Should I accept the fact I'm going to scratch my new boat? ((Discouraged))

[tdonoughue]

I dropped a soldering iron on the carpet...

 

[McMark]

I did a bunch of slow speed practice today. I also put a mark on the steering wheel to indicate when the keel is straight. It's easy to lose track of where center is. I learned that if I center the wheel, don't touch it, take the engines to the 3rd step of no wake speed, I can make the boat do anything I want it to do. Put both throttles into forward. If the boat starts to swing to port, just drop the starboard throttle into neutral, just enough to stop the swing or you will over compensate. I drove around all over the place with just going in and out of neutral with one throttle or the other. Give it a try. Remember, both engines should be at about 2300 rpm while doing this. If you accidentally hit the throttle up too far, the no wake will be disengaged and you'll have to reset it.

 

[ACRDSPORT14]

I never scratched my boat in the 2 years I owned it. I guess I was lucky...

 

[tdonoughue]

Yes, the things you can do with 2 engines is amazing. I am even still learning after 3 years of mine.

Try this: in your low speed maneuvers, put 1 forward to trolling and one aft a bit beyond that. That should spin you right around. Adjust how much aft you have on just the one engine so that you don't move forward or back, but just spin. Very useful for docking and just about everything else at low speed.

Then this: when turning on plane, kick the outside engine a bit for an extra-sharp turn.

 

[TN888]

I put a couple 1" scratches on my gelcoat and after sanding w/ultra fine paper, then buffing w/3M compound.....gone.

Anytime coming to dock I've taught my wife to hang the fenders. Even marinas with rubber guard docks will have screws extruded out not visible to the eye.....and we know what a screw can do to gelcoat.

 

[itsdgm]

Sorry to hear about your scratch @RegezM3 that's a bummer. As far as approaching objects and practicing, I've found it much easier to approach an object directly into the wind. So practice approaches directly into the wind first. Then everything works off of that experience.

My hardest maneuver is re-loading our boat onto the trailer in the late evening. We usually encounter a busy marina with a tail/crosswind. It's really hard to slow it down and reverse since the wind can be so overpowering and there's a lot of expensive "mistakes" lurking everywhere. But practice is everything. It will build your confidence.