Why don't more boaters use polypropylene or polyester dinghy painters?
- Thread starter Kings Gambit
- Start date
Humm
--I don't use it (PE) to tow or as the painter; but I do use it in other applications on the boat. I'll pitch some in the water this afternoon to confirm. I agree it has a better feel than polypropylene.
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For those who dont know how frickin crowded the dinghy dock gets at the Isthmus during the season..... lets see... in a seea of maybe, I dont know Rick D... say 60 to 70 dinghies on a good day, it takes what we call "ramming speed" just to "make a hole" to get to the dock and sometimes that doesnt work. You have to crawl over other dinghies hauling your painter. I completely support at least a 10 ft or better painter and have come so close, after a couple of Buffalo Milks, to setting some dinghies free...
However I digress. I do not use the floating propylene because it doesnt apply when the dock is that crowded and like Rick D, I have a ss shackle that I snap over after going through the bull line. Those catch on that propylene every time and it pisses me off.
So... from another angle.
Rick D, will be in THrbors in Aug and Sep. Will look for ya.
However I digress. I do not use the floating propylene because it doesnt apply when the dock is that crowded and like Rick D, I have a ss shackle that I snap over after going through the bull line. Those catch on that propylene every time and it pisses me off.
So... from another angle.
Rick D, will be in THrbors in Aug and Sep. Will look for ya.
BTW, my towing bridle is flat nylon strap, stitched and riveted to two boat snaps at the dinghy end, and through a float to a stainless ring at the other, like this:
Here's what happened to me the last time I towed in the configuration you show. Now, I tow from the single tow eye under the bow. This was in high wind and steep wind chop. I suppose the 10-ft Achilles flipped, then dove, pulling off of the eyes. It must have torn where attached b/c the last I saw of it, it was half submerged blowing away from me in 30 kt. The bridle is 1/2" black polypropylene eye-spliced around galvanized thimbles to the pad eyes. Yes, it was DUMB to be towing in that. But, those were not the conditions at the start of the trip. I was only 12 n.mi. from marina.
The dinghy lost (but not the engine).
The dinghy in better days--me crew (Admiral on right of pic--port side) returning to ship leaving Santa Rosa Island at Becher's Bay. It was a horrid night at anchor that night!! Cold, very windy--anemometer clocked to 35 kt--and loud, moaning wind sounds with the gusts. Behind us lay darkness and the "Potato Patch" between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands. The couple in the dink (stb side) cruising with us on our boat are now deceased--cancer got 'em both. So sad. A cruise to the California Channel Islands was on her "bucket list."
The dinghy lost (but not the engine).
The dinghy in better days--me crew (Admiral on right of pic--port side) returning to ship leaving Santa Rosa Island at Becher's Bay. It was a horrid night at anchor that night!!
Cold, very windy--anemometer clocked to 35 kt--and loud, moaning wind sounds with the gusts. Behind us lay darkness and the "Potato Patch" between Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands. The couple in the dink (stb side) cruising with us on our boat are now deceased--cancer got 'em both. So sad. A cruise to the California Channel Islands was on her "bucket list."
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I would fault the condition or quality of the dinghy, not the towing method! I towed mine with this setup (the pic isn't mine, but just to illustrate the bridle I have) in wicked conditions, so hard and choppy that the stitching of the bridle failed; hence the rivets now, which are an enhancement I applied. The AB rib I have is really well made, and tough, as far as I can tell. And, it's only two years old now. Time will tell.
I could tow from the ring that's bolted through the fiberglass, but somehow I thought this would be better. It really isn't. I think it still tows too nose high. (We tow the 9.5", 106lb. RIB with 73lb. 15HP 2-stroke Merc.)
I could tow from the ring that's bolted through the fiberglass, but somehow I thought this would be better. It really isn't. I think it still tows too nose high. (We tow the 9.5", 106lb. RIB with 73lb. 15HP 2-stroke Merc.)
My 9' 5" inflatable OceanAir AL that I have now weighs 120#. The bow rides much too high for towing with the 4-stoke engine that I have on it.
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For a painter I use 20 feet of dyneema I got on sale. Long and it floats and is strong. Don't tell anyone but I have been known to re-tie other dinghies that have long painters but have been rudely tied short to the dockIt's so strange to try to tie to a dinghy dock and see the following: 1) dinghies tied close on 3-ft painters; thus, preventing others from access to the bull rail; and 2) dinghies tied with double braid nylon lines that get sopping wet while being handled. Standing there watching some "boater" wrapping the soggy line several times around the bull rail, apparently to shorten it, is bizarre. With 3-strand polypro you can wrap bull rail once or twice and then just pass the bitter end once or twice through the strands (as in a splice) and it will hold very well. It's quick, easy, and comparatively dry. A long painter (as it should be) will not sink to catch on the OBs of the other boats around, etc. Based on my visit to Isthmus Cove this past weekend, I'd estimate that fewer than half of boaters either know or practice the "etiquette" of tying to a dinghy dock.
I use a rigging wire with padlock to keep guys like you from making that mistake with my dink. Just saying.
Ummm im not a bartender but... it is like three differerent flavors. In no particlular spelling... de cau cau, some other stuff, and vodka.. google is your friend. Takes two of them and then the day is a wash.Okay! I did the google thing and still need to ask.... what is a Buffalo Milk?
Cheers
So, in light of some of what has been said about boarding someone else's boat to stop halyard slap, I don't find retying a dinghy at the dinghy dock, to better accommodate your or other's dinghy, to be in the same category. I would feel no problem with "fixing" someone's inconsiderate or badly done dockage of their dinghy. Again, I would hope someone else would feel free to do the same for me. The issue isn't just about what I want or my convenience. It is also about the endangerment of other people's property as well. Crowded dinghy docks can lead to loss of dinghies and even sailors and their mates falling in if there isn't respect and consideration by all. I have also retied other sailor's dinghies to make room or straighten out crossed and tangles painters. I have never given the nature of my painter any consideration whether it floats or not except where I would rather reach for a floating painter that was free in the water. At the dock was not something I thought needed to be considered, but it is a good point worth making. I will have to make sure to get a floating line.
I have seen docks with varying length painters being used and if one boat is stretched way out past the others, tide and wind can turn them all into a rat's nest as the farther boats swing across the sterns of the closer boats. Then there are the boaters who wedge between or amidst a group of dinghies, but decide the ring or cleat they are tied to is to crowded and reach diagonally across to a free anchor point without relocating their boat. What a mess that can lead to.
If you are going to retie my dinghy to another point, please move the boat to accommodate the new point of anchor.
-Will (Dragonfly)
See link:Okay! I did the google thing and still need to ask.... what is a Buffalo Milk?
https://www.kcet.org/food/drinking-buffalo-milk-on-catalina-island
They are also good "on the rocks" but go down way too fast. Watch your wallet!
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Will: Well said. Whenever retying painters I have always tried to be considerate and make sense of the chaos when necessary. I agree that too long of a line can create problems.
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.