Thursday, January 19, 2012

How do i dock my pontoon boat in windy weather?

When its windy I can get the front to touch dock easy, but stern blows away from dock. Is there a trick to this?How do i dock my pontoon boat in windy weather?
If you have a small pontoon boat you can dock the boat by approaching the dock bow first. slow down as you approach. if you have capable crew on board have them jump from the bow to the dock with the bow line and tie the bow line to the dock with enough slack in the line to pivot the boat. after the bow line is secured. if you have a line led from the stern of the boat on the outside of the boat and led to the bow , then the crew on the dock can reach this line and walk it along the dock to a point where you would normally tie the stern line to and pull the stern side of the boat to the dock. once the crew member has control of the stern, the motor can be shifted to neutral.



if you use this method, make sure that the stern line that has been led to the bow, is secured so that it cannot fall into the water and fowl the prop.



This is an alternative to simply tying off the bow and turning the engine toward the dock with the motor running in reverse. some pontoon boats smaller OBs lack enough thrust in the motor to back a boat

against the wind.How do i dock my pontoon boat in windy weather?
If you have someone on a bow line the best method is approach at about 30 degree angle. catch a line to dock from bow. Do not tie it but hold loop. As that is happening turn toward dock, reverse engine and pull stern to dock.



If alone, approach dock at minimum angle, catch stern line to dock and turn away from dock and reverse engine. This will pull bow to dock pivoting on stern line.How do i dock my pontoon boat in windy weather?
I understand. It is very difficult to dock a pontoon in the wind.



You really have to judge the wind strength and not be afraid to use the throttle.

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