knots, the other kind

[Hydraulicjump]

Many of us tugnutters are recovering sailors. And given our fancy boats, I bet a lot of us have let our knot-tying skills atrophy. I certainly have. We had the niece and nephew for the holiday weekend, and the boy showed great interest in knots, asking what knots his uncle used the most on his Ranger Tug. So, here is my short list of knots I ACTUALLY use (we can all make a list of obscure knots, but what do you USE?).

Cleat hitch (if you don't use this, natural selection takes over)
Bowline (needed in my marina for various failings)
Anchor hitch (I use this for fenders, others use a round turn and two half hitches)
Sheet bend (when I need to join two lines, but I use a fisherman's knot sometimes)

and the odd-ball...

Mooring hitch (for those scabrous docks I end up on in the PNW where they are too cheap to put cleats in and instead put a rail in).

So, just for entertainment (and for those soon to be tug owners), what top five knots do you actually use (beyond kts/hr)?

Jeff

ps: as a bonus, I use the taughtline hitch all the time off the tug for tying whitewater rafts to trees and other objects. Can you tell I got lots of nephew questions?

 

[S. Todd]

Nothing fancy about my choices.
#1 Cleat Hitch (I confess that I usually finish these with more than one half hitch, I just do not trust that single half hitch.)
#2 Bowline (If I could only have one knot this would be it for me.)
#3 Sheet Bend (When I have to tie lines two together and do not want to use two bowlines.)
#4 Two Half Hitches (Mostly to hold fenders.)
#5 Tautline Hitch (Gets used more for land camping than boating but still useful on occasion)

 

[buoyohbuoy]

Besides the cleat hitch, my go-to knots are the bowline, a clove hitch with an extra half hitch or the rolling hitch (for securing to dock rails - I don't trust any of the quick-release hitches), round turn and two half hitches for securing fenders and a double sheet bend for attaching lines together.