Training the wife

[LittleSister]

I could turn a Vancouver 27 or 34 in not much more than one and a half boat lengths by going forward and astern using the prop wash and rudder. If there was suitable current it could be achieved in a shorter space. Took a while to learn and get over the fear of entering a closed ally going to your designated berth. . .

Pah! Vancouvers have them they new-fangled vertically mounted rudders of a decent chord depth and no cut out. Probably even a girl could steer 'em!



When men were men the rudders of proper long-keelers were skinny things mounted on the back of the keel (keel ideally of considerable thickness to shield the prop and rudder from excessively smooth flow of water) approaching 45 degrees from the vertical, and with a cut-out behind the prop (again, ideally a tiny two-blader driven by an 8hp Sabb or similar), as God intended. Most of a blast from the prop with the rudder over would have an uninterrupted path aftwards, and what little might catch the limited rudder area behind the prop would be deflected upwards as much as to one side.



Of course, it's all been going downhill since rudders replaced steering oars. Those manly Vikings managed to steer perfectly well without prop wash over rudders, and I bet they didn't ask their marinas for an easily accessible berth. Whatever next, bow thrusters?

 

[Wansworth]

Pah! Vancouvers have them they new-fangled vertically mounted rudders of a decent chord depth and no cut out. Probably even a girl could steer 'em!

View attachment 204696View attachment 204697

When men were men the rudders of proper long-keelers were skinny things mounted on the back of the keel (keel ideally of considerable thickness to shield the prop and rudder from excessively smooth flow of water) approaching 45 degrees from the vertical, and with a cut-out behind the prop (again, ideally a tiny two-blader driven by an 8hp Sabb or similar), as God intended. Most of a blast from the prop with the rudder over would have an uninterrupted path aftwards, and what little might catch the limited rudder area behind the prop would be deflected upwards as much as to one side.

View attachment 204695

Of course, it's all been going downhill since rudders replaced steering oars. Those manly Vikings managed to steer perfectly well without prop wash over rudders, and I bet they didn't ask their marinas for an easily accessible berth. Whatever next, bow thrusters?

View attachment 204699

Vikings probably had like wot the Galician and Basque oared boats have a man in the bows who literally sticks his oar in to pivot the skiff round the mark

 

[Dellquay13]

I would also second the suggestion to get dock lines set up at your berth, ready to be caught with a boat hook or even by hand. I have them on my berth for my 24’er

Here you go Wansey, this is a picture of mine as I left my berth this morning, arranged for an easy grab by hand or boat hook as I slowly come back in.
I pick up the right hand one and drop it over my port sheet winch cleat, which usually brings me to a gentle stop, but if needed I can gently motor forward against it with a bit of port tiller to hold me against the pontoon while I get the left hand line onto the stern cleat and step ashore and get the prepared deck lines onto the bow cleats.

 

[Bouba]

Here you go Wansey, this is a picture of mine as I left my berth this morning, arranged for an easy grab by hand or boat hook as I slowly come back in.
I pick up the right hand one and drop it over my port sheet winch cleat, which usually brings me to a gentle stop, but if needed I can gently motor forward against it with a bit of port tiller to hold me against the pontoon while I get the left hand line onto the stern cleat and step ashore and get the prepared deck lines onto the bow cleats.

I always arrange my lines as well...trouble is, during the day, tourists walking up and down the docks, kick them in the water

 

[Dellquay13]

I always arrange my lines as well...trouble is, during the day, tourists walking up and down the docks, kick them in the water

1, there hasn’t been a tourist to Milford Haven docks since the 1920s
2, I’m at the end of a finger pontoon surrounded by liveaboards who would quickly deter any lost tourists, they’d be throwing themselves into the harbour for a quick escape if any of the boat troglodytes stuck their heads out of a companionway

 

[Wansworth]

Here you go Wansey, this is a picture of mine as I left my berth this morning, arranged for an easy grab by hand or boat hook as I slowly come back in.
I pick up the right hand one and drop it over my port sheet winch cleat, which usually brings me to a gentle stop, but if needed I can gently motor forward against it with a bit of port tiller to hold me against the pontoon while I get the left hand line onto the stern cleat and step ashore and get the prepared deck lines onto the bow cleats.

