With a twin, most maneuvering is done with the shifters only. Put the wheel in a straight-ahead position, and use the asymetric thrust of the two engines to do the work.

Although you're used to having auto engines idle at 450-600rpm, the boat will not respond well at that low rpm. We've found 1000 rpm is pretty optimum maneuvering rpm. You can get away with 1200, but beyond that bad things happen to the tranny. I have my idle set at about 900rpm. That way, if I have to jazz an engine for a bit more thrust, I can drop the throttle to idle, and still have enough rpm to control the boat, but not enough to hurt the tranny; and I don't have to be looking at the tach to see if I'm in a safe range.

When shifting, move the shifter smartly --- don't baby it between forward and neutral, nor between reverse and neutral. There's no clutch in the trannys, so you're just slipping a couple of gears together, and babying it will cause the mating gears to make contact only on their edges until you get the shift completed. Kinda nibbles the edges.

Forward on the stbd engine will cause the boat to turn left; forward on port will move you right. But remember that the boat steers from the back; be sure you have butt-swinging room when you turn. This is especially true on a Cruise-A-Home, as the steering stations are quite forward of the midpoint.

Reverse on stbd will pull the stern to your left; port reverse will pull the stern right.

When moving down a narrow waterway, I'll usually pop one engine at a time into gear. You zigzag a bit, but you don't have to compensate with the wheel. And one engine at a time keeps your speed down.

Cross-controlling the shifters (one forward; one reverse) from a dead-in-the-water position will essentially pivot the boat around its own axis. The single-engine guys go ga-ga over that. If you're under way at maneuvering speed forward and turning left (for example) by having the stbd engine in forward, putting the left engine in reverse will tighten the turn considerably. This is a very important skill. Practice it out in the middle of the lake by yourself. Throw a fender out and work at approaching it, turning around it, etc. It's a skill that can make you look like an expert --- and you will be.

Slow is good. (Up to a point.) Keeping things slow lets you think ahead of the boat, and avoids the engine-roaring, gear-clashing, foul-language-generating spectacles you have probably witnessed. EXCEPTION: CAH's, and almost any other boat under 50 tons, will blow around when they lose headway. (Your keel loses its effectiveness.) When maneuvering in the wind, you will have to think ahead a bit better, and do things a bit quicker. If you "lose it", your deck hand becomes your best friend, if she wasn't already. You may have to just fend off with pikepoles and/or fenders. Jamming on a bunch of power in any direction at that time is an invitation to a small-scale disaster. If your brain gets behind the boat, shut her down and try to hit something soft and/or cheap.

It's pretty hard to practice heavy wind maneuvering. Nobody wants to have you practice around them in a wind, and the floating-fender-out-in-the-middle gimmick doesn't work in the wind -- it blows along, too. Best advice is to get familiar with how the boat handles, and know what's going to happen if you move this shifter, or that throttle. When you're comfortable with the handling, things seem to happen automatically ---- you and the boat become one. Really!. Then you can react correctly when the wind adds an additional dimension to your maneuvering.

What's that I said? ---- "move the throttle"??? Yup. Sometimes you need more thrust and have to bump a throttle. Here's where the 900rpm idle comes in. If you have to punch a throttle, you can just pull it back to idle before shifting out of gear, and still have an acceptable rpm to get into the opposite gear; and have your head outside the cockpit where it desperately needs to be at that time. Not fun the first couple of times. Not really ever fun, but sometimes necessary. NOTE: "Punch a throttle" means 1500rpm or so. Big throttle at this time usually leads to trouble.

Same goes for moving the wheel. The boat responds better to the rudder in forward, because the prop is pushing water directly against it. So, if you need a turn tighter when steering with just the shifters, crank the wheel the way you're trying to go. (By then, you should have the opposite shifter in reverse, but turning the wheel will tighten up the turn even more.) But , you then have to neutralize the rudder when you get through the turn. Things are getting busy, aren't they. That's why I try to do it totally with shifters if I can. In probably 95% of our take-offs and landings, I don't have to touch the throttles or wheel.

REMEMBER --- The boat steers from the stern, whether you're going forward or backward.

--- Think. Know ahead of time how to use the asymetrical thrust, and where it's going to make the boat go. Know in advance what you have to do to get the stern where you want it.

CREWPERSON HINTS --- Unless we can see well in advance where we're going to dock, Laurie puts out lines and fenders on both sides. Saves a lot of last-minute scurrying around to move things. Captains sometimes change their minds. Dockmasters sometimes tell you to go somewhere you didn't plan to be. The wind sometimes puts you where you didn't want to go.

--- While we have lines at the bow and stern to pass to someone on the dock, or (usually) carry to the dock ourselves, the mid-line is usually the best one to tie down first. The captain can better work the boat against that line (if he has to) to get the boat to the dock.

--- We use 25-foot lines (1/2 inch nylon) for most everything. Long enough to throw; long enough to spring-tie the boat once you're secure. Have at least 6 -- 8 is better.

--- Don't ever try to fend off a piling or another boat with your body, arms or legs. The boat weighs 20,000 pounds --- you can't stop it.

HELPFUL HINT --- Maneuver from the flybridge. You can see everything from up there, and you're in the center of the boat where you can better sense the swing of the stern. 99.9% of our take-offs and landings are done from the flybridge -- rain, snow or ????

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Whew! Have I totally panicked you? I hope not. Forgive me if I treated you like you'd never seen a boat before. I don't know your experience level.

We've all got a few scars from less than graceful landings, but practice really does make perfect. When you've done it a few times, it gets easier and easier, and your anxiety level drops a bunch. And both you and your crew will begin to work as a team. And then it gets easier yet. And more enjoyable. Laurie now knows that even if I screw up, a bad landing won't kill her, the boat won't sink, and a bent rail or a scratch in the fiberglass will not send the world out of orbit. We try to make each trip as enjoyable a possible, and not sweat the small stuff.

Dean