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Lines and Knots for Your Boat

Lines and Knots for Your Boat. by Nancy Free. Marlinespike Seamanship. Art of handling and working with rope This includes Knowledge of rope materials and construction How to care for your lines Difference between knots, bends, and hitches Basic knots to know and their uses

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Lines and Knots for Your Boat

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  1. Lines and Knots for Your Boat by Nancy Free

  2. Marlinespike Seamanship • Art of handling and working with rope • This includes • Knowledge of rope materials and construction • How to care for your lines • Difference between knots, bends, and hitches • Basic knots to know and their uses • Hands on knot practice 2

  3. Lines vs. Ropes • Rope is what you buy at the store on a spool. • Lines are pieces of rope cut to length and put in service. • Exceptions are bell ropes. bolt and foot ropes on sails. • Some lines have special names - painters on small boats, lead lines, anchor rodes. 3

  4. Three Types of Rope Materials • Natural Fibers • Synthetics • Wires (stainless and galvanized) 4

  5. Rope MaterialsNatural Fibers • Natural fibers includeManila (strongest), cotton, sisal, hemp, jute, and flax • Manila and cotton are the only ones commonly used today. • Natural fibers have disadvantages. • are weaker than synthetics • shrink when wet • are subject to rot • Used mainly on tall ships 5

  6. Synthetic Fibers • Advantages • MUCH stronger than natural fibers, wet or dry • Don’t shrink when wet like natural fibers • Resist rot, mildew, acids, and alkalis • Disadvantages • Slippery, don’t hold knots and splices as well • May be damaged by heat and UV light 7

  7. Synthetic FibersNylon • Advantages • Strongest commonly used fiber • Won’t rot • Most elastic of all fibers – good for lines subject to shock (examples?) • Disadvantages • Very elastic – bad for lines that need to be taut (examples?) • Dangerous if it breaks under strain • Slippery, unravels easily 8

  8. Synthetic FibersPolyester (Dacron) • Advantages • Much less elastic than nylonuseful for lines that must be taut • Nearly as strong as nylon • More pliable than nylon • Disadvantages • Chafes easily under strain • Much less elastic than nylon;not good for lines subject toshock. 9

  9. Synthetic FibersPolyolefin (polyethylene, polypropylene) • Advantages • They float (examples of use?) • Cheapest fibers • Disadvantages • Degrade and weaken in sunlight • Weakest synthetics • Stiff and slippery; knots may come undone • Rough and hard on the hands 10

  10. Other Types of Rope Materials • Wire rope (usually stainless steel) • Used for standing or permanent rigging on sailboats, davits • Maximum strength and little stretch • Tends to be stiff and inflexible • May snag and cut hands • Shock Cord • Rubber strands covered with synthetic fiber • Used to tie down loads • Webbing (woven nylon) • Strong, holds knots well • Used for tie downs, sail stops 11

  11. Rope ConstructionLaid Rope • Most rope is right laid. Coil with the lay to avoid kinks. • To construct laid rope • Fibers are twisted into yarns. • Yarns are twisted in the opposite direction into strands. • Strands are twisted in the original direction to form rope. 12

  12. Rope ConstructionBraided Rope • Made of interwoven strands • Smoother and easier on the hands than laid rope • Can be single or double braided • Double braided has an inner core and is stronger than laid rope of same size. • More expensive than laid rope 13

  13. Care of Lines Keep all lines, synthetic or natural • Dry and well ventilated to prevent mildew • Free of kinks • Free of dirt, oil, acid; wash after wetting with sea water • Run bow lines through a chock. Use chafing gear on lines subject to wear. • Inspect lines for wear every season. • Whip lines to keep them from coming unlaid. 14

  14. Care of Lines • Coil up lines when stowing them. • Fake (or flake) down lines that have to run out fast without kinks. • Flemish a line lying on a flat surface to give it a neat, flat look. 15

  15. Types of Knots • Anything you tie in a line is a knot (general sense of knot). • A knot, in the strict sense, is tied in a single line. • Square knot • A bend is a knot that ties two lines together. • Sheet bend • A hitch is a knot that ties a line to an object. • Clove hitch • Rolling hitch 16

  16. Overhand Knot • Simplest, easiest knot to tie. • It’s a “not” knot. • Limited use as a “stopper knot” or to keep a line from fraying. • Weakens line strength by 50%. • May be useful as the start of more complex knots. 17

  17. Figure Eight Knot • Used by sailors as a stopper knot to keep the end of a line from running through a block or pulley • Bulkier and better as a stopper knot than an overhand knot 18

  18. Square Knot (Reef Knot) • Used for • reefing or furling sails • tying bags, packages, and shoes • Tie it only in single line or two similar lines. (It’s a knot.) • Dangerous if used to tie unlike lines; capsizes under strain 19

  19. Sheet Bend, Becket Bend, Weaver’s Knot • Use it to tie • two dissimilar lines together • a small line to a becket* (loop in a line) • Make the sheet bend double or triple for security • Make it “slippery” for ease in untying 20

  20. Clove Hitch • Use it to tie • a line to a rail or piling temporarily • fenders to a railing • Easy to untie (esp. if it’s slipped.) • Tends to come undone unless under constant tension 21

  21. Round Turn & Two Half Hitches • Use to tie a line to an object“A round turn an two half hitches will hold most anything.” • More permanent and secure than a clove hitch, harder to untie 22

  22. Anchor Bend • Most secure hitch to attach a line to an object such as a ring or post • Use to attach a line to an anchor or a fishhook • Similar to a round turn and two half hitches 23

  23. Rolling Hitch • Used to • tie a smaller line to the standing part of another a line under a load • make an adjustable loop by tying the working end to the standing part of the same line • tie a flag to a flag halyard 24

  24. Bowline“King of Knots” • Forms a non-slip loop that’s easily untied • Called the “king of knots” because of its many uses (Suggestions?) 25

  25. Cleat Hitch • Secures a line to a horn cleat • To tie it - • Take only one full turn around the base of the cleat. • Make one figure eight turn around both horns. • To make it more secure, finish with an under hand loop (weather hitch) 23

  26. Lead Lines • A line with a lead weight used to measure water depth To use it • Mark the line at intervals. • Coil the line and throw the lead out in front of the boat. • When the line stands vertical, note the marker just above the water.

  27. Dipping the Eye • Technique to use when tying to a piling where another boat is tied. • Avoids putting your line on top of the one already there. • “Dip the eye” by bringing the loop of your line through the eye of the first line and then over the post.

  28. Knot Rodeo • Find a sign for a knot that you don’t already know. • Go to the station for that knot and watch the demo and ask questions. • Get as much hands-on time as time permits. You can’t learn from looking at pictures. • Practice, practice, practice is the only way to learn. 29

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