Any such thing as "too much shifting"?

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DocPit
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Dec 24, 2019 8:34 pm

Any such thing as "too much shifting"?

#1 Post by DocPit » Sat Jul 18, 2020 9:30 am

I'm a newbie, and I'm trying to develop skill in piloting my boat in close quarters, docking, etc. That means being able to make precise adjustments at slow speeds. So, in practicing, I'm constantly shifting from forward to reverse and back. (I always give it a second in neutral.) Does that constant shifting hurt the boat? I have a Bennington 20 SLL with a Yamaha 115 Vmax.

Horsepen
Posts: 42
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 10:39 am

Re: Any such thing as "too much shifting"?

#2 Post by Horsepen » Sat Jul 18, 2020 11:56 am

It hurts it a lot less than crashing into a dock would hurt it.
But seriously, no. I think your delay in neutral is a smart thing to do. And remember the old adage “Never approach something any faster than you are willing to hit it!”

DocPit
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Dec 24, 2019 8:34 pm

Re: Any such thing as "too much shifting"?

#3 Post by DocPit » Sun Jul 19, 2020 7:00 am

Thanks. I have the boat completely encased in bubble wrap until I develop some skills. :biggrin2

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ROLAND
Posts: 4248
Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:29 am

Re: Any such thing as "too much shifting"?

#4 Post by ROLAND » Mon Jul 20, 2020 12:12 am

DocPit wrote:
Sat Jul 18, 2020 9:30 am
I'm a newbie, and I'm trying to develop skill in piloting my boat in close quarters, docking, etc. That means being able to make precise adjustments at slow speeds. So, in practicing, I'm constantly shifting from forward to reverse and back. (I always give it a second in neutral.) Does that constant shifting hurt the boat? I have a Bennington 20 SLL with a Yamaha 115 Vmax.
No, I don't think you're hurting anything. As someone else said, better than running into something.. I will say this, when I first got my boat ( Bennington 20 SFI ) i used to have a lot of issues loading back onto the trialer.. and then one day my son, who is 37 was with us and he noticed that even though I always approached the trailer at a very slow speed, he noticed that I would repeatedly take it out of gear and put it in neutral. He told me not to put it in neutral because when you do that you really don't have any steering capability since the prop stops spinning. He told me that I should only take it out of gear to go to neutral or reverse to keep from bumping something. I don't know if he's right, but I can tell you that since he told me that, I haven't had any issue loading the boat... I just leave it in gear as slow as she'll go.. Also, don't know if you're interested but I've read that if you put a prop guard on your prop, it will give you better "slow speed handling ". I don't have a prop guard on my boat, but I have read that in the past.
Roland & Jo
2010 Bennington 20 Sfi
Yamaha 75 4 Stroke
Shreveport, Louisiana

Horsepen
Posts: 42
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2015 10:39 am

Re: Any such thing as "too much shifting"?

#5 Post by Horsepen » Fri Jul 24, 2020 5:09 pm

It’s possible that the prop guard you are referring to gives your prop something of a Cort Nozzle feature. Look it up if need be.

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