I have to renew my mooring lines so will investigate

 

[Wansworth]

I always arrange my lines as well...trouble is, during the day, tourists walking up and down the docks, kick them in the water

My marina has access only for boat owners

 

[Bouba]

My marina has access only for boat owners

So how did you see the boat for the first time?

 

[capnsensible]

So how did you see the boat for the first time?

My lucky guess would be accompanying the previous owner?

 

[Wansworth]

So how did you see the boat for the first time?

It was advertised on Milanuncios ,the bottom end of the yacht market here in Galicia.All the marinas are now closed off which is a great shame and to my mind it’s restricting the access to the harbour to just boat owners and why should they get to have access to the water.Reminds me of my disgust at the trots in West Cowes being taken over by Groves and Gutteridge for a marina.The town where my wife comes from converted the harbour into a marina where before it was a fish dock and fishermen and net menders mingled with the visitors or just locals out to seethe sardines being unloaded and usually given a bag full by the fishermen ….lotsof human activity now reduced to plastic yachts behind steel gates …..dead

 

[johnalison]

Here you go Wansey, this is a picture of mine as I left my berth this morning, arranged for an easy grab by hand or boat hook as I slowly come back in.
I pick up the right hand one and drop it over my port sheet winch cleat, which usually brings me to a gentle stop, but if needed I can gently motor forward against it with a bit of port tiller to hold me against the pontoon while I get the left hand line onto the stern cleat and step ashore and get the prepared deck lines onto the bow cleats.

I used to do something hing like that but graduated (descended?) to putting the loops on a short pole, which obviates the need to leave the boat or use a boat hook. We call them Saga poles.

 

[Bouba]

I made a rope stand and posted here as a project

Thread 'Homemade tools'

20 Apr 2025

continuing my series of my homemade tools…I came across this at the back of the boat’s tool cupboard…. I call it, scrubbing brush on a stick

• Bouba
• Replies: 133
• Forum: Motor Boat Forum

 

[Dellquay13]

All the marinas are now closed off which is a great shame and to my mind it’s restricting the access to the harbour to just boat owners and why should they get to have access to the water.Reminds me of my disgust at the trots in West Cowes being taken over by Groves and Gutteridge for a marina.The town where my wife comes from converted the harbour into a marina where before it was a fish dock and fishermen and net menders mingled with the visitors or just locals out to seethe sardines being unloaded and usually given a bag full by the fishermen ….lotsof human activity now reduced to plastic yachts behind steel gates …..dead

I’m glad that the oi polloi are kept behind a security gate here. They are free to walk around the harbour, and across the dock lock gates, but they can’t get down onto the pontoons.

There is normally a marina drop off and lock waiting pontoon for the local fishing and diving charter boats, and marina boats, with an access bridge on the seaward side of the harbour wall in Summer, but it had to be taken back into the harbour and put out of use because of youths using it for drinking, diving and riding eScooters at speed. It was a magnet for teenagers in the summer holidays and I understand that, but it really wasn’t safe to go anywhere near in a boat for their safety, and the Police were just told to ‘F off, it’s not your jurisdiction, it’s port authority private property!’ Obviously one of their parents was an armchair lawyer…

If you had Tourists like Bouba, or town yobs like me, you might start to cherish your marina access fob

 

[Wansworth]

I’m glad that the oi polloi are kept behind a security gate here. They are free to walk around the harbour, and across the dock lock gates, but they can’t get down onto the pontoons.

