How Do You Maneuver A Twin Engine Boat With A Bow Thruster?
Maneuvering is the use of your boat’s bow thruster and twin engines to turn your boat around in its own length or parallel park in tight spaces by “walking” your boat sideways. While you must remain mindful of the effects of the wind and sea, you’ll enjoy a new level of control. The key to dealing with a bow thruster, like other control and power systems aboard a boat, is to trust that it will do what it should. Start the bow thruster before you begin to move into position. This allows you time to evaluate the situation should the bow thruster prove inoperative. Pull your boat parallel to the dock space you will occupy and stop the boat. Move your throttles into reverse if necessary to “take all way off” the boat, moving them to neutral as soon as you are stopped. Ensure that you have sufficient room forward and aft in the dock space. Take note, while the vessel is at a standstill, of the direction of the wind and current, and their effect on your vessel, blowing it forward or aft, or
