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Thanks, Bob. As the author of the long out-of-print Boat Docking, those excellent details were not in it! But I do something similar (in my - gasp - sailboat) when short-crewed: go in bow-first, grab the line I left on the windward piling and in this case drop a loop over a winch, and then very gently take it up in forward gear. Along with guide-lines in my slip, I can lock the steering wheel at an angle which holds the boat where I want her, and then take all the time I want to do a more conventional securing. It's quite easy and simple but impresses novices if we're in a 20-kt crosswind. Fenders however are not required on the pilings - the lines keep all of the boats in our harbour centred (enough) in their slips, and friction-free. We all hang fenders conventionally from the boat for when our neighbours are coming or going. Charles ____ Charles T. Low