Boating Skills & Seamanship

1. Boating Skills & Seamanship Lesson 11 Lines & Knots for Your Boat Approved by DC-E USCG AuxA, Inc

2. Lesson Objectives • Materials used in making rope • Use, selection and care • How to store rope • About rope/line hardware • Useful knots • How to secure the boat’s line

3. Marlinspike Seamanship • Art of handling & working all kinds of fiber, synthetic & wire rope • Includes • Knotting, splicing, worming, parceling, serving & fancy work • What to a landlubber is - ROPE • To a seaman is - LINE

4. Type of Line • Natural • Manila, Sisal • Shrink when wet and rot when dry • Weaker size for size than synthetics

5. Type of Line (cont’d) • Synthetics • Nylon • Strongest size for size of synthetic • Stretches most, resists chafing • Does not shrink when wet • Good for dock lines, towing and anchoring

6. Line • Natural fiber • Manila, Sisal, Hemp, Jute, Cotton, Flax • Synthetic • Nylon, Polyester (Dacron), Polypropylene • Wire Rope • Steel strands

7. Natural Fiber Line • Best is Manila • Has strength, durability & minimal stretch • Sisal is cheaper, but inferior • Disadvantages • Shrink when wet • Rot if stowed wet • Size for size, weaker than synthetic

8. Synthetic Line • General - good wet/dry strength, resists water, mildew & rot • Nylon - strongest, resists chafe, has most stretch, good for anchor and mooring

9. Synthetic Line (cont’d) • Polyester - costs more than nylon, easier & smoother to handle, use anytime, no stretch • Polypropylene - floats, costs less, deteriorates in sunlight, hard, slips on cleats, cuts

10. Manufacture of Line • Laid • Right laid • Left laid • Braided • Single braided • Double braided

11. Kinds of Rope Braid Twist

12. fibers strands yams rope Composition of Right Laid Line

13. Double Braided Line core

14. Wire Rope • Maximum STRENGTH • Minimum STRETCH • Used mostly on sailboats for standing and running rigging • Used on davits

15. WEIGHT AND STRENGTH COMPARISON SIZE NYLON DACRON MANILA Diameter 1/4” 3/8” 1/2” 5/8” 3/4” 7/8” 1” 1-1/8” (lbs) weight Per 100ft 1.7 3.5 6.6 10.5 15.0 20.5 27.0 34.5 (lbs) Breaking Strength 1,750 3,200 6,600 10,200 13,500 18,500 24,000 32,000 (lbs) Weight Per 100ft 2.2 4.5 7.6 12.4 19.3 23.5 31.3 40.4 (lbs) Breaking Strength 1,300 2,850 4,900 7,800 10,780 14,000 17,500 23,500 (lbs) Weight Per 100 ft. 2.0 4.0 6.1 13.1 16.3 22.0 26.5 35.2 (lbs) Breaking Strength 600 1,350 2,650 4,400 5,400 7,700 9,000 12,000 Yachting Ropes

16. “Ends” of Line • Ends need to be protected from fraying & unlaying • Ends can be • Whipped with thread/small stuff • Taped with waterproof tape • Dipped in plastic liquid • Melted with heat/flame

17. Temporary Whipped start finish Pull & cut

18. Making Up Lines • Faking • Laying out line in figure eights so it is free to run without tangles • Flemishing • Neat, ornamental way to store line on deck • Coiling • Proper way to put line away in a locker or compartment Coiling Faking Flemishing

19. 100 76 70-65 70-65 70-65 60 60 55 45 95-90 87 85 knots splices Losing Strength in Rope No knots or splices Anchor or Fisherman’s bend Timber hitch Round turn Two Half-hitches Bowline Clove hitch Sheet bend or Weaver’s knot Square or Reef knot Eye splice Long splice Short splice

20. Parts of a Line Overhand Loop Working End Underhand Loop Standing Part Bitter End

21. Round Turn

22. Basic Mariner’s Knots & Bends • Figure 8 • Square Knot • Clove Hitch • Sheet of Becket Bend • Anchor Bend • Timber Hitch • Bowline • Half Hitches • Rolling Hitch

23. Figure 8 • The Stopper Knot • It can be untied after being jammed • Used on all lines on sailboat except spinnaker sheets

24. Square Knot • Reef Knot - Alternate name • Used to secure reefed sail to boom • Fasten two lines of equal size • Difficult to untie if jammed • To tie • Right over left, then • Left over right

25. Clove Hitch • Used to tie line to piling • Knot will jam under load • Difficult to untie if load cannot be relieved

26. Sheet Bend • Becket Bend - alternate name • Ties two unequal sized lines together • Easy to untie after heavy strain

27. Two Half Hitches • Used to tie a line to a Ring, Piling, Post or Grommet • Easier to untie under tension and more permanent than a clove hitch

28. Round Turn with 2 Half Hitches • To tie a line permanently to a piling

29. Anchor or Fisherman’s Bend

30. The Bowline • To make a temporary loop • The rabbit comes up through the hole • Around the tree • Then back down into the hole

31. The Bowline • The King of Knots • Easy to untie • Tie Jib sheets to Clew of Jib • Tie lines to fittings • Tie lines of equal or unequal size together • Tie a rode to an anchor

32. Bowline

33. Timber Hitch

34. Rolling Hitch Around again, cross over first turn passing between the first turn and the standing part of its own line Tie a half hitch Around once

35. Cleats and Chocks

36. Mooring Cleat

37. Belaying to a Cleat

38. Jam Cleat Working End Standing Part

39. Lark’s Head

40. Cam Cleat

41. Chock • Used to protect boat and line

42. Securing Cleats • Use “through bolts” and backing block Deck Backing Block

43. Securing Lines Bow Bitts Samson Post

44. Dipping the Eye • Other boat’s eye on piling • Your eye can be removed or put on without disturbing the other boat’s line

45. Turnbuckle

46. shackle Outer Strap Inner Strap Cheek Shell Pin Sheaves Becket Thimble Blocks • On a vessel, pulleys are called blocks

47. Double Sheave Block

48. Thimble

49. Special Lines • Lead Line • Measures Depth of Water • Weighted with a lead weight • (Hollow end for bottom sample)

50. Dock Lines • Stern line • Bow line • Breast line • Spring line