Why don't more boaters use polypropylene or polyester dinghy painters?

Jul 27, 2011
4,988
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
So, many years ago we were visiting Virgin Gorda and someone suggested that we had to visit some rum shack over at Limrick Bay. We borrowed a RIB and the owner gave me a wire cable and padlock, telling me to guard against theft. When we got to the dinghy dock it was close to the shack and I could keep eyes on the boat, so I simply tied the thing off. Within an hour or so the place was a madhouse with dinghies showing up from everywhere. This location is a prime stop for the Credit Card Charter Captains that populate the area. A small commotion erupted at the dinghy dock as boats arrived with operators in various states of impairment. Guys were arguing and gesturing, women in dresses were crawling across boats like sorority girls gone wild. Apparently some self appointed dinghy dockmaster decided to re-tie the dinghies to better suit his view of how things are done. I missed that. A few minutes later one of the shack operators yelled an alert that dinghies were floating, riding the trades toward Tortola (or the reef). By the time I got to the dock our borrowed boat was long gone, along with 3 or four others. A helpful belonger got me in his boat and we sped off to recover the roaming dinks.

I never did find that dinghy dockmaster, which was to everyone's benefit, but I did adopt the locking wire cable method to secure the dinghy.
Thanks, Gunni

I've never considered use of locking mechanisms to discourage "tampering" of one's tie to a dinghy dock, as well as to prevent outright theft of the dink. I would not be happy to see someone untying and then retying my dink, especially the polypropylene painter I use which, as capa pointed out, does not hold knots well at all and requires a special little trick to do so. There are so many boaters at Isthmus Cove that I doubt a loose dinghy could escape far b/f someone recovered it.
 
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Rick D

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Jun 14, 2008
7,131
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
I probably mislead readers when I referred to my dinghy tow set up as a "bridle". It's actually just two lines from the dink to each stern cleat. I tried early on to cross them and tried a bridle also, but it just didn't prove a benefit. It has worked well for several decades with a poly hard dink even in nasty conditions. The thing only wanted to pass me once in 12' following seas. I put a 30' line on her to add to the 15' on her, and she went on her merry way one side and another. No drama though.
IMG_20131025_112507_110.jpg
 
Jul 27, 2011
4,988
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
Yeah--a bridle would be used w/ a dinghy at two points of tow at the dink; as at the towing eyes on the inflatable chambers. If I ever attach to those again it will be in the form of 3-point towing bridle where the towing eye at center of the dink is included.
 
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Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
I don't do it much anymore since we got davits but in the past I would run a dinghy bridle to a long length of that double-braid polypro Mr. Groshong mentioned. One end of the tow line was cleated off on one of the stern cleats and the other end was a working end. I could adjust the dink in or out and the double tow line kept the dink right in the middle riding my stern slick. I did see the boat get lifted by a +30kt gust once and decided not to keep the outboard on the dink.
 
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Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Has anyone ever used a tow bar to keep the dinghy from riding up in a following sea?

- Will (Dragonfly)
 

Rick D

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Jun 14, 2008
7,131
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
Yeah--a bridle would be used w/ a dinghy at two points of tow at the dink; as at the towing eyes on the inflatable chambers. If I ever attach to those again it will be in the form of 3-point towing bridle where the towing eye at center of the dink is included.
Exactly what I once did with my last inflatable before she disintegrated. That was a long time ago before I knew not to use Armor All on it; killed it with kindness. Hard dink ever since. My wife would never let me go back. But I digress, the towning arrangement worked well with the three-point.
 
Jul 27, 2011
4,988
Bavaria 38E Alamitos Bay
Exactly what I once did with my last inflatable before she disintegrated. That was a long time ago before I knew not to use Armor All on it; killed it with kindness. Hard dink ever since. My wife would never let me go back. But I digress, the towning arrangement worked well with the three-point.
I have to confess I used Armor All on the Achilles that lost its towing eyes as I show above in Post #27. Someone told me that Armor All dissolves the glue. That looks like what might have happened except I don't why the thing appeared half submerged with only that unless something had gotten torn--maybe a seam that was also weakened.
 

Rick D

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Jun 14, 2008
7,131
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
Only 15'? Take away 1-2 feet at each end for knots or spliced loop, and you don't have much to work with. I like to have 20' out at times.
Geesh, now I have another one nagging... :biggrin:So, I did think about more line, but when the dinghy dock is that bad, I take the anchor and chain and beach it or anchor in shallow water. I'll still have plenty of line for conditions at the dinghy dock and, if not, it's probably a time I wouldn't want to be there anyway :yikes:
 
Apr 8, 2010
1,606
Frers 33 41426 Westport, CT
Geesh, now I have another one nagging... :biggrin:So, I did think about more line, but when the dinghy dock is that bad, I take the anchor and chain and beach it or anchor in shallow water. I'll still have plenty of line for conditions at the dinghy dock and, if not, it's probably a time I wouldn't want to be there anyway :yikes:

Jost Van Dyke, Foxy's dinghy dock, Old Years Night (Dec 31st), you will often need 30-40' of painter line to reach the dinghy dock to tie up, and you're climbing over sometimes 6-8 dinghy's deep to reach the dock!
 

dLj

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Mar 23, 2017
3,372
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
So reading all these posts I confess to never having towed a dingy. I always bring it on board. But my current sailing grounds are making me think about towing, for the first time. I'm still on the fence about it but it may come...

