@
He said fart sack.
Agree with Charlie Walbridge
that painters are more an entanglement hazard
than a help in whitewater and in most other situations
too, especially because most people seem not to be
disciplined enough to neatly put them away ALL the time
Painter length is a problem.
Short ones are safer, but aren’t too practical unless the boat is empty and you can haul it ashore. For tripping I use 25 ft lengths on each end; otherwise, frequently you have problems finding something you can tie the painter to. After on a few ocassions of having my boat start drifting down the river in remote locations, I switched to longer painters. This is especially true when you pull up to a ledge and can’t beach the canoe. There is nothing saying you have to always use the same length painter. When I don’t need long lengths, I don’t use them and switch to the safer shorter lengths. Make sure though whatever length you choose is to get a rope that floats. You don’t want the rope trolling the bottom of a river looking for rocks to snag which also is more difficult to grab. Also, a knife attached to your PFD is a good safety item in case you do get entangled.
For what it’s worth
I do canoe camping/“wilderness” tripping. I use my painters for 1) lining through rapids and 2) tying down the canoe on shore.
I use 3/8", floating, poly rope. I buy a 50’ length and then cut it in half, so I have approximately 25’ on both bow and stern. It is run through the painter holes. If the canoe doesn’t have holes, I install homemade “tug eyes”.
I used to tie the line directly onto the canoe, and I still have one boat that way, but recently I went to just running a loop of rope through the painter holes. I then have the painter line as a separate piece and clip it onto the loop with a carbiner. I did this mostly so I didn’t have to worry about the line uncoiling when car topping. (This BTW would be a good strategy if you wanted to use different length painter lines at different times)
On the canoe. the lines are coiled and secured either under a bungee loop or velcro strap attached either to the deck or the carry handle.