Index Knots you should know
- Bowline
- Clove hitch
- Figure 8
- Square Knot
- 2 half hitches
- Cleating a line
- Throwing a line
- More about knots.
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This Section...Basic Knots...
Index for owner's manual...
- Knots Test your knowledge. You should be able to tie these 6 basic knots. (Here's a linked site in addition, with more details.)
- Docking and maneuvering
- Electrical and Electronics--including navigation.
- The basic equipment
- Engine
- Propane Stoves
- Heads
- Plumbing
- Refrigeration
- Anchoring & Windlass
- Electronics/Electrical--Basics.
Bowline
- This is the most useful of all knots on a boat. Practice is necessary; but once it is learned, it is easy to make, never slips or jams and can always be untied.
When approaching a dock, if the dock lines don't have a spliced loop, create a bowline that will accommodate the diameter of the piling.
Always put the loop end on the piling or give the loop end to the dock attendant. Never give the end to a dock attendant. Keep control on the boat. That way you can adjust the boats position from on-board anytime and/or control the boat when you use the line as a spring line for approaching or leaving a dock--see Dock maneuvering section.
Clove Hitch
- This is a very adjustable knot but tends to slip, especially when used with nylon line. Takes an extra half hitch to make it secure. This is a great knot for attaching the fender line to a lifeline. Practice so that you can do it with one hand. It makes it easy to move the fender as conditions warrant. After everything's adjusted, take the extra half hitch.
If you use this, initially, to tie to a piling, add the half hitch for sure, or better, make a loop with a bowline.
Figure 8
- This knot can be used to keep the end of a line from running through a block or grommet. It is easy to untie.
Square or Reef
- This is a secure knot to use for tying a bundle. Even if the line is under pressure, it can be untied. It is not recommended to be used for tying two lines together
Two Half Hitch
- This is quick and easy and best used for fastening a line to something else--A piling, a ring on a fender, etc. A better alternative for a piling is a bowline. For a fender to a lifeline--the Clove hitch
Cleating a Line
- Start with a turn around the cleat. Then go around the cleat so the line passes under each horn once.
Finish with a half-hitch over one horn. More wrappings and hitches are unnecessary, these only slow the casting-off
process.
What you’re asking about is an often overlooked skill, but something I’d consider as a basic component of good boathandling. First, don’t try to throw a line that hasn’t been properly prepared for that action. Too often crewmembers will hastily grab a line and toss the whole tangle in the direction of someone awaiting the line on shore or on another boat. That’s just a recipe for problems. A line first needs to loosely coiled so that it will have the best chance of traveling unfettered through the air to its destination.
After you’ve got the loosely coiled, split the coil into two halves. Keep the bitter end of the line wrapped around the hand that will remain stationary, and the end you intend to toss in the other hand. It’s best to toss the line with a sweeping motion of your arm, as if you were throwing a roundhouse punch. As you do that, make sure that you point your other arm in the direction of the recipient. Doing that will make it easier for the rest of the line to uncoil from the loops in your stationary hand.
When throwing a line to the dock or person
standing by, it helps if you’ve got a large loop at that end of the
line—either a splice or a loop that you’ve tied beforehand. That allows
the person on the receiving end to simply drop the loop around a cleat, or
bollard, or post. You might find it hard to believe, but frequently the
person on the dock won’t know what to do with the line once they’ve caught
it, so having a loop there will allow you to give them minimal
instructions, and you or your skipper to execute a successful docking.
More about Knots
This site has in-motion knot tying (Java?) Scripts. Good on 8/31/99
http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/boating/7_1.htm
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