Painters

What kind of rope do you guys use for your painter lines. I have a Disco 169 and need to buy some painters. Let me know what you think. I'm also interested in the lengths that people use.

There's all kinds of variations on this theme, but at bottom it should be a thick rope, at least 3/8 in. diam, and 5/8 better, so you can easily grab it even with cold hands. I use a polypropylene rope because it floats, and that can be important for safety/rescue reasons. Polyethylene is useless for this application. Nylon is ok, but might not float. For length, mine are no more than 2/3 of the length of the canoe. Longer lines seem to get in my way, and if I need to line the boat through something it's easy to tie additional lines on. I also have a piece of shock cord on my canoe decks to keep the painters coiled under.

Tubular nylon strapping (3/4 inch) that is sold by the foot is my preference for painters and tie-downs. I like the straps mainly for tying a boat to a roof rack because the wide strapping spreads the tension, so I can cinch a composite or Royalex boat very tight without damaging the boat. I use them for painters because I want the straps to be useful for double-duty. Knots are very easy to remove from the straps too. The strapping is sold on reels at sports stores like REI and comes in several colors.

I have painters at both ends of my canoes that double as tie-downs to bumpers. The painters never come off the boat, and that makes for a faster loading and unloading process.

John

John Caldeira Dallas, Texas, USA