God I'm rubbish at knots!

Random Advise on Knots...

1) Once you have tied it successfully imediatly untie it and do it again Twice... Then switch to the last not you could tie, tie that twice then switch to the one you have just learned to tie twice...

2) Learn the usage for the knot and its advantages and disadvantages...

3) My tips:

Fig 8: Make a dollys head (a loop) strangle it (rope round back) then poke its eye out!

Reef Knot: Tie a bow and pull the ends through! As Dylan pointed out some time ago if you do not get a reef knot and get a granny knot, you are tieing your bow wrong as well... Switch left over right for right over left...

Bowline: Tie it round your self or tro something to start with (back of dining room chair?), then try doing it without. Remember what you are making!
As some one said rabbit tree thing. Just watch he comes up through the whole the right way hes a sneaky bugger...

Round turn two half hitches is the same as a clove hitch just tied back on itself...

Same as sheet bend is the same as a bowline! Tie them and compare them....
 
onesea said:
Random Advise on Knots...

1) Once you have tied it successfully imediatly untie it and do it again Twice... Then switch to the last not you could tie, tie that twice then switch to the one you have just learned to tie twice...

2) Learn the usage for the knot and its advantages and disadvantages...

3) My tips:

Fig 8: Make a dollys head (a loop) strangle it (rope round back) then poke its eye out!

Reef Knot: Tie a bow and pull the ends through! As Dylan pointed out some time ago if you do not get a reef knot and get a granny knot, you are tieing your bow wrong as well... Switch left over right for right over left...

Bowline: Tie it round your self or tro something to start with (back of dining room chair?), then try doing it without. Remember what you are making!
As some one said rabbit tree thing. Just watch he comes up through the whole the right way hes a sneaky bugger...

Round turn two half hitches is the same as a clove hitch just tied back on itself...

Same as sheet bend is the same as a bowline! Tie them and compare them....
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Brilliant!! LOL. That I'll remember
 
Latestarter1 said:
When I was apprentice bosun insisted that knots had to be tied behind your back.
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As a kid we had seamanship races involving sailing certain legs of the course in specific ways (ie no centreboard) or carrying out tasks during the leg (eg pass the rudder around the mast, unthread the mainsheet and rethread it - and the finish was a run to the RO with a line and tie a bowline behind your back. At one point I could (sort of - technically it was tied, but not very well) tie a bowline behind my back with one hand ...
It was all down to practice - and having the time, patience and peer pressure too practice! It's amazing what you can learn to do as a child!

The huge bonus from that upbringing is that I can now tie any usual knot without thinking ...
 
The bowline can be done using the tree method but as some on here are chucking in the ring i will add my penny.

the easiest way and this can be tried is to tie a pigs ear about 2 ft from the end of a line, this is the simple knot with a loop in its the one you pull and the loop comes out, but as you pull the loop out pass the end of the line into the loop and pull the end through the loop and it will make sense you will end up with the easiest bowline you have ever tied.
 
Carry a piece of cord with you, and practice at every opportunity. Focus on one knot at a time, until it becomes second nature. It has to become a motor skill, rather than a rote-learned procedure. Far easier done than said.
 
elton said:
Carry a piece of cord with you, and practice at every opportunity. Focus on one knot at a time, until it becomes second nature. It has to become a motor skill, rather than a rote-learned procedure. Far easier done than said.
Click to expand...

Better still, hang a couple of lines on the back of the door to your loo, then schedule a few minutes every day to practice.......
 
lisilou said:
Just doing the online DS theory but Oh my word...I can't remember how to tie knots to save my life. I'm sure my neighbours think I'm nuts seeing me sat here, ropes in hand saying aloud to myself 'over, under, under, over, thru' etc etc. Lol
Quite enjoyable tho even tho I've got the attention span of a gnat!
L
:)
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At the risk of asking a stupid question, if you can't tie knots, how do you secure your boat?
 
lisilou said:
The normal way Phil. I just have a problem remembering how to do specific knots. Practice is making perfect tho :)
L
:)
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So, asuming the normal way is to attach fenders with either a turn and 2 half hitches or a clove hitch, and secure docklines with bowline, which knots are you struggling with? You only really need a sheet bend and maybe a reef knot and you're sorted!
 
Clove hitch for fenders no problem now but never had to do a bowline as yet (ropes ready looped) so the bowline and turn & 2 half hitches are the ones in practice. All good coz it's just practice.
L
:)
 
Philiz said:
What do you use to tie your dinghy up or when you visit other marinas or raft up?
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Ok don't laugh but we've never taken the dinghy anywhere other than out and back to the boat so never needed to bother with bowlines etc (and tbh...when we tie the dinghy to pontoon, we've just tied a secure 'any kind of knot' to the dinghy then the usual round cleat and lock off. Rafting up...I'm driving so I've never had to do the lines in that respect. All I do is make sure all is secure.
This is why I want to do the DS theory coz although I know what I'm doing at the helm...I want to be sure of EVERYTHING and make sure I understand it.
L
:)
 
lisilou said:
Clove hitch for fenders no problem now but never had to do a bowline as yet (ropes ready looped) so the bowline and turn & 2 half hitches are the ones in practice. All good coz it's just practice.
L
:)
Click to expand...

A clove hitch is just two hitches: Look at picture below, ignore round turns for a moment..
Its a clove hitch tide back on the same bit of rope, the round turns just stop chafing...

Round_turn_and_two_half_hitches.png


Clovehitch.png


lisilou said:
This is why I want to do the DS theory coz although I know what I'm doing at the helm...I want to be sure of EVERYTHING and make sure I understand it.
L
:)
Click to expand...

So nice to hear...
 
Knot tying diagrams are notoriously difficult to follow I find. If you do have an iPhone I've found this app really good:

http://www.animatedknots.com

The website is great to use as well but if its on your phone then you've got it for reference wherever you are.

I learnt a quite useful knot recently called a constrictor knot, its basically a clove hitch with an extra tuck.

I've tied some bits of thin cord to my handrails in places for tying coils of rope to. I'm often single handed so if I'm going into a busy marina I'll attach a mooring lines to fore and aft cleats, led through the fairleads, outside the handrails to amidships where I coil the rest up and tied with a bow using my bits of string, ready for deployment. The idea is if a friendly person is around, they're more likely to help if I've helped them. Otherwise it's made things easier for me to do it anyway. (Am I getting a bit side tracked here?!)

Anyhow, my bits of string were tied to the handrail with a clove hitch leaving 2 ends to tie with but they kept loosening up. I needed another knot that would look neat and not leave a big lump to catch things on and the constrictor knot was perfect as it really binds up when you tension it.

You can get away with very few knots on a boat but more's the better!
 
I found that learning to tie knots was really difficult. Because of that if I'm showing someone how to tie a knot I stand behind them so they see how to do it 'the right way round'. Trouble with books, video guides and someone demonstrating is that you are watching back to front. Good luck lisilou, remember once learnt never forgotten!! :D
 
Thanks all for your comments and links...helpful as always :). DS starts tuesday so I guess I'll find out just how rubbish I still am lol.
L
:)
 
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