Tie Down Knots

NineThreeKilo said:
You can most certainly get a bowline tight, tie the whole knot and tighten it like you would adjust a tie (if that makes sense).
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With the free end running through a loop twisted in the static end, it's really difficult to get a bowline tight. The knot is not designed to pulled tight while tieing...
 
Clark1961 said:
With the free end running through a loop twisted in the static end, it's really difficult to get a bowline tight. The knot is not designed to pulled tight while tieing...
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Correct.

And bowlines are very hard to untie if they are still under tension.

Bowlines on the tarmac end, tautline hitch at the plane tie down rings.

-Skip
 
Skip Miller said:
Correct.

And bowlines are very hard to untie if they are still under tension.

Bowlines on the tarmac end, tautline hitch at the plane tie down rings.

-Skip
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For permanent or storm ties I prefer a double bowline at the bottom to reduce chafing and cutting loads. Hurricane tie you may even go triple loop bottom and top and leave nice big loops. Then using either a long enough or even a different piece of line to wrap through the loop set 3 times and secured with a rolling hitch to tighten later and then a taught line to lock it in place. I tied down my friend's Travelair at OSH with some ornate stuff. Since we had an excellent parking spot he spent a lot of time sitting in the shade of the wing watching the airshow and observing people looking over his plane. He said he got a chuckle out of people stopping to study the tie down. Invariably some would ask and he'd just shake his head and say, "Not me, my sailor buddy did that...":lol:
 
Henning said:
If you can adjust it like a tie, it's not a bowline. If you mean adjusting through the knot itself, what a PITA, way better ways to deal with tension.
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It's a bowline and it can be tightened easily, it's how I've taught my students, its what I was taught when I first started sailing at like 5yrs old.

http://youtu.be/VBLCGuuBgjo
 
gismo said:
The "Tautlline-Hitch" is the knot I've always used for tiedowns. It looks a lot like a rolling half hitch. Also if you can't get it to lock with two turns on the bottom add another turn or two there.


http://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/tautline-hitch/
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So call me a geek, but I have a short piece of rope, and have been testing these knots to see what I like the best. This one wins.
 
Hey a couple of granny knots and I'm done. Seriously, here in California, I think I have had to actually tie a knot at one airport and I could probably have let the line guy do it for me. Pretty much every airport has chains with hooks.
 
oh, dont get me started on CAs crap tie downs, the long cables with the rusted chains..seems that most other states have line or recessed anchor points for your own line.
 
spinfire said:
Bowline at the pavement end, taut line hitch at the aircraft end, and I usually do a half hitch further down with the tail of the taut line hitch.
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+1. That's what I used and it hasn't failed me yet. Four of our five aircraft at Air Venture stayed put during the 60 knot blow on Thursday.
The one that moved was placed on elevated display fixtures by cargo straps around the gear. It slipped a few inches.
 
NineThreeKilo said:
It's a bowline and it can be tightened easily, it's how I've taught my students, its what I was taught when I first started sailing at like 5yrs old.

http://youtu.be/VBLCGuuBgjo
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You tied a Poleline, not a Bowline. Note how your tail ended up outside the loop rather than down the middle? That tells you you went around the stand the wrong direction. The reason it is a no-no is that it is prone to hanging on the shrouds in a tack or catching in the lifelines, it also makes it prone to slipping.
 
It's been said before, but if you don't know the right knot, tie a lot of them.

That said, I prefer the tauntline hitch. Slide it tight, doesn't loosen, easy to untie.
 
upstateny said:
It's been said before, but if you don't know the right knot, tie a lot of them.

That said, I prefer the tauntline hitch. Slide it tight, doesn't loosen, easy to untie.
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Thing is they do come loose as the line gets wet in the driving rain and the plane starts bucking. If you use a taught line hitch, tightening it means releasing it first, not good. You do a rolling hitch first then a taught line to lock it and you have a knot you can tighten the line on in the middle of a hurricane.
 
I do the one mentioned in the EAA video. It's very simple, fast, and seems to be secure (never saw a plane move unless it was from a tornado).
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That's what I use too. I have had our airplane go through 80 mph straight line winds with that knot. It moved around, but did not come loose.
 
If you want a bowline that will not tighten up after repeated tugging or heavy strain, use a water bowline. The halfhitch absorbs the strain of the load and leaves the rest of the knot unaffected.

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