How to Dock an Inboard Ski Boat
Docking a boat with an inboard engine means that you have the advantage of a rudder that you can use to help bring the stern of the boat into the dock with no extra effort, once you've docked the bow of the boat. Docking any boat is no mean feat, and docking one well, without wild bursts of power and noise, is one of the marks of a skillful boater.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Ensure the dock lines at the front and rear of the boat are ready for deployment, on the side of the boat that you will land against the dock. Approach the dock into the current, at a 45-degree angle, at slow speed.
-
2
When the boat is one boat width from the dock, pull the throttle back all the way to move the motor into neutral and turn the steering wheel away from the dock only enough to keep from hitting the dock. Leave the wheel in this position and move to the bow -- the front of the boat.
-
-
3
Place the eye, the loop at the end of the mooring line, of the bow line over the cleat or bollard on the pier. Turn and secure the line to the cleat on the deck of your boat.
-
4
Move to the rear of the boat and put the stern line over the bollard or cleat on the pier. Turn and secure the line to the cleat on the deck of your boat.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
When the motor is moved to neutral, the current will push the boat, still at a 45-degree angle, backward and toward the dock, even as the bow of the boat turns into the current. Because the boat will be pushed into the dock faster than the bow can turn, the current will force the boat into the dock, as if the boat is docking itself. Because you leave the wheel turned when you move forward to tend the bow line, after the bow is secured, the bow will try to turn away from the pier, forcing the stern into the pier. Because the bow is secured, the stern will hug the pier, meaning no further effort is required.
Wear a life vest throughout the process.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
