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Maneuvering question

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crystal_blue
1st Mate

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USA
58 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/26/2023 : 17:20:23

Happy holidays to all. I'll start with a general question, and then give some background.

The general question is: How effectively can the 250 WB be steered using prop walk alone, with no current but with sustained winds of 12-18 knots?

The background is:
--We just wrapped up our first season with our new-to-us 1996 250 WB.
--Our slip is at Lindon Marina on Utah Lake. The dock extends northwards from the harbor shore, with our slip on the east side of the dock about 3-4 boat lengths to the north of the rocky shoreline. There's another dock to the east of us, with fingers extending westwards to within 2.5 boat-lengths of our slip. We dock bow-in.
--We have a Yamaha 8 motor with tiller throttle; the structure of the transom/well/fuel locker prevents the motor from turning more than maybe five to ten degrees in either direction.
--Over this season I've gotten fairly "okay" at using prop walk to make a backing port turn out of the slip, with the boat headed northwest before I run out of space either to the east (where I'd crash into the boats across the fairway) or the south (where I'd ground on the rocks on the shore). I then have to get forward steerage way so that I can get pointed due north down the fairway, which I do using short throttle bursts forward so as to avoid having the bow pulled back to the west (port) via prop walk.

One day towards the end of this season, I came out to the marina with some of my kids to find a pretty steady 15-knot wind blowing north-to-south. It looked like great sailing weather, and we got the sail cover off and made ready to leave when suddenly I thought "wait a sec--how do we even get out of here?" The wind was dead on the starboard beam, and I worried that if I tried my usual backing turn to port that the wind would catch my bow, prevent it from coming upwind, and that eventually I'd be driven broadside into the rocks to the south. Backing to starboard out of the slip instead (and thence backing all the way out the fairway) would leave me fighting prop walk and, as I know from painful experience, would be hairy even on a calm day. But then again--might the northerly wind actually help me in this kind of maneuver by catching the bow and spinning the boat counterclockwise? Maybe; but if it didn't work I'd be in a world of hurt. Most of my neighbors' sterns were extending past the fingers and into the fairway, so finding some way to spring the boat off the dock didn't seem like an option either.

After about forty-five minutes of hemming and hawing, I concluded that discretion is the better part of valor and decided to just stay in port that day. But in hindsight I'm wondering whether maybe I was being too cautious and whether the prop walk in my usual maneuver would have been enough to get the boat turned upwind.

If not--does anyone have experience as to whether a motor mount would improve the Yamaha 8's ability to turn, so that I can get some directed thrust working in my favor? (From marks on my transom gelcoat, it actually looks like a PO may have had a motor mount installed at some point in the past; and I'm sort of wondering why on earth someone might have removed it.)

Barring that, does anyone have any alternate ideas about ways to safely get out of a slip in that orientation under those conditions?

Thanks, all--

Jim and Crystal Smith
Lehi, Utah
1996 Catalina 250 WB #191 "Mariah"

DavidCrosby
Navigator

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USA
229 Posts

Response Posted - 12/26/2023 : 18:19:01

My boat came with what I believe is a Catalina factory option to extend the outboard out away from the transom. With this extension, I can swing the motor quite far in both directions. I have really good steering ability in reverse and can make extremely sharp turns in forward by swinging the motor and turning the tiller the same way.

I have a friend that has a C250wb, just 30 boats newer than my wk. He has the same factory extension. Also, there is a 2006 wk for sale at our marina. That boat has the extension as well. I have included a sreenshot from his ad.

Shortly after purchasing the boat, I removed the motor mount and mounted the motor directly on the transom and discovered your same complaint. I put it back on the extension. After several years use with the extension mount, I finally bought a powered lift since my wife could not tilt the motor up. This lift puts the motor a bit closer to the transom, but still is far enough away that I can freely turn the motor.

If you look closely between the hull and powerlift, you will see a thick Starboard (plastic) board. This board came with the stainless steel extension and was mounted on the side near the top of the photo. I needed to mount the power lift away from the hull to get me a little more space for tilting and swinging the motor. So, my photo of the extension lacks that white board.

David Crosby "Small World"
'02 C250 WK #614

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 12/26/2023 : 22:41:26

The following is without benefit of seeing your situation, and therefore dubious...

First, consider backing up the fairway. You could get "prop-walk" to work for you if you backed out of the slip (tiller slightly to port) using some throttle bursts in forward gear (tiller hard to starboard) to make prop-walk push your stern to starboard. That plus the north wind pushing your mast and bow to port should help you pivot so you could back out of the fairway. My question would be whether you might end up too close to those rocks to the south before you can get some steerageway going in reverse to the north. Backing for a distance is trickier because the rudder wants to go hard to one side or the other, but once you get under way at moderate throttle, prop-walk shouldn't be much of a factor.

Try this in open water or at your dock in quiet conditions. In open water, you could toss a fender into the water to represent a dock that you could maneuver around. That would allow you to see the effect of the wind in the maneuver.

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 12/26/2023 22:47:51

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.