SAWDOC
Well-Known Member
We usually tie the painter for our dinghy to the swinging mooring line with a round turn and a couple of half hitchs. Little cumbersome because both lines end in a soft eye. Would anyone suggest an alternative?
Best knot to tie two soft eyes together?
- Thread starter SAWDOC
- Start date
PuffTheMagicDragon
Well-Known Member
Pass the dinghy painter through the eye on the mooring pennant and tie a double sheet bend, i.e., treat the soft eye on the thicker rope as if it were a bight.
electrosys
Well-Known Member
I haven't a complete solution - but the idea of poking one soft eye through the other, then inserting a wooden 'toggle' through it, has a certain attraction. The challenge would then be - how to make sure the toggle couldn't become accidently dislodged ...
exfinnsailor
Well-Known Member
Bowline 
Which you should be able to tie upside down, behind your back and one handed 
Which you should be able to tie upside down, behind your back and one handed
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Giblets
Well-Known Member
Bowline
you forgot in the dark!
Fascadale
Well-Known Member
prv
Well-Known Member
Something like this (not quite identical) is done with ship's boats to form a kind of quick-release by pulling out the toggle. However, I don't think it's appropriate to the OP's situation which wants something more secure. I'd go with the Dragon's sheet bend idea, ignoring the eye on the painter.
Pete
electrosys
Well-Known Member
"Something like this (not quite identical) is done with ship's boats to form a kind of quick-release by pulling out the toggle."
Thanks Pete - just the kind of stimulus my ol' brain needed.
So - make up a short length of rope with a toggle made fast at either end. Ensure that the toggles are longer than the eyes are wide, when stretched outwards. I'd say that should be pretty secure.
Or simply use a shackle to join the loops, of course ...
Thanks Pete - just the kind of stimulus my ol' brain needed.
So - make up a short length of rope with a toggle made fast at either end. Ensure that the toggles are longer than the eyes are wide, when stretched outwards. I'd say that should be pretty secure.
Or simply use a shackle to join the loops, of course ...
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fisherman
Well-Known Member
prv
Well-Known Member
Maybe, but in what way is it better than simply tying the painter to the eye on the mooring as already suggested? I assume the dinghy painter is a lot thinner than the mooring pendant.
Solution looking for a problem.
Pete
electrosys
Well-Known Member
If you find their description a tad confusing (I did - so nothing new there, then) - checkout: http://www.stornowayplastics.com/toggles.htm
for some history and pics ...
electrosys
Well-Known Member
I thought the OP was looking for alternatives to tying knots ?
I'd say the toggle approach would be a lot simpler and quicker to use - especially with cold wet hands - no ?
prv
Well-Known Member
electrosys
Well-Known Member
On a thread called "Best knot..."?
Pete
Oh come on - that was presumably because the OP hadn't considered any other methods of attachment when selecting that title. (maybe he would care to comment ?)
He went on to say: "Little cumbersome because both lines end in a soft eye. Would anyone suggest an alternative?" A toggle is an alternative.
Why are you so against toggles ? You commented that they are not secure - but they certainly can be. I didn't know before today that commercial fishermen use 'em ... now that's good enough for me. And - if you care to do a Google for 'Toggle Rope' - you'll discover that Commandos and all sort of Airborne Special Forces have used (maybe still do ?) this method of quick 'n easy - and highly secure - rope connection.
Before today, I hadn't given toggles much thought - good enough for flag halyards, and that was about it. But from now on I shall certainly consider this as being a most useful method of joining ropes whenever quick and easy connection/ disconnection is involved.
PuffTheMagicDragon
Well-Known Member
Yes, toggles are an alternative. But...
The mooring cleats on my foredeck are 11" which means that the eyes that fit over them are at least 8" long when stretched. This means that a toggle would need to be more than 16" long if it is not to self-disengage, say 18". That is hardly a 'handy size' wouldn't you say?
The mooring cleats on my foredeck are 11" which means that the eyes that fit over them are at least 8" long when stretched. This means that a toggle would need to be more than 16" long if it is not to self-disengage, say 18". That is hardly a 'handy size' wouldn't you say?
johnalison
Well-Known Member
I like the idea of the double sheet-bend, but being a bit obsessional, I would probably add a half-hitch in case my tail was too short. I do a similar thing with bowlines sometimes.
alahol2
Well-Known Member
On our dinghy we have a large spring gate carabiner on the end of the painter. It means we can clip onto various parts of the yacht (lifelines, shrouds, backstay etc) very quickly and easily. We don't leave the dinghy on the mooring nowadays but, if we did, I would use the clip. Can't think of anything quicker/easier.
alan_d
Well-Known Member
I used to have the same, but on the dinghy end of the painter. Previously the painter was attached with an eye-splice, but I ran in to problems when it got wrapped round the prop of the outboard, and because it was attached to the towing-eye at the stem I couldn't tilt the motor to clear it.
Then one day I was pulling the dinghy towards me and watched in disbelief as the spring carabiner disengaged itself. Fortunately the dinghy had enough forward momentum to bring it within grabbing distance.
I therefore went back to the eye-splice, and a determination to always have a knife handy.
prv
Well-Known Member
My running backstay tackles are fixed to the deck with largish carbine hooks, allowing the leeward one to be cleared out of the way on a long tack, and potentially for use as a MOB hoist. Three times this year, one has unclipped itself while rattling around untensioned. In this application it's not a big enough problem to warrant changing, but I can certainly see why harness tethers don't use simple spring-clips any more.
Pete
fisherman
Well-Known Member
A carabinier clipped to an eyebolt is not reliable. Hard to explain but, say the eyebolt is in the deck: lay the carabinier flat on the deck, rotate it towards the spring side, it will let go every time as the clip hits the other side of the eye.