Steering in reverse??

Is there a trick to this bc my boat seems to have a mind of its own 80% of the time when I'm in reverse....

Pretty much the case. When in reverse the rudder in in front of the prop and you don't have thrust over it so you lose 90% of your ability to steer. Most inboards naturally slowly turn right or left in reverse, just depends on your boat. You have to learn to use that to your advantage. Now if you have to reverse a long distance and build up some speed you will get some steering as with speed now you have more water flow over the rudder. You have to make small adjustments and turn the wheel slowly. If you turn the rudder to fast you'll get nothing!

One of the few disadvantages to an inboard/Vdrive.

Single screw inboard it doesn't get much worse in reverse.

Originally Posted by boardman74

Pretty much the case. When in reverse the rudder in in front of the prop and you don't have thrust over it so you lose 90% of your ability to steer. Most inboards naturally slowly turn right or left in reverse, just depends on your boat. You have to learn to use that to your advantage. Now if you have to reverse a long distance and build up some speed you will get some steering as with speed now you have more water flow over the rudder. You have to make small adjustments and turn the wheel slowly. If you turn the rudder to fast you'll get nothing!

One of the few disadvantages to an inboard/Vdrive.

Depends on prop shaft rotation* left hand props, standard on most now, even nautiques, pull right in reverse. Right hand pull the opposite...

Originally Posted by wakebordr11

Depends on prop shaft rotation* left hand props, standard on most now, even nautiques, pull right in reverse. Right hand pull the opposite...

+1

Just something you gotta learn to use to your advantage!

I can back my inboard almost anywhere I want it to go. It just takes practice.

Originally Posted by bftskir

I can back my inboard almost anywhere I want it to go. It just takes practice.

My physic abilities are weak from overuse. Can you tell us how you manage to do this. Do you give short bursts of forward thrust with steering wheel turned all the way to one side while backing up to steer the back of the boat?

you just use "english" - use the wind, use the current, use your boats momentum...and the rudder and power on and off and you can WITH PRACTICE back them where you want them.

if you need something that backs up exactly where you want it to go every time then get a jetboat or an I/O or an outboard.

Originally Posted by bftskir

you just use "english" - use the wind, use the current, use your boats momentum...and the rudder and power on and off and you can WITH PRACTICE back them where you want them.

if you need something that backs up exactly where you want it to go every time then get a jetboat or an I/O or an outboard.

This.

With practice, you can make other inboard gurus think your boat pulls to the left when it actually pulls to the right. Some boats pull flatter than others, think paddle wheel pulling the whole boat sideways. Others pivot right in the center, or on the tracking fins.

The rudder on an inboard is sized so that it works well when the prop is pushing water past it. In reverse it does not have that extra flow so the rudder is too small. When you get going fast enough the rudder starts to work again. Of course you might be on top of a Bayliner or dock by then. As mentioned: just practice until you know what it does. You can parallel park a 21' inboard in a 21'2" space if you don't have a wind.

MB 23 Widebody, steers in reverse, barely. I have no idea why. I can't get their other boats to respond as well. go figure

The Maneuver you want to learn is how to "Back and Fill". You can look up the Maneuver on the internet but I'll briefly explain it. Although the term is meant for a turn, generally a 180, it can also be used to back in a straight line, or there abouts. Since most of our V-drive boats seem to be left hand drives I'll use that as the example. Let's say you want to back straight and your boat is already faceing the direction you want to back towards. Turn you rudder hard over to starboard, again assumming a left hand drive. Since this boat will want to back to the right it might not make since to do this, but it's the only way possible. So we start to back and the boat begins to track to the right, go to neutral and then give a shot of power ahead. All you're doing here is kicking the stern back to port, you shouldn't use enough power to gain forward momentum. Once your stern kicks to port start backing again. Continue this process until you're through backing.
If you want to make a 180 turn againist the direction your prop will want to take you, this maneuver is done without ever gaining headway or sternway. Again, keep the rudder hard to starboard, start with a shot ahead, neutral then stop your headway by reversing (just a shot of power) but your stern will continue to go to port, another shot ahead and then stop your headway by reversing. You can continue to turn in the direction without ever moving, you're just turning on the boats axis. This works even better if you're wanting to turn the other direction as you're now using the prop to your advantage. If this doesn't make much since, you can look this up on the internet to see graphic illustraions and I'm sure much better explained that what I've done. Hope this helps if even just a bit.

My physic abilities are weak from overuse. Can you tell us how you manage to do this. Do you give short bursts of forward thrust with steering wheel turned all the way to one side while backing up to steer the back of the boat?

^ Pretty much what he said. I keep my boat dry docked. I have to BACK my boat in to be picked up by a lift. I come into the dock pointed at 45 degrees, then put it in neutral and swing the streering wheel to start to sling the back end around. As the back end is coming around, I used a combination of forward thrust and backward thrust to control and decelerate the swing, and to continue to back the boat in. This also requires a combination of rudder deflection to get the needed movements. When I do it perfect, I have people come compliment me. It is definitely a skill, and one that takes some time and a little art to it.

But I see people that just can't do it. People that have owned an inboard way longer than me. They end up coming into the dock straight, and then it takes a crew of people to spin the boat around after it is docked. Ridiculous.

And a few weeks ago, the owner of a brand new Enzo asked me, as I docked, if my reverse was broken like his he told me that his boat won't back straight. I said "You owned an I/O before this, didn't you?" So, its not an uncommon question, and just part of learning an inboard.