There is normally a marina drop off and lock waiting pontoon with access bridge on the seaward side of the harbour wall in Summer, but it had to be taken back into the harbour and put out of use because of youths using it for drinking, diving and riding eScooters at speed. It really wasn’t safe to go anywhere near in a boat for their safety, and the Police were just told to ‘F off, it’s not your jurisdiction, it’s port authority private property!’ Obviously one of their parents was an armchair lawyer…

If you had Tourists like Bouba, or town yobs like me, you might start to cherish your marina access fob

Two marinas that I have had experience with,Chichester Marina up near Dell Quay and Birdham Pool .When I lived in that area those marinas didn’t have gates

 

[Dellquay13]

Two marinas that I have had experience with,Chichester Marina up near Dell Quay and Birdham Pool .When I lived in that area those marinas didn’t have gates

I had my auxiliary motor stolen off the back of my boat in the marina during the first covid lockdown, even behind a locked gate.
When I finally got back to the boat in the summer, carrying another 4hp motor bought partly with the paltry insurance payout, there was my old auxiliary motor back on the bracket, winking at me and with loads of scratches and dents. That caused me no end of grief with the insurance company and lost my no claims bonus. I’m glad for the modern security upgrades since.

 

[LittleSister]

It's been mentioned before in either this thread or another, but it can be useful to put a bit of flexible hose over the loop at the end of docking lines to keep the loop open and hence easier/faster to drop over cleats, etc. I regularly used one one end of a line taken round a midships cleat (or, on an earlier boat lacking these, through a midships fairlead, all the way to a bow cleat) and back to the cockpit. This would be dropped over the cleat on the end of the pontoon finger of my berth, pulling the boat to a halt and against the finger

There are also various patent 'gadgets on a stick' for putting a line round e.g. a mooring buoy, which can sometime be handy for coming alongside, depending on the fittings on and around the pontoon. (I have one that was very useful in the lock that enclosed the marina I used to be in. Sadly, the dimension of those tubular loops on the end of French etc. pontoon fingers are cunningly designed to defeat any such easy-grab solutions. If anyone has found an easy way to deal with those loops (especially single-handed) I'd be pleased to hear of it.)

And how come cowboy style lassoing has never caught on in marine circles?

 

[mjcoon]

And how come cowboy style lassoing has never caught on in marine circles?

Misunderstanding of "steer"?

 

[capnsensible]

It's been mentioned before in either this thread or another, but it can be useful to put a bit of flexible hose over the loop at the end of docking lines to keep the loop open and hence easier/faster to drop over cleats, etc. I regularly used one one end of a line taken round a midships cleat (or, on an earlier boat lacking these, through a midships fairlead, all the way to a bow cleat) and back to the cockpit. This would be dropped over the cleat on the end of the pontoon finger of my berth, pulling the boat to a halt and against the finger

There are also various patent 'gadgets on a stick' for putting a line round e.g. a mooring buoy, which can sometime be handy for coming alongside, depending on the fittings on and around the pontoon. (I have one that was very useful in the lock that enclosed the marina I used to be in. Sadly, the dimension of those tubular loops on the end of French etc. pontoon fingers are cunningly designed to defeat any such easy-grab solutions. If anyone has found an easy way to deal with those loops (especially single-handed) I'd be pleased to hear of it.)

And how come cowboy style lassoing has never caught on in marine circles?

Lasooing in the marine sense (a length of dockline secured to the boat at one end and coiled with a part in each hand) rather than the cowboy method is really easy with a small amount of practice. For those pontoons with that metal hoop, just lasso the whole end of the pontoon. If your boat is longer than the pontoon, secure the end of the line to a strong point neat the centre of the boat, spring style.

I found this works well, tidy up afterwards.

 

[LittleSister]

Lasooing in the marine sense (a length of dockline secured to the boat at one end and coiled with a part in each hand) rather than the cowboy method is really easy with a small amount of practice. For those pontoons with that metal hoop, just lasso the whole end of the pontoon. If your boat is longer than the pontoon, secure the end of the line to a strong point neat the centre of the boat, spring style.

I found this works well, tidy up afterwards.

Thanks for the tip on the pontoon finger hoops.

The maritime 'lassoing' technique you mention is all very well (and I've used it), but provides neither the style and panache I'd like to display (ideally within sight of the yacht club bar) nor the ability to grab something 20 feet away.