Painter on a rib? How long?

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burgundyben

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I was told many years ago that on a rib or dinghy with outboard you should make sure the painter is of such a length that it can't get wound round the prop.

I suppose if it does happen and you have a crew member onboard you could ask them to jump in and clear it.

I wonder what an RYA instructor would say?
 
I thought it was supposed to be just long enough to wrap around your own prop but not long enough that you could lift the O/B to clear it?

Towed someone in a couple of summers ago that has done the painter to own prop trick about 25 yards from the slipway
 
I too was always told the painter should not be long enough to foul your own prop. Have adhered to that advice and no painter related mishaps yet!
 
On the Zapcat type boat I share with a couple of mates, we don't have a permanent painter. There is a length of webbing with a hook on the end that goes on the bow eye during launch and recovery, once we're away down the river it gets unhooked and stowed on board. That seems like a good approach for a RIB too - a length of rope spliced to a carbine hook that you clip on when needed. I don't think most of the RIBs I see around the Solent have a bit of string dangling from the front full-time.

Pete
 
jimd10 said:
I too was always told the painter should not be long enough to foul your own prop. Have adhered to that advice and no painter related mishaps yet!
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The problem with only having a short painter, as mentioned above, is you hog the cleat and the pontoon when tying up your dinghy in an area of limited space.
 
Have a long painter but tie a bowline in it so that you have a large loop which won't reach the prop if it gets over the side.

Not my idea - I got it from one of Dick Everitt's excellent illustrated booklets.
 
DinghyMan said:
I thought it was supposed to be just long enough to wrap around your own prop but not long enough that you could lift the O/B to clear it?
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Extra length doesn't help as the prop winds the rope so tight there no chance of lifting the O/B. I've proven this empirically...
 
We have a 10 meter line off the bow cleat.

There is nothing more annoying that having a raft of boats outside you and non have shore lines because "our bow line is too short" its one of my pet hates and i very nearly lost my rag with someone a few months back in Yarmouth. We came back from lunch to fine 7 boats all hanging off us and the one next to us had tiny bits of string running over out tubes and marking them very badly!

Ours comes off the bow eye and over the roller in the tube, made off on the bow cleat and then looped together around the line to stop if going anywhere. there has been a fewe occasions when its been rough that the line has come out of the roller but has not gone any further as its made off on the cleat.

I guess it depends who your boating with. SWMBO absolutely knows why its done like that and always double triple checks before we are good to get going.
 
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