Stern thruster

[dmudave]

In my busy marina I back the boat out of my slip by hand every time. I simply walk it back and facing the direction I need to go, then hop in. You will get better and better at pulling into the slip with practice

[JACOB11379]

Could you back into the dock?

Or drive past your dock, turn around, and approach the dock from the other direction?

I always drive past my dock, turn around, and come back toward my dock, so that I can dock with the bow out, and it makes it very easy to dock because that allows me to dock on the driver's side. That's the direction these boats pull in reverse, so that works great for me.

I think somewhere you said something but I got stuck on the boat....

[greggmck]

Please understand that no one here is trying to give you a difficult time. It is very common for new owners to think maneuvering a single screw is difficult. But with practice it become very second nature. Pulling straight into a slip with the dock on the left is not the same as docking on the port side because you can approach straight in. Position the boat for a straight in approach using 1 to 3 second taps of in-gear keeping speed as slow as possible. Reduce the spin of the boat by turning very slowly also with 1 to 3 second taps. Position for the wind if necessary or learn to back in using prop walk to pull the stern around. Don't get me wrong, a thruster can be a great tool but it isn't necessary to put your boat in any slot in that picture. Also I have found new drivers that don't develop solid driving techniques just screw up more with a thruster.

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[JACOB11379]

here is some drone footage of my lake. start the video off and you can see the grass is blowing over as its almost windy everyday but some days its really windy. At the 2 min mark of the video im finally remembering how to fly the drone and I head back toward the launch and the docks. As you can see its a left dock only and there is plenty of folks out on the water.

this lake is extremely small and there is way to many boats on it. I typically only go out on the weekdays since I cant wake board with all the boats out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z1dOlwvgxg

[hal2814]

I totally get your frustration. There are some stern thrusters threads here but they’re geared towards newer G-series boats which believe it or not are even harder to handle at lower speeds. Unfortunately, the options are spend $5k or learn to live with it. Overwhelmingly, inboard boat owners have chosen the latter. In the pic you showed there are at least 3 maybe 4 other inboard boats. They have some routine that works for them. Before spending that kind of money, personally I would at least try to see what they’re doing and see if that can work for me. But I wouldn’t blame you for going ahead and spending the money, especially since it’s your first boat. There’s not really a cheaper option though. I guess you could try a trolling motor but it probably wouldn’t have enough oomph to push around a boat that size and would be awkward to store.

[scottb7]

Yeah, I could not handle it. I see what you saying. When you pull in and put in reverse it gonna pull you right toward the other boat.

Is it all assigned spots?

I think if it was me. I would either spend the $5k. Or I would go talk to the other person I always going to have to park by. I would tell him, sorry but I suck, so I probably going to have to reach over with my hands to get in my spot and going to touch your boat with just my hands and give him a 12 pack for tolerating me.

[JACOB11379]

Yeah, I could not handle it. I see what you saying. When you pull in and put in reverse it gonna pull you right toward the other boat.

Is it all assigned spots?

I think if it was me. I would either spend the $5k. Or I would go talk to the other person I always going to have to park by. I would tell him, sorry but I suck, so I probably going to have to reach over with my hands to get in my spot and going to touch your boat with just my hands and give him a 12 pack for tolerating me.

It's not. Fisrt come first serve.

It's not to often, most of the time it's fine. But you can pull out for an hour and come back to a completely full dock. Have families swimming around dock, paddle boards, floating devices, and you can be stuck waiting for a dock to open just sitting there floating. If your out to far you got boats driving by you, if your in to close you got people around you.

It can get stressful. Add wind and yay!....then you got left dock sometimes and left launch everytime.

Anyways. I'm gonna look further into thruster. Hate to spend that much money when I rarely NEED it but I dont want to screw up my boat or run into someone.

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[greggmck]

At this time it may be difficult but think about this for a second. Nautique does not even offer a stern thruster on the GS20. Why is that? Perhaps after a few weeks / months of practice you will think back and have a different perspective. Learn to position your boat so reverse always helps you maneuver and your confidence will improve. All the best.

[JACOB11379]

At this time it may be difficult but think about this for a second. Nautique does not even offer a stern thruster on the GS20. Why is that? Perhaps after a few weeks / months of practice you will think back and have a different perspective. Learn to position your boat so reverse always helps you maneuver and your confidence will improve. All the best.

Well, I bought the boat in February I believe. I got 52 hours on the boat now. We where going out all winter when the water was down to 50*, wearing dry suits and trying to learn to wake board. I had the entire dock to myself for months since no one else could get their boat in the very low lake. I would have to say I've got somewhere around 100 docks counting loading the boat as well.

Just saying, I don't feel like it's practice related. But thanks for the encouragement

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[RDT-G23]

At this time it may be difficult but think about this for a second. Nautique does not even offer a stern thruster on the GS20. Why is that? Perhaps after a few weeks / months of practice you will think back and have a different perspective. Learn to position your boat so reverse always helps you maneuver and your confidence will improve. All the best.

greggmck-

I'm totally with you on the practice thing. I had no thruster on my 2017 G23, but naturally ordered it with the Paragon. I thought to myself, "you need this like a hole in the head; you have no issues now"... Having said this...it is pretty stinkin' cool. I can do some wicked things with that thruster...

[jensguy00]

JACOB11379 did you ever get a stern thruster?