On 06/04/11 05:16, Eric wrote:
> John,
>
> As a sailor, I'm sure that you've tried coming into a dock with even mild (10kt) wind. On my boat, as I'm approaching the dock at speeds of less than 2kts, I occasionally need bursts of 2500W or more to stop or steer the boat.
Interesting about how much people rely on reverse thrust as a brake - my
boat, back when it was powered by a 2 cylinder two stoke engine, had no
gearbox. The only way to get reverse power was to start the engine
backwards (being two stroke it would run either way subject to spark
timing). There was no way you could get the engine restarted in reverse
in the short time frame required for using it as a docking aid.
Thus I learned quite young, to dock the boat with out reverse thrust.
My boat is only 5m long and 750kg which probably helps things some what.
Now I'm lazy and give it a burst of reverse thrust to slow to a stop.
I've watched people in rental boats trying to 'park' them like they
would park a car. I was watching some one once who I was certain were
going to blow the gearbox.....
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