I find the alpine butterfly loop very valuable - easy to tie and untie after loaded. Great mid-like loop. I now use it in my "truckers hitch" as a replacement for the loop because once set it won't fall out and if you are working in the wind. The truckers hitch is a little fragile before loaded.
Love the part about the sheet bend knot. My Dad being in the Navy decades ago taught me this exact knot as a "Becket's Bend". Just a navy term. I love this knot because you can join two pieces of rope that are not the same diameter too like you demonstrated. Fair winds, calm seas again to you guys. Love your videos.
I enjoyed this video. Very practical info. I watched your bowline, cleat, and stopper knot videos too. Heck just start adding knot videos to your content stream. You explain them so well. Cheers!
Thanks for the constrictor. I was unaware of this knot but use a Canadian Jam knot for the same effect. A word about sheet bend and square knots. The square knot is considered proper for attaching two pieces of identical line together. The sheet bend is for attaching dissimilar lines together and when doing so, the larger diameter of the two should make up the bight while the smaller should make up the hitch.
A square knot should ONLY be used if it is unlikely to move much, otherwise one should use a more proper bend knot such as Sheet Bend, Fishermans Knot, Butterfly Bend, etc. The reason for this is because the Square Knot is easily susceptible to collapsing and coming undone if one end is pulled to the side. This is why many knot org's warn against its use to actually bend lines / ropes together. It has caused many deaths because of people using it for such, so most knot org's will strictly warn against its use for such a purpose. This would especially be bad in the instance he shows in the video tying rope to his dinghy anchor rode, because if the dinghy swings around and pulls from the side, it can easily come undone. This IS why it was used by sailors in older days as a reef knot, as they could easily collapse the knot by simply pulling on one side of the rope and thereby releasing the reefed sail. And the very reason one should NOT rely on it for bending 2 ropes together. It is a 'binding' knot, and not a 'bending' knot. Unlike the Sheet Bend which is a 'bending' knot .. however it is not very strong one, but still much better and suited for application that they use it for.
Along with sheet bend, I like the double sheet bend too. Instead of the clove hitch which I find is unreliable, I use the rolling hitch or pile hitch on poles. Where I want double strength like when tying a dingy, I use the bowline on a bight or figure 8 double loop. I really like the figure 8 loop knot and often use it in place of a bowline where I really don't want it to come apart. Nice looking too. Just a few extras I use. :-)
Completely agree: I've had the bowline come undone on me too many times to trust it without an overhand safety. I do use the clove hitch on my fenders because it's just so easy to adjust (our government docks in Yellowknife are all over the place for height) but again, only with an overhand safety because as you point out, it's just not a reliable knot.
You shouldn't tie your fenders to the life line or rail as the extra torque will eventually cause the stanchions to crack, and the you get a corrosion issue which will exacerbated the problem: instead, always tie them to the toe rail or the stanchion base.
I use Cow Hitch (aka larks head). I way overuse this knot. It is similar to the Clove Hitch, except the two half hitches are reversed in essence. It is a great knot that tightens down more the harder an end or both ends is pulled, yet is very simple to still undo. I actually typically will use that in place of the clove hitch as the clove is harder to undo and can slip to a degree. Unless I actually want the capability of being able to allow it to slip / adjust where the knot is. So for example IF I know want to adjust the length for the fender I would use clove, otherwise normally would just use the cow. I also use it instead of a Sheet Bend, will do two Cow Hitches instead to tie both lines (ropes) together. One does need to tie the ends though, typically just do half hitch or couple of half hitches because the Cow Hitch must have a load on it otherwise it will loosen, tying the end off prevents that to a degree but imho it is still better then Sheet Bend. You could also leave a bite in it and do the same thing as Trucker's Hitch ... but Trucker's Hitch is better for that so do not use it for that. Can also use it in place of the Marline Spike, it is much easier to tie and also simply just slips off, but is a variation of Cow Hitch called Bale Sling Hitch (aka strap hitch). Which is used to hoist things, such as bales of hay, so it can be used to do the same thing you showed by hoisting down when tied around a bar. I really use it also to cinch down on bundled loads, but I really should be using Constrictor knot instead as it is better .. I just can never recall how to tie that and so fall back to my knot of choice :P As I said I kind of overuse this. Speaking of Sheet Bend. Smh. It is a very old knot that was used by seaman long time ago. Sheets aka Sails. One that every bowson mate knows and used. But one that they borrowed, since it is a very old knot also known as Weavers Knot. These days for the sea, I normally see it used by fishermen for netting.
If you're going to use a Flemish Flake, make sure it is centered on a crack in the dock so water can escape. Otherwise the only place for the water to go is through the line, with the line acting as a water filter, filtering out the condensation nuclei (rain water is NOT clean) and any other garbage. Often the nuclei are things that can crystallize inside the line which then abraid the line. Personally, for the reason above, I use a Flemish Flake on an old line, permanently sewn, as a boarding mat to clean my feet and nothing more. There are better ways to tidy the line on a cleat.
A word of caution with the bowline: a bunch of climbers have died on it when it came undone and it is being phased out of firefighting. Depending on the line, especially when wet, it'll screw you: I've personally seen it come undone 3 times in one Thursday dinghy night (club line, I got it wet before the first race of the evening, but the rest of the evening was a night mare). Never ever use it for life safety (going up the mast for example) without an overhand safety knot on it (ditto on the sheet bend as they are essentially the same knot).
