H33C prop walk

[justustoo]

Rough layout is E to West docks with prevailing westerlies, but very protected. I guess an ideal situation would be on the north side of the dock on the east side of a finger if we're going bow in because prevailing winds blow you onto the finger. That said the only slip we could get for next season (our first with this boat) has us on the south side of the opposite dock on the east side of the finger. Confused yet? Good.

Having read that the H33C has pronounced prop walk to port while backing, we're thinking of docking stern to (marina exit is to the west). However our current sailboat (Columbia 28) has proven over the last couple of decades to be somewhat less than nimble in reverse, and I have come to believe that this might be somewhat true for most sailboats. Essentially it would be Med-mooring but hey they do it all the time there.

Comments and experiences?

 

[sail sfbay]

A sketch of you docks with prevailing wind direction would help. What propeller, feather and folding and number of blades (2, 3 or 4 blade) do you have? I found a 3 blade fixed propeller provided the best reversing performance on all my Hunter sailboats (31, 386 and 46).

I hope these are helpful:

Animation Prop Walk on a Sailboat - NauticEd shows how to reverse a boat that walks to the port while reversing into a slip............it recommends starting out away from your slip with the aft pointed into wind. Then engage reverse at low revs. Once the boat speed has picked up, water flow over the rudder will combat the prop walk effect and you can begin to steer the boat in whatever direction you want.

Same question with a posts on recommended backing techniques came up on this forum by a Hunter 33 owner Prop Walk when in reverse | Sailboat Owners Forums.

 

[kappykaplan]

Once the boat speed has picked up, water flow over the rudder will combat the prop walk effect and you can begin to steer the boat in whatever direction you want.