I think you’ll find differences in preference by marina or region. In addition to the potential marina specific considerations above, I’ll add the following:
- The scenery and privacy is generally better docked bow in rather than with your cockpit to the dock.
- Prop walk might favor backing in or out depending on which way you come and go.
- Some people find boat handling generally easier when docking bow first, and some prefer stern first.
- Getting on and off the boat might be easier one way or the other depending on finger pier and dock configuration.
We dock bow in, mostly for the scenery and because we find it easier to maneuver that way. Our prop walks opposite that but we’ve overcome that. Our marina would prefer us stern in, because they use a yard boat to take boats to and from their travel lift, and the yard boat is designed to rest against a pointed bow. Most boats in our current Maryland marina are stern in, but almost everyone in our New Jersey marina went bow in.