Docking Outboard-Powered Small Sailboats  Written by Tom Ray, Tropical Boating  Approaching the Dock  Angling the Boat Properly andComing to a Stop  An outboard engine may look a little funny hanging off the back of a sailboat, but it can offer extra maneuverability that is  impossible with inboard engines. Inboard engines are prone to "prop walk" at slow speeds , because the shaft is usually not parallel to the surface of  the water. The angled shaft means that a propeller blade on one side of the shaft has a different angle of attack from the  same blade when it has rotated around to the other side of the shaft. On most sailboats (with conventional clockwise shaft  rotation), the prop walk will pull the stern of the boat to port when the engine is put into reverse. Outboard engines  can be steered independently of the ship's rudder, and offer the ability to turn the thrust of the engine  so as to cause a controlled "prop walk" effect. The 4 frames of these two pictures show the technique used. In the first frame, the boat is approaching the dock at an angle. The engine is running in forward at idle throttle, and the  tiller has just been turned to swing the boat in line with the dock. The large red arrow shows the speed and direction of  the boat. In frame two, the engine has been put into neutral, and the boat is coasting toward the dock. Less rudder is being used  now, as it is not necessary with this technique to use the rudder to get the boat parallel to the dock. In the third frame, the engine has been put in reverse and turned to port (meaning turned in the direction which would  produce a turn to port if moving forward). The boat is almost stopped now, and the reversing engine will slow it further,  while at the same time sucking the stern of the boat toward the dock. The boat has come to rest alongside the dock in frame 4, and the engine is put back in neutral. Because the boat is moving forward throughout the procedure, the rudder remains effective in controlling which way the  nose of the boat is pointed. The engine is used only to slow the boat down and draw it closer to the dock. The boat could  easily just coast in to the dock, but if there is not room to coast along for quite a distance while lining up with the dock,  this little trick can help. "Crossing" the controls, with the rudder in a turn to port and the engine in a turn to starboard, will produce a bit of  sideways slippage, and that is the point of the above procedure. But the engine and rudder do not have to fight each other.  While some inboard sailboats can be very difficult to control when backing up, reversing in an outboard powered sailboat  is very easy to master. 9 Lining Up Approachingthe dock 