Fender knots

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luty

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Morning all,

As different skippers demand different fender knots, which is your knot of choice and why?

was taught to use clove hitch but some insist on round turn & two half hitches, others use a highway man's hitch and i'm sure some use granny knots!
 
Clove hitch every time. When leaving the boat in her own berth I add an extra half hitch, just to lock the lanyard in place. I have to run my mains lead forward to the pulpit, so I tend to tie the cable into the fender lanyard half hitches, this keeps the lead off the deck and stops those orrible black marks that get left when dirt is trapped under it.
 
Clove hitch round grab rails (big enough diameter for self-locking to work) and round turn & 2 half hitches round stanchion bases (too small diameter and too smooth for clove hitch to work reliably)
 
I'm with Steve and ArTThur on this one.... clove hitch, and then a locking half hitch when leaving her for any length of time...

Clove hitch has the added advantage of bein easy to adjust height of fender.... sometimes an advantage with my berthing skills!
 
As with others, clove hitch round guard wires, round turn and two half hitches for stanchion bases, shrouds etc. For speed we use a "slippery clove hitch" (i.e. with the end not pulled through - does it have a proper name?) while tying up but re-tie once secure
 
Another one: where do you attach your fenders to?
My theorie is to attach them to the lower guardwire at every stancheon.
Lower guardwire: that way, when there is some pull on the fenders (getting caught on the dock wall) the leverage is less on the guardrail then if they would be attached to the top guardwire. By the way: when people grab another boat, why do they always grab the top of stancheons?

At the stancheons: to prevent them from sliding about.
 
be wary, very wary, of crew saying they have the perfect fender tying knot (although the fender lost was a real crappy affair which got replaced by a shiny bright new one). Now if you had also asked abt the best way to attach a hank of mooring warp to the boat .....
 
Ever since a couple of fender went awol from the back of the boat I was doing my Day Skipper on, I've used a round turn & 2 half hitches. I've recently fitted some plastic hooks, which mean I can get 'em out and in a lot quicker - useful when single handing.
 
Once upon a time I secured a fender with a clove hitch to a guard wire. Jumped on to pontoon with mooring warp. Boat started to drift away. Grabbed fender to pull it in (idiot). Clove hitch rapidly pulled through. Boat drifted off. Journalist staggered 6ft backwards off a 5ft wide pontoon.

Always put a locking half hitch in.
 
A round turn and two half hitches or sometimes a special combination that only I can do. Don't ask how though, I only remember how to do it when tying the fenders on.
 
Seeing as you ask - and I might regret this...

To answer your qustion, I used to use a clove hitch to attach fenders, but too many fenders started to sag/fall off. I know people say put a locking hitch on it, but a round turn and two half hitches does the job. So nowadays, on our own boat I always use a round turn and two half hitches. In fact SWMBO who has self confessed rope and knot dyslexia calls a round turn and two half hitches a 'fender knot'.

In the same vein, why do people tie up to a ring using a bowline? It is impossible to undo under load and unless you put an extra turn through the ring, it wears the line. By the time you've put a round turn on, you might as well put two half hitches on it. If people tied up to tidal berths more and not to pontoons all the time, they would understand why its important to be able to undo a knot under load.

Bowlines are great knots for making a loop to put over a bollard, but I am more and more inclined to think of people having a sort of subconcious knot snobbery. Once people can tie a bowline, they seem to want to use one at every opportunity - even when its clearly better to use another knot.
 
As a bit of a beginner here I have learned a few of the nots over the last 12 months and have been using the quick release clove hitch on my fenders. I read about it somewhere, but can't remember where.

I have not lost a fender yet, but I do have quite abrasive fender lanyards.

Should I be changing ??
 
Hybrid reply,When coming into unknown pontoon I use clove hitch on top guard wire and when everything has settled down remake with RT&2HH on the bases of the stanchions.Reasons;on guardrail with clove hitch easy to adjust up/down and front/back and when all secure less leverage is applied to fixing point in the event of pressure on fender.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Once upon a time I secured a fender with a clove hitch to a guard wire. Jumped on to pontoon with mooring warp. Boat started to drift away. Grabbed fender to pull it in (idiot). Clove hitch rapidly pulled through. Boat drifted off. Journalist staggered 6ft backwards off a 5ft wide pontoon.

Always put a locking half hitch in.

[/ QUOTE ]

there is a God afterall
 
I have spliced a big loop, well big enough to get fender through, in the end of the fender line. Now, take line around guard wire and pop fender through hole, et voilà fender is never going to undo and fall off.

Does lose the adjustably bit though, but for most occasions it works fine.
 
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