On Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:56:00 -0500, Richard Casady
wrote:

On Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:18:09 -0400, Marc Auslander
wrote:

I suspect you're not going to sea, but doing coastal cruising. I've
towed my hard dink through pretty wild coastal weather - and
never got into trouble. A long painter prevents it from riding up
your stern.

Long painters are a mistake if you have a motor. In that case the
painter should stop short of the propeller. You can use a long tow
line with it.


In big seas a long tow line is absolutely necessary. Frankly I don't
understand your distinction between a tow line and a painter unless
you are referring to the painter as the line used for everyday tie up,
as opposed to long distance towing. Best solution for a painter is
floating line like polypro (miserable as it is for other reasons), or
to install some small floats at regular intervals. All this of course
is to prevent the painter from getting sucked into the props
accidently.