SEAM 111

Different types of Hitches, knots and bends

Knots are used to form eyes, or to secure a cord or rope around an object. In other words, the
line is bent to itself.
Hitches are used to bend a rope to or around an object, such as a ring, spar, or stanchion.
Bends are used to secure two lines together.

Overhand Knot or Thumb Knot

This is the simplest knot, used to make a handheld on a rope, or to prevent a rope running
through a pulley or hole. The overhand knot is also used for temporary joining two or more lines
together.

Reef Knot or Square Knot

The Reef knot or Square Knot is the most useful knot: strong, and easily tied and untied
Figure-of-Eight or Flemish Knot

The figure-of-eight knot can form a larger knot than the overhand with the same size of rope.
It is considered as a “stopper knot”, used to prevent the rope pulling through a hole or slipping
through the loop of another rope.

Butterfly Knot

The Butterfly knot is used to make a single loop along the rope, such as for a rescue line or
rigging for three way pulling.

Fisherman’s Eye Knot

The Fisherman’s Eye Knot is also known as the Middleman’s Knot. It is a good eye-type knot,
very strong under strain.
Constrictor Knot

The Constrictor Knot is often considered the best and most secure of all of the binding type of
knots.

Fisherman’s Knot

The Fisherman’s Knot has other names, such as the Water Knot, the Angler’s Knot, the English
Knot, the Englishman’s Knot, the True Lover’s Knot or the Waterman’s Knot. The Fisherman's
Knot is used to join two ropes of similar size together.

Wall Knot & Crown Knot

These knots are used to close an end of the rope to prevent it from coming loose.
Chain Knot
The Chain Knot is also known as the Single Plait. It is used to shorten the rope by first making a running loop,
then pulling a bight of the rope through the loop; the bight becomes a new loop.

Bowline
This is the most useful eye knot. It is used to make a fixed-size loop in a line quickly, is easily tied and will never
slip.

French Bowline, or Portuguese Bowline

This is another variation of the basic bowline which can create two or more loops. In a French
Bowline, the loops can change sizes, but one gets bigger while the other gets smaller.
Spar Hitch

This hitch is used to tie a line to a pole, spar, or railing. It will not slip easily because it is locking
by itself under strain.

Rolling Hitch, or Magnus and Magner’s Hitch

The rolling hitch is a modified clove hitch. It is a popular hitch used to secure a weight to a
pole, or if a pull is to be made along the length of a spar.

Clove Hitch
This hitch is used to tie a line to a pole, spar, or railing.
Round Turn and Two Half Hitches

This knot is used to tie a line to a pole, such as a coiled heaving line hanging in the bosun’s
store, or to bend the end of a rope to a spar, stanchion, bollard, or ring.

Midshipman’s Hitch or Tautline Hitch

This hitch is really just an adjustable loop or slide-and-grip knot. It is used to attach a line to a
pole but is not very secure, especially with a slippery type of rope, so it should not be used for
critical tasks.
Lark’s Head or Cow Hitch

These knots are another quick way of securing a line to a ring or pole, and are more secure
than the Slippery Ring Knot.
Marlinspike Hitch
This hitch is used only as a temporary knot for attaching a line to a log or spar.

Timber Hitch
This hitch is used to attach a line to a log or spar for hauling.
Sheet Bend

This bend is ideal for joining two ropes of different thicknesses together, as long as the thinner
line is the one that wraps around the thicker one.

Carrick Bend

Carrick Bends are easy to tie, have good holding when wet and don’t jam, making them
relatively easy to untie.
Figure-of-Eight Bend or Flemish Bend

Fisherman’s Bend

This is a modified Two-and-a-half-Hitch, used for securing a rope to a pole or hawser, or to the
ring of a buoy. So the Fisherman’s Bend is actually a hitch, not a bend.
Deck equipments related to Marlin Spike
Guy derrick (also known as boom derrick) is a fixed guyed mastderrick that can be rotated and
connected to a boom. ... The load is lifted by another pulley system connected to the top of theboom.
In a medium load lifting, another construction method can be used.

The windlass is an apparatus for moving heavy weights. Typically, a windlass consists of a
horizontal cylinder, which is rotated by the turn of a crank or belt. A winch is affixed to one or
both ends, and a cable or rope is wound around the winch, pulling a weight attached to the
opposite end.
Rat guard

one of the circular sheet metal shields fastened to the mooring lines of a vessel to
prevent rats from boarding or leaving it.

Deck fittings are used aboard ships and boats mainly for the securing of mooring lines.

A carry deck crane is a small 4 wheel crane with a 360 degree rotating boom housed in the
center of the machine. ... The area above the wheels is a flat deck, ideal for loading and
moving materials around a job site.
Catenary mooring system
A catenary mooring system is the most common mooring
system in shallow waters. Through gravity the catenaries,
between the floating unit and the seabed, will show the
typical shape of a free hanging line. The catenaries are
hanging horizontally at the seabed. Consequently the
catenary lengths have to be larger than the water depth
and the anchor points in a catenary mooring system are
subjected to horizontal forces. The catenary configuration
provides a restoring force on ship motions mostly through
the weight of the catenaries.

Taut leg mooring system

In a taut leg mooring system the pre-tensioned mooring lines
arrive under an angel at the seabed. Typically the angle
between the line and the seabed is between 30 and 40
degrees. The anchor points in a taut leg mooring system
have to be capable of withstanding horizontal and vertical
forces. In a taut leg mooring, the restoring forces are
generated by the elasticity of the mooring line.

Tension Leg (TL) mooring system

As the name ‘tension leg’ mooring system suggest does the
system consist of tubular steel legs. The legs consist of multiple
tubular steel members which are called tendons. Tensioning
the steel legs is done by buoyancy in the floating offshore unit.
The high tension in the tension legs limits horizontal offsets to a
small percentage of the water depth. Due to the high axial
stiffness in the tendons the heave, roll and pitch motions are
negligible.
Single point mooring systems
Buoy System
A single point moored buoy system consists of a
permanently moored buoy. The buoy has a bearing
system that allows a part of it to rotate around the
moored geostatic part. When the offshore unit is
connected to the buoy it will be able to rotate itself into
the dominant environment. Consequently the system
will minimise the loads on the mooring system of the
buoy. The mooring system can also be combined with
a fluid transfer system that enables connection of
(subsea) pipelines to the offshore unit. The buoy and
the offshore unit can be connected in different
manners. Most common are hawser, rigid arm or soft yoke.

Spread mooring system

Spread mooring systems are multi-point mooring systems that
moor offshore units to the seabed using multiple mooring lines.
The offshore unit is positioned in a fixed heading, which is
determined by the sea and weather conditions. The
symmetrical arrangement of anchors helps to keep the
offshore unit on its fixed heading location. The spread mooring
system does not allow the vessel to weathervane, which
means to rotate in the horizontal plane due to wind, waves or
current. Spread mooring is versatile as it can be used in any
water depth, on any vessel, in an equally spread pattern or a
group.
Capacities, Safe Working Load and Breaking Stengths