Docking my IP27 in tight area ... What am I doing wrong?

After purchasing our I.P.27 and 2 1/2 months on the hard, she is finally in the water. I am surprised at the difficulty of handling durning docking. I understand that a full keel is very different than my Seaward 19 wing keel in that she isn't very responsive ... at all!
Here is what I've observed:

1.) She won't turn to port so using the STANDING TURN with prop walk to starboard is the only option. Works okay until the wind is blowing greater than a few knots then the bow over-rides the maneuver. Wow, not good!

2.) At 2.5 knots, she will do a 180 degree turn in about one in a half boat lengths. Less than that she is sluggish and outright non responsive at idle. Surley docking at this speed isn't normal ... Is it?

Are we forced to using the Spring Line every time we need to make a tight turn? I am open to all suggestions!
Thanks, Tracy

Tracy, you and I are struggling with the same issues. I have found that the only real way to get our IP27 to turn under power is to have prop wash going over the rudder surface. Leaving the engine idle and in neutral as we have done on all of our previous boats when docking provides very little directional control on this one. Unlike what Hayden describes above, we do not back into our slip. Actually, none of the sailboats at our club back in and I can't say I have ever seen a sailboat backed into a slip in our area, not sure why that is exactly?

In any event, the only control we really have is going forward, in gear. Backing is, as Hayden said, going to produce a prop walk to port. Although the majority of our previous boats had the same backing characteristic, I always seemed to manage to use it to my advantage. There is just something about this boat that I can't wrap my head around. This previous summer I had a helper on board and practiced entering and leaving our slip in crosswinds for about an hour. Try #1 was just as ugly as the final try. I finally gave up and realized that I will always hit something when coming into the slip in a crosswind....either the piling or the finger pier. There is just not enough control to thread that needle.

To further complicate this, the admiral is VERY uncomfortable with how this boat handles when docking or leaving our slip. So much so that if the wind is blowing across the bow she doesn't want to go out. I have set up a "landing line" that is basically a spring line that hangs off a hook on our finger pier post. When docking, that line goes over the midships cleat on the starboard side. When that line goes taunt, it pulls the boat into the finger pier on the starboard side. The engine is in gear and at idle which gives us steerage and keeps the line taunt. The last step is to turn the wheel to port steer away from the dock, that causes the stern to also go against the finger pier. The maneuver holds the boat against the pier so we can then put on the dock lines.

I would guess that every slip will be a little different, but what we have decided to do when leaving our slip is to just walk the boat back keeping hold onto the lifeline to keep the bow from blowing over one way or the other. The engine is at idle, in neutral and the wheel is centered. I hop on at the last second, settle in and shift into reverse with the wheel hard over to port. The rudder and the prop walk bring us to port. I shift into neutral, wheel hard to starboard, then shift into forward gear with enough throttle to put a good wash over the rudder. That kicks us around, straightens the boat out so we can head down the canal and out.

All of those things said, I have been given orders to find us a new slip for next season that will be easier to deal with in a cross wind.

Craig

I'm with Craig and do what he does: I have to make a sharp right turn in a narrow fairway to get to my dock, which is right there after I turn. I make a slow wide turn at walking speed to starboard, aim my bow at the finger pier at a 30-degree angle, use reverse and prop walk to pull the stern around and slow the boat's forward motion, and then give one final hit of forward to reach the dock at the slowest speed possible. I then send one crew off the boat with the bowline in hand; he first slips the aft spring line (left waiting on the dock) over the starboard midship cleat and then walks forward with the bowline and ties it down. At the same time, either crew #2 or I take the stern line off the boat and tie it down. This works well with wind on the nose, pretty well with wind coming from port (blowing the boat into the dock), less well with wind from starboard (blowing the boat and in particular the bow away from the dock), and worst with the wind behind (since I have to use reverse to slow the boat down and doing this slowly and in control is never easy).

On launch, one crew walks the bow back, pushes out the stern, and hops on as I back away pretty hard in reverse, let her drift back, and then shift to forward and power up pretty quickly to get the bow around.

Overall, I find that the biggest problem is freeboard, not prop walk. The slightest wind pushes the bow around quickly and with force, so it's very important that I position myself on launch so the wind is on the proper side (port, in my case) of the bow.

I talk the crew through every launch and landing well in advance. I make sure that crew sees and touches the aft spring line -- the key to a safe landing -- before we launch. I tell the crew no body parts between the boat and the dock -- the boat will survive contact, they won't -- so no heroics, please! And, on occasion, I end up having to make more than one approach. Safety is key; appearances are not.

Michael Luskin
"Turtleheart" IP27-146
Scarsdale, NY

Craig,
Thanks for your input. I can understand your wife's in-trepidation when the winds start to blow. This boat is so much larger than our Seaward 19 that it's a challenge! I will re-read your advice slowly and work toward applying it.
Tracy

Hayden,
I appreciate you in depth input on both emails! I will sit down and draw out your explanation so I can try and incorporate it. You're using a term that I'm not familiar with. What do you mean by "warping the line"?
Tracy

Michael,
You seem to have covered your bases well. I like your overall approach to launching and retrieving her. I will need to sit down and try to think it through. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it!
Tracy

When I purchased my IP370 this spring and went out on the sea trial for the survey I thought what am I doing. Will never be able to handle the boat easily myself if need be. Best thing I did was take the Maryland School docking course. They use only IP's. And just as Hayden describes you learn the physics of the boat. It ONLY turns with full control to starboard. As he describes you can rotate in slightly over about length. Also to the comment about speed, you must have water washing over the prop or you have no control. While I still have much to learn I single hand now frequently and choose carefully for a port stern approach in slips and also to fuel docks for control. Once you get the glide and pull of a port stern approach it is very doable. The amount and duration of prop wash intensity control the amount of turn once you get in the slip. Cannot recommend the course enough. Also met several great sailors there as well. All this said spent the afternoon practicing approaching and picking up a mooring with sails only. Lost my engine on Sunday do to a clogged filter (which I had replaced in July - my bad) and it was a wake up call . Learned a lot about how she handles for tight maneuvers.

Fair wind.

Hayden, I had a chance to watch a docking video from that school over the weekend, actually watched a few times. That is a wonderful resource, thank you for the tip. I was also thinking about backing into the slip and can find no good reason to pull in bow first other than we have always done that? Backing in is first on my list come spring launch. I believe that backing in may solve some of our issues, using the tips from the Maryland video should also help.

Thanks again. I will try and watch some other things that came up on youtube as well.

Craig

Please excuse me for entering an old thread, but this thread has been a real help.

We cannot dock our IP 420. Our dock, while coming in, is to our port. We have a Capt teaching us to dock, and he has us docking to port going forward. This is probably because we are not ready to back in even this is how we always docked our powerboat. We also have a temperamental bow thruster that has been getting too hot and breaks the thermal breaker if we use it any where more than 60 seconds or so at a time.

I read Hayden's comment above and it appears to be very logical. Since the walk is to port so why not turn out at the slip, walk to port as you are backing in, back and forth until straight taking advantage of prop walk and then back straight in (assuming no wind)? What Haden wrote appears to be more logical than trying to turn in forward going to port. So far we have scuffed the heck out of our hull more than a few times.

My question is that in this thread Hayden says, "So, using this walking to port in reverse means that you always want to be turning to starboard when docking. We always back into our slips and we always turn to starboard”.

Would you all consider this best practice and adhere to "you always want to be turning to starboard when docking"?