I'm also not a fan of polypropylene line as it is difficult to tie and is not UV resistant, as others have pointed out.

When using an outboard on a dingy, I don't know why I'd worry about lines near docks as I'm not running my outboard at that point but rather my oars or a paddle. I only dock my dingy with motor if I have a free dock, precisely due to concerns of getting my prop in trouble. From my perspective I could care less about what someone else is using for dock lines, I'm going to protect my motor by turning it off and pulling out either my oars or paddle when approaching complicated mooring situations as described. But each to their own...

dj
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
I'm also not a fan of polypropylene line as it is difficult to tie and is not UV resistant, as others have pointed out.
Check out the polypropylene double braid in the SBO store. Takes a nice knot and is UV protected. It ain’t your daddie’s ski rope.
 
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dLj

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Mar 23, 2017
3,372
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
Check out the polypropylene double braid in the SBO store. Takes a nice knot and is UV protected. It ain’t your daddie’s ski rope.
Have to admit I've never seen polypropylene double braid, at least to my knowledge. How is it on the hands? I also don't like the feel of typical poly, but I'm sure open to checking some out. I sure do like the tensile strenght of poly...

dj
 

jviss

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Feb 5, 2004
6,745
Tartan 3800 20 Westport, MA
Regarding the Armor All comments - I'm using 303 Marine Aerospace Protectant religiously on my new AB RIB - and by "religiously" I don't mean I light candle and pray, I mean at least once per season a good double-coat of the stuff. Keeps hypalon like new. Doesn't attack adhesives, etc., and is good for the valves! (Just spray some into the valves occasionally, and work them to distribute it.) I want this RIB/dink to last forever.
 
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Dec 29, 2008
805
Treworgy 65' LOA Custom Steel Pilothouse Staysail Ketch St. Croix, Virgin Islands
The thing only wanted to pass me once in 12' following seas.
I have a friend who sailed up to St. Thomas to buy a used Whaler. He towed in back, and has since christened it the “Red Oktober”. It repeatedly surfed, dove, slammed into the transom, and had its bow mostly destroyed by the time they got back to St. Croix.

I simply can’t see towing in anything but nearshore relative calm. In fact, we don’t even keep the dink on the stern davits while offshore, due to the risk of breaking following seas catching it and trying to rip it and the davits off the stern. But, in reasonable 6-10’ seas we do just k put it on the davits. However, I will confess it has been there also when we hav encountered unexpected 16-20’ seas.

We use a double braid painter also, about 20’ long. I like floating line, but poly is just too slick, too subject to UV rot, and I’m not going to take the time to splice it every time we go to the dock. But we might try Dynema with a hook. We also always wrap a line twice around any attachment point - it dramatically reduces the wear and reduces the strain on the line.
 
Dec 29, 2008
805
Treworgy 65' LOA Custom Steel Pilothouse Staysail Ketch St. Croix, Virgin Islands
I never did find that dinghy dockmaster, which was to everyone's benefit,
And I thought it was just me that thought that way!
 

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
When our dinghy painter wears out, I buy a 20', 1/2" dock line with a loop spliced in one end. The bitter end goes through a hole in the bow transom, and is tied with a bowline, through another hole in the forward frame.

The loop is thrown over a cleat or winch when we board(easy for kids to remember,...). The dock line gets cleated as well, to the right length when we tow (which is always-no other option as the dinghy is too big to go on deck).

Nutshell tow Nantucket Sound.jpg


This is our second pram tender. We wrapped the first one and dragged it under the boat 30 years ago. That apparently left something in my brain now that reminds me to tighten the painter before powering(so far so good).

We also had to hunt that first pram down a couple times in the morning. The loop fixed that problem.
 

SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,065
Currently Boatless Okinawa
@jviss - He has a pram for a dinghy, so the bow end is a transom-looking "bulkhead" (for lack of a better term, though transom IS a better term) running athwartship. It is not at all pointy, like most bows. I think "bow transom" is really clear, but I've sailed prams.

For some prams, the bow end is not much narrower than the stern. They are boats that essentially have two transoms and two sides. If you blow up Tom's picture, you'll see what he means, though this is not as extreme as some prams.
 
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