
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