Stern Thruster for 42' 406 aft cabin

[One Moor Time]

Hi everyone,
I have a 2001 Carver 406 42' aft cabin with Cummins 330's operating in the Chesapeake Bay. She has been a great boat, and we have enjoyed her touring the bay. I have been able to back into most slips we have visited except, of course, mine. It is a 45' slip with full finger piers (which is nice), but it has no pylons on the ends. It is 16' wide for a 14' beam boat, so there is not a lot of room for error. Backing in, I am completely blind to where the finger piers are. As a result, I am paying $3,000 this year fix all the scars and scuffs I have made over the last 3 years. The biggest problem occurs if it is windy since the boat has so much windage or there is a current. It can make returning to the slip a bad end to a good day...
I have 2 questions for the forum:
I recently read about crossing the helm to move the boat sideways-if you want to slide it to stbd, turn the helm to port, reverse stbd engine, and put port engine forward. It seems to work for some, but comments from others are that it has not worked for them no matter the variations they try. The boat is scheduled to go in the water in a few weeks, so I will try, but I am curious if anyone has had experience with a 406/similar boat.
Depending on how option 1 goes, I am contemplating a stern thruster. I don't have a problem swinging the bow with the engines, but being able to move the stern to align to the slip would make docking a lot easier. There are several companies that make them, and I would appreciate any input on other's experience or knowledge.
Any and all comments appreciated.
Buck

[Viper]

Contact Imtra at https://www.imtra.com/products/sleipner. They will tell you exactly what you need for your particular model, and because it's a stern thruster and you don't have to install a tunnel through the hull as required for a bow thruster, it's a DIY project if you have the basic stills required.

[KyleR]

I know this doesn't answer your question, but have you considered something like the pic below to add to your slip corners to protect your boat? If you have your own personal slip, many marinas will let you add them. Just an idea.

[Max Sand]

I'm getting a new to me 530, and the first thing I'm adding is a stern thruster. Although the 530 Voyager has a camera setup to see the aft corners, I"m still not a good enough captain to fit in my 17' slip reliably. I've chosen the ST350 thruster for my application: https://shop-us.sideshift.com/products/ ... n-thruster

There are other units avail, I chose this one as it installs on a pylon and the mounting will be above the waterline. This means I can likely DIY install and save about $9000 on cost for labor. I'm pretty handy, and an electrical engineer, so the hook up should be pretty basic.

I need to single-hand the docking as my wife isn't very handy with that stuff. Having a lot of windage means I'll need all the help I can get. I might even get some of those corner rollers as well, just to be extra safe.