A painter is the line attached to the bow of a small boat – a dinghy, tender or other open boat – and used to tie her up, tow her or hold her alongside. Every dinghy has one, and the word is reserved for small craft: the equivalent line on a yacht is a bow line or bow warp. For the beginner, the painter is simply the rope you grab when you step into the tender and the one you tie to the dock ring when you get ashore. The experienced sailor adds that the painter is the single most common cause of a fouled propeller in any anchorage, and that a painter made of floating line, long enough for towing but always shortened up before the engine starts, will save you a cold swim with a knife.
What Makes a Good Painter
Choose floating line. Polypropylene or a polypropylene blend floats on the surface where you can see it, rather than sinking under the stern towards the propeller as nylon or polyester will. Eight to ten millimetres is ample for most tenders; the load in a tow is modest and a thicker line is harder to handle and to tie. For tying up and short tows, one and a half to twice the dinghy’s length is comfortable, with a longer line kept coiled in the dinghy for towing at sea.
The attachment matters as much as the rope. The painter should lead from a towing eye or strong bow fitting set low on the stem, so the pull lifts the bow rather than dragging it down. On an inflatable, a bridle to the two forward towing rings spreads the load and keeps the tender tracking straight. Splice an eye in the dinghy end rather than trusting a knot that will work loose.
Towing the Tender
Towing a dinghy is routine in sheltered water and a chore in a seaway. Adjust the painter so the tender rides on the face of the second or third wave of your wake, where she is lifted rather than slammed; too short and she surges into your transom, too long and she yaws about and snatches at the line. Remove the outboard, oars and anything loose, and open the drain plug so spray drains away. At night, keep her short and close so a following vessel does not run between you.
In real weather, do not tow at all: a swamped dinghy becomes a sea anchor and a capsized one can be lost with all her gear, so hoist the tender aboard or lash it on deck before the passage.
Tying Up and Coming Alongside
Ashore, tie the painter to the ring or rail with a bowline or a round turn and two half hitches, and leave enough slack for the tide: a dinghy tied short at high water will be hanging from the wall six hours later, and one tied short at low water will be underwater.
Alongside the yacht, the painter goes to a midship cleat or stanchion base, never to the pushpit where the dinghy will bang against the stern all night. At anchor overnight, bring the tender close or lift it on the halyard, because a dinghy on a long painter can wrap the anchor chain as the boat swings and a squall can flip it. See also bow line, warp, tow line and lanyard.
Cruising and Racing Perspectives
For the cruising sailor the painter is in use every day. The tender is the family car, and the painter tethers it to the shore, to the yacht and occasionally to a friend’s boat in a raft-up.
Racing sailors meet the painter mostly in dinghies, where it is short and light, used to tow out to the course behind a coach boat, and stowed before the start so it cannot trail in the water and foul the rudder.
Where the Word Comes From
The painter has nothing to do with paint. The most likely origin is an old French word for a rope used to hang or suspend something, arriving in English through the Anglo-Norman of medieval seafarers, and by the fourteenth century it was the established name for the rope that secures a boat. To ‘cut the painter’ was once a sailor’s expression for leaving suddenly, or for dying, since a boat with her painter cut drifts away and is not coming back.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Painter
How long should a dinghy painter be?
Roughly one and a half to two times the dinghy’s length for tying up and short tows, with a longer towing line available when you need it. A painter that is too long spends its life in the water and eventually in a propeller.
What knot should I use on a painter?
A bowline for a ring or eye, a round turn and two half hitches for a rail or post, and a cleat hitch on a cleat. All can be released under load and none will jam wet.
The painter is the humblest rope on the boat, and the one that most often goes wrong. Give it a moment’s thought – the right line, the right length, made fast properly and kept out of the water – and your tender will always be there when you need it.