Good evening guys. Newbie here. Currently a Captain on a Z-Drive harbor tug on the Texas coast and live in Las Vegas. Had a question regarding the controls of a 1991 Hatteras 52. I see two sets of controls, one set on port side of wheel and one set on stbd side of wheel. From what I've gathered the port side is the transmission and stbd side is throttles, correct? Part 2: Twin screwing off dock. Some pages I read people say to NOT use any rudder, some pages suggest that if I dont have a bow thruster to USE rudder. I'm sure this has been posted somewhere on here before but I haven't searched this forum too much as I'm pretty new and short on time due to my work hours onboard my tug. Thank you guys and hope you're all doing well.
Port / stb vs clutch / throttle is not a standard. Labeled or red knobs throttle, black knobs clutches. Levers in mid position clutches and all back throttles. Also, you should feel a detent in the clutch controls at mid travel. Clutching off of a dock could involve written novels here. Just keep in mind, twin screws offer a twisting of the boat to port & stb. Turning the rudders in the direction you want to turn helps but pushes the stern over (out) more (rear wheel steering). Then biasing the rudders for wind and current can help also. Helper spring lines could be used also. I'm rotten at giving direction, It's more by feel when I push a boat. Maybe one of the other drivers here can help more. Years ago BoatUS had some guides on line.
Every boat is different and depends on what you prefer to do. I typically do not use any rudder for going in/out of my slip. I find using independent wheels or twisting reacts much faster. Many boats with decent size rudders can be made to walk sideways with rudder angle and throttle settings. It takes some playing around to find the sweet spot to do this. In my opinion, one of the most critical things is to take the appropriate approach angle to get in whenever you are heading. My slip is on an angle relative to the channel. I dock my boat stern in. I like to approach at about a 15 degree angle to my slip with the bow coming in away and the stern closer to the dock. As I get about 2/3 of the way in I use a little fwd gear on my stbd and this stops my stern way and pushes the bow toward the dock. And if that fails I just cheat and use my bow thruster
Hatteras usually installed controls opposite to what most builders did. Not sure until when. My 1970 53 has gears on the left side of wheel and “throttles” on the right with twin inboards you didn’t need a spring line instead you can use what I call a virtual spring. Assuming you have something at the bow you can lean on like a piling just put the dockside engine in reverse and offside engine in forward. Stern will kick out away from dock and when at a 30 to 45 degree angle just put the offside engine in reverse and back out. You don’t really need rudders but going hard over into the dock will help thanks to the prop wash of the offside engine helping kicking the rudder and pushing the stern over faster. yes you don’t need rudders to swing a twin screw boat around but Prop wash against a rudder does help and speed things up. now in theory and lalaland some folks will tell you that you can walk a two screw boat sideways by splitting the gears and using rudders. That works with no wind but as soon as you try against some wind, which is when you need it, it doesn’t work. muse the pilings to lean your bow. It s a hatt. It has a beefy rubrail . Or if against a concrete bulkhead. Just put a 24” ball and use that
As you're asking about getting away from a dock, the potential is: If you're Starboard t0, Starboard gear forward, port gear aft, rudder hard to starboard can, on some vessels, result in the boat "walking" away from the dock. All of these actions need to be executed simultaneously, and as there is more forward prop bite, extra RPMs on the reverse may be necessary to counter forward motion. Both gear settings would actually thrust and pull the stern to the dock. Theoretically, the rudder directing prop wash from the forward gear counteracts both. This is best attempted in a windless and open area. Many yachts do not respond to the above. One yacht I ran would not walk to save it's life. In the Panama Canal, I needed to get away from a canal tug we had been tied to in the lock. Tried the maneuver, and no go. Next chamber, same thing. Third chamber, the Canal pilot turns to me and says "You Are clear on the concept, aren't you?" I could only point at the settings of the gears and RAI. He stared at them perplexed, looked over the side, wondering why we weren't moving away, and just left me to it.
I appreciate the feedback from you guys ! I run Z drive tug boats so the conventional twin screw rudder stuff is mew to me . I’ve been picking brains to gather knowledge before I jump on someone’s vessel and pretend I know what I’m doing . So I’m soaking all your knowledge up .
