Knots for fender hooks.

[Mark R]

Hi everyone,

 

Could any of you recommend the best knot to tie rope fenders to the eye of a fender hook like the one picture? 

 

Mark

 

 

[Tonka]

Is it going to of fixed length or are you going to want to lengthen and shorten the rope length

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

is that a hook that goes on the hand/grab rail?

and can be moved about?

 

I think I might splice the rope on if so 

[Mark R]

Thanks for the replies, It's likely that the rope will remain as a fixed length, I don't believe I'll want to shorten it. It will go over the hand rail, I didn't realise you could splice ropes yourself. Maybe that'd be an option.

[Rob-M]

Get on YouTube and search for eye splicing, quite straightforward to do.

[Tonka]

Just now, Mark R said:

Thanks for the replies, It's likely that the rope will remain as a fixed length, I don't believe I'll want to shorten it. It will go over the hand rail, I didn't realise you could splice ropes yourself. Maybe that'd be an option.

So the banks will always be the same height when you moor. Never going to moor against piles like on the Thames 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

YouTube it,

very easy,

I like the hemp

looking stuff, I dunno maybe 8mm? 6mm?

2 minutes ago, Tonka said:

So the banks will always be the same height when you moor. Never going to moor against piles like on the Thames 

Am I being thick?

I don’t get what you mean by that,

the gunnels are always the same distance from the hand rail?

[Mark R]

I can't say I'll be abnywhere other than on the canal system where the bank height might vary slightly but the gunnel will still be protected.

[Tonka]

1 minute ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

YouTube it,

very easy,

I like the hemp

looking stuff, I dunno maybe 8mm? 6mm?

Am I being thick?

I don’t get what you mean by that,

the gunnels are always the same distance from the hand rail?

And the fender is always the same size.

If the bank is low you will want to lower the fender to stop it riding up. If it is a wooden piled mooring the piles can be higher then the gunwales so you need to shorten the rope

[tree monkey]

A figure of eight will be neat but it can become impossible to undo if it gets put under a lot of tension. 

A bowline not so tidy but will never lock up in the same way as a figure of eight.

Leave a long enough tail and it would be easy to adjust if you find the need

[IanD]

5 minutes ago, Mark R said:

I can't say I'll be abnywhere other than on the canal system where the bank height might vary slightly but the gunnel will still be protected.

I've now got fenders like that, and even in a trip of a few days I had to adjust the length -- you can have a high concrete bank almost up to gunwale level, or low armco/piling much closer to water level.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

8 minutes ago, Tonka said:

And the fender is always the same size.

If the bank is low you will want to lower the fender to stop it riding up. If it is a wooden piled mooring the piles can be higher then the gunwales so you need to shorten the rope

Ok 

…in that case there is a knot that will shorten a rope and then easily un pull. Dunno what the knot is mind. 
 

my gunnels are quite low and often go beneath a concrete ledge, I keep a small wheel which does the job of keeping me off. 

[GUMPY]

If I had to it would be a bowline.

However mine were attached in the same way a tent guy rope is,  easily adjustable.

 

Edited April 18 by GUMPY
Comma

[IanD]

Just now, GUMPY said:

If I had to it would be a bowline.

However mine were attached in the same way a tent guy rope is easily adjustable.

 

That's a good idea, I might do that too 🙂 

[cuthound]

I used a bowline on mine because even if the bank is always at the same height (unusual even on the same canal) the height between hand rail and water will vary because of the trim of the boat, and it is helpful sometimes to move the fenders to provide protection at a specific point.

[GUMPY]

3 minutes ago, IanD said:

That's a good idea, I might do that too 🙂 

HDPE is great stuff,  hard enough to have strength but soft enough not to damage the paint provided all edges and corners are rounded off with a deburring tool.

[Ken X]

We are always tweaking the height of the fenders due to bank variations. Our knot of choice is a round turn and two half hitches.

 

Having said that the wooden tent style runner is a neat solution and one I would use if I wasn't in the hands of the hire company.

[IanD]

1 hour ago, GUMPY said:

HDPE is great stuff,  hard enough to have strength but soft enough not to damage the paint provided all edges and corners are rounded off with a deburring tool.

Where did you get the HDPE strip from?

[Momac]

Round turn and two half hitches

 

[GUMPY]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

Where did you get the HDPE strip from?

I'm afraid most of it came as scrap off cuts from my last work place.

I did get some from on eBay for other projects.

A very useful plastic 🤔

[LadyG]

3 hours ago, tree monkey said:

A figure of eight will be neat but it can become impossible to undo if it gets put under a lot of tension. 

A bowline not so tidy but will never lock up in the same way as a figure of eight.

Leave a long enough tail and it would be easy to adjust if you find the need

The reason I don't use a bowline is that if a fender and line  get jammed tight I can undo a round turn and two half hitches , happens occasionally

[Mike Tee]

Try the Midshipmans knot - although I like the idea of HDPE, just had a look on Ebay and cheap offcuts are available.

[LadyG]

1 hour ago, Mike Tee said:

Try the Midshipmans knot - although I like the idea of HDPE, just had a look on Ebay and cheap offcuts are available.

Once upon a time I  could tie quite a few knots, and I think the midshipman hitch was one of them, I didn't know the  name.  

As well as sailing knots, i had a few horse knots and hitches, which is why my bowline is non standard,  the problem is that once the muscle memory takes over, its difficult.to re program.  I just do them automatically. 

The figure of eight is a stopper knot, to stop a rope running through a block for example, but ive really stopped using it

Edited April 18 by LadyG

[blackrose]

15 hours ago, Tonka said:

So the banks will always be the same height when you moor. Never going to moor against piles like on the Thames 

 

Yes I wouldn't want it a fixed length. Better to have it height adjustable.

 

I just use a round turn and two half hitches on mine but there's probably a better knot that's easier to undo.

[Tonka]

10 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Yes I wouldn't want it a fixed length. Better to have it height adjustable.

 

I just use a round turn and two half hitches on mine but there's probably a better knot that's easier to undo.

Are you actually saying that you do the full round turn as depending on the rope size I doubt with that eye you will get a full round in, and you do a half round and half hitches