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Docking a boat can be one of the most stressful and nerve-wracking parts of a day on the water for many boaters
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Especially if you don't have a ton of experience maneuvering around in the boat and knowing how the boat will perform when you try to move it
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Which is why you are going to learn right now what steps to do and how to take a boat and dock it sideways in between two other boats
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Without hitting one of them or having a boat. having someone hanging off the boat trying to grab the dock or a piling
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As in our other video on how to correctly dock a boat, you want to think about these three
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key factors when coming up to a dock. Those are the wind, the current of the water, and the neutral position of your control box handle
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We won't reiterate those in detail in this video. Instead, you can check those out after learning these key techniques here in this video
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Now you're really only going to find yourself in two types of situations here, either coming
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at the dock from the side or coming at the dock straight on
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So let's cover this scenario coming at the dock from the side first
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You should definitely make sure that your boat is going to fit in the spot before attempting
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to get into the slip first. If you are unsure that the boat is going to fit, your best bet is going to be to just throw
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out some fenders or life jackets on the side of the boat. so that you can come up on the side of one of the boats that is parked there at the dock
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But as long as you know you will fit it in the slip, then here's what you want to do
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We are going to approach the dock slowly, and once we get about to the back of the boat before the slip we are approaching
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we want to turn the boat to be on about a 45 degree angle and have the bow of the boat pointing straight
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to about the middle or a little past the middle or something that is about in this region of the slip you pulling into
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Then remembering that we are going to be going in and out of gear, allowing the boat to mostly float while in the next
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neutral position and using the engine, the rudder, or the outdrive to guide us into the slip
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As we enter into the slip, we are going to want to be moving that point at which we are
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aiming at as we continue into the slip. We want that point that we are aiming at to move slowly
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from where we started to aim to about the spot in between the dock and the transom of the boat
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in front of us. Then, once we finally have the boat with about either on the dock or close to the dock
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We will turn the engine straight and once we hit that stray point, we can put it in reverse to slow us down
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and continue turning the wheel to get the engine pointing toward the dock so that it will pull the boat into the dock
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to complete a successfully smooth parallel park. This same method works for either way as well
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In case you are in a situation where you are coming at the slip opposite from the way the other boats are docked
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depending on wind, marinas, dockage, or whatever else situation you might find yourself in
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So with that understanding, the next situation is going to be a little more involved and take a little more patience in order to perform
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which is why you are going to need to understand these crucial points of how most boats handle in the water
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To some of you, this may seem unnecessary, but for others it might be new to you
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and so you want to be thinking about this. So bear with us because you don want to miss pulling straight into the slip and getting the boat sideways Now when we turn the wheel all the way to the left the engine will turn all the way to the port side of the boat or the left side
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Just remember that Port and Starboard are your directions, remembered because it is always looking forward to the bow from the back of the boat or at the helm
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And there are four letters in left and four letters in port, leaving Starboard to be the right
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But with the engine all the way to the port, if we put it in gear and give it a little throttle
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it is going to force the back of the boat to go to the right and push the front of the boat to the left
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Then in reverse, it pulls the back of the boat to the left and swings the front to the right
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The same as vice versa when we put the engine all the way to the right by turning the wheel all the way to the right
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and put it in reverse, it will drag the back of the boat to the right
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And it will swing the front to the left. Then when in forward it will shove the back to the left
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and swing the bow to the right. right. You mainly just need to be thinking about this counter motion of the bow and the stern of the
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boat when you are starting to make this maneuver, when you have no other option but to come
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straight into the slip and dock the boat sideways like if you are at the end of a c or in a
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marina where the slip is at the end against the dock. So as we are coming in straight at the dock
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depending on what way the wind is blowing, we are going to point the bow on the inside of the
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middle of the slip on the side where the wind is coming from from the middle of the spot we are
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pulling into. This will allow the wind to help blow us into the slip as we are doing this. We'll pull in
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pointing the nose at that spot and slowly stop the boat and begin nosing it into the slip by keeping that nose on the spot and as we get the boat to turn move that spot more towards the dock and trance of the boat in front of you just like we did when we were able to come in
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at that 45 degree angle. And we are basically just going to slowly turn the wheel back and forth, pulling and pushing
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the back of the boat towards the dock and keeping the bow on the dock until the connectivity
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until we can get the entire boat into the slip so that we can tie off and be in the slip
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This will take some time, but as long as you remember how the boat is going to react
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as you are turning the wheel back and forth and going from forward gear to reverse gear
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and from side to side, you will be able to work the boat into the slip without damaging anything
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during the process. Which we should probably make a video about stopping the boat and being able to keep the nose off the dock like we did
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but that is more of a practice makes perfect type of situation, and you can't really learn that without feeling the boat and seeing it and doing it yourself
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So I don't think we'll be able to put that into a video, but we'll see. Now let us know about your dock handling skills
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Did we miss any pointers that you know of? Let us know in the comment section below and shared this video with someone that you know that could use some pointers on handling their boat
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Don't forget to check out this video here on how to correctly dock a boat
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Subscribe to the channel, smash that like button, and visit us at born again boating.com
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Thank you for hanging out with us today and we'll see you next week. You know
