Best DIY Dinghy Painter

There are good kids in this world.

April was on a Delta flight from Austin, TX, back to Avemar this morning. I was onboard watching YouTube videos, washing dishes, and doing general housecleaning chores, trying to make the boat look hospitable after being alone for the past four days.

I heard, “Hey, is anyone on board?”

I figured a neighbor on a boat in the anchorage had stopped by to say hello and popped my head up through the companionway.

A young man dressed like an SGA president on a high school calendar was doing circles in a dingy off to port.

I said hello, and he replied, “Is this your dinghy?”

It took a few seconds to register what he just asked. “Is this your dinghy?”

The mild shock set in when I realized he was in “my” dinghy and circling around Avemar’s aft quarter.

It turns out that he was eating lunch at a restaurant downwind of Avemar and saw my dinghy detach from the stern and drift directly to the restaurant's pier. He rescued it and brought it back.

I profusely thanked him, put on a shirt, and jumped in the dinghy. I thanked him again, and he immediately said, “I figured it was from your boat. I’m glad I could get it back over here. I’ll swim to shore now.”

That didn’t happen. I convinced him to stay onboard and ferried him back to the dock, where his friends congratulated him on being a hero. He was. I thanked him again but regretfully didn’t pay for his lunch or buy him a beer, even though he was debatably underage.

There are good kids in this world.

Now, for any other boaters reading this… How did this happen?

I subscribe to a popular YouTube channel that posted a video titled “DON'T Lose your Dinghy! Best DIY Dinghy Painter” a few months ago. The timing was perfect as I had just purchased a new dinghy.

What did I do? I followed the directions to the T and even used the exact instructions to buy the specific materials from Amazon. I made the perfect dinghy painter.

Basically, it was a Dyneema® line and a smaller floating line that I threaded inside the core of the Dyneema® to make a DIY dinghy painter. The Dyneema® gave the setup strength, and the inner line made it float. It worked OK. It mostly floated, and I knew it was strong enough not to break in any condition.

The problems are…

First of all, the Dyneema® is so slick that on big bronze cleats, with every wave, it slightly loosens itself from the cleat. Apparently, even when cleated properly, it can work itself off within 16 hours and cause the dinghy to float away. That is what happened to me, and I’m religious about how I cleat lines to cleats.

Secondly, when you cleat the dinghy to a smaller cleat, the motion of the ocean tightens the line on the cleat so tight that you cannot get the hitch off the cleat! When you need to go, you need to go! It’s not possible with this setup and a smaller cleat. It just works itself too tight.

I’m rethinking this DYI of the “Best Painter” situation and will probably return to a scrap double-braid line in my line bucket or order a proper painter from Defender.

To wrap up, I should have done more to thank this young man for helping me out, and I apologize that, at the moment, I was just surprised at the whole situation (I would make a horrible YouTuber!). Still, I’m thankful to him for bringing the dinghy back and for another reason.

The “Best Painter” made with Dyneema® is so slick that the excess line easily slips overboard if any of it is in the water as the boat moves. This happens all the time.

When I saw the dinghy today off the side of the boat, before I even realized it was “my” dinghy, I almost said, “Hey, your painter is falling off the side of the boat, and it could wrap in your prop!”

Don’t DYI your dinghy painter with Dyneema®.