Offshoreonly.com - New to boating, advice / instruction?

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Good point about the wind ALL IN.

Easy way to dock parallel is to 'warp' the boat in if you have room. Back the boat in at idle with someone on the platform and a rope attached to the rear cleat you want to tie off from. When you're close enough, have him throw the rope around the dock bollard and secure the end back onto the boat cleat. Put your inside engine into fwd, idle speed only, and turn your wheel in towards the dock and wait. May take a little while but she'll come in nicely. Works well for a single engine boat too,

If you're backing in to a berth and there's a cross wind, use the wind to stop the boat turning. Back up into the wind, perpendicular to the berth and turn the nose out using gearshifts to swing the boat around and in. By going against the wind, the wind will stop the turning (pivot) motion. If you go with the wind, when you get straight it will continue to push you around further.

Using the wheel when turning helps but if you don't have a rudder indicator, you can get stuck if you forget the exact position of the drives. If you've got shaft drives, it don't make much difference because shafts don't steer, only the rudder, and the rudder depends on water flow through the water and at idle, there ain't much!

RR

Don’t forget about Youtube instructional videos. That’s my go to for everything these days.

Here’s some simple advice:

Hi. My name is Michael Jones and we have a houseboat out at R dock at Las Vegas Boat Harbor. Tho I don't offshore, I follow this group when I can and their advice is invaluable. I own a 28 ft. LaveyCraft with a single engine. A different animal from yours, but I enjoy the hell out of it. I joined an outfit called the Power Squadron last year. They are a national group and have a local chapter at Lake Mead. Mostly old salts that know more about the lake, safety and boating in general than anyone else around.
Wind was mentioned a few times on this thread. It is a significant issue anywhere, but in particular where you will be boating. A good app to have is called FishWeather. I have found it to be very useful in predicting the weather and wind patterns out there. I still have managed to get my azz kicked a few times on the lake anyway. Oh, by the way you will be boating in the deadliest national park in the nation....just sayin. I would love to help you out any way I can. I'll even provide the beer at the end of the day.. If you like, feel free to email me at [email protected].. Congrats on your new boat.

I’m sitting in a airport heading to Vegas as I type. To bad you didn’t have it already, I could show you everything from mantanance to docking to running it. Best of luck with it.
Todd

Best advice I can give, BRING LOTS OF MONEY!!

WOW just saw this post -- I'm not in the same league of boating as most of the folks on this site - but we all have the love of being on the water.

If there is one piece of advice that i would give anyone - take it real slow - don't try to get out on a busy day and try to do all this stuff - it will drive you crazy and most likely you'll meet the worst of boaters. I know when we went from our old Tri-hull to our Cobalt - it was a quantum jump. It handled way different - stopping needed more planning and wind across the bow - now became a little more important. Another tid bit - don't skimp on the safety stuff - everyone coming back to shore in one piece is always a good thing. I really wish you all the best - send pics and above all HAVE FUN !!

3pointstar

Back it in the water and have fun. If you get the chance try navigating around an Buoy . See how the boat reacts with the sticks and the wheel. It's not that hard. The basic way to think about it is it's like driving a bobcat skid steer . Congrats and stay calm

Congratulations on your purchase. A lot of great advise on this site. My main port of call is Lake Havasu but have been on Lake Mead a handful of times. Awesome place to boat but as with any body of water it needs to be respected. I know a few really good performance boat guys in your area. You can find them on River Dave’s Place.

Just get in a Drive it. The only way to learn--- AND watch the Fuel Gauge! It will disappear Fast :ernaehrung004:

The most important thing is familiarizing yourself. A lot of people will recommend that newbies leave the wheel alone when docking, I somewhat agree. I’ve taught a lot of people how to operate their boats. Some are able to remember which way they turned the wheel, some can’t remember to pull a shifter out of gear and into neutral. The more familiar you can get with how the boat reacts, and the amount of things you can keep track of at once the better. On a triple I use all 3 engines, the wheel and throttle input. I use the center engine to aid whichever side I need to favor. In some instances I.e big sea rays that tend to drift one direction when backing down I’ll even use rudder input to help track better. Good luck, and like said previously don’t approach anything any faster than you’re willing to hit it.