Knots Links

Polypropylene rope floats but is sensitive to UV Good for dinghy ropes and water skiing

Nylon rope is strong and absorbs shocks Often found in climbing ropes and mooring or anchor lines.

Polyester makes a strong low stretch rope It is the most common rope material on sailboats. Often used as outside braid in composite ropes.

UHMW (Dyneema) Ropes are ultra strong and chemically resistant but it is very slippery and knots often untie.

Aramid (Kevlar) is very strong but sensitive to shock loads. Chlorine bleach destroys ropes made of aramid.

Characteristics of Kevlar with comparison charts

Fireman's Coil keep a rope tidy and untangled

Truckers hitch is useful when tying a boat on a car because it can be tightened.

French language knot site. Nice Video demonstrations. The word for marine knot is NOEUD MARIN

Small Print

Improper use of knots can be dangerous. Know how to tie them properly and what knot to use when.

Anchor Bend

This knot, not too surprisingly, is used to tie a line to an anchor. HOWEVER this is not particularly good practice since anchoring is much more reliable if there is a length of chain. So the anchor bend is really used to tie a line to a chain that is attached to an anchor. Its quite secure in my experience but I generally leave a longer tail and put in a couple more half hitches just to be sure. Its not so easy to take apart particularly when the rope is wet. I guess that's what its supposed to do. Its stronger than the Round turn and two half hitches but not as convenient to tie and take apart.

For more information on anchoring I have an article on anchors and anchoring.

Tying an Anchor Bend (Fisherman's Bend).

Whipping the ends together makes the anchor bend quite strong. Only practical if the line is quite permanent. Adding turns and hitches also strenghten the knot.

The Anchor Bend is one of my ten essential knots. Learn them and you will be able to tie just about everything on your boat.

I'm writing some articles about materials used in ropemaking and made a Conparison of Rope materials used in boats.

Some of my Knot Pages

The Anchor Bend Knot
Bowline, The Must Know Knot
Bowline on a bight, how to tie a bowline if you don't have the ends.
Cleat Hitch Its surprising how many people can't tie this knot properly
Constrictor Knots make it a point of being difficult to untie. Its their job!
Highwayman's Hitch makes it a point of being easy to untie, good for a quick hitch at the dock or where you need to get it undone fast
Reef Knots are used to reef sails, otherwise they are very unreliable.
Rolling Hitch A useful knot that can be tied on another line to pull some slack so you can untie a knot or untangle a winch line.
Sheet Bend joins 2 ropes together
The Stopper Knot stops a knot from running out of a cleat. 2 styles
Truckers Hitch helps tighten a rope around a canoe on a car or on a trailer.
Farmer's Loop Similar to the Trucker's hitch, easy to tie.
Round Turn and two half hitches a useful multipurpose knot
The Fireman's coil keeps your coiled rope from getting tangled.
Buntline Hitch, a very old knot that has found a new life with modern slippery rope

emails: Christine