Frankly, I've never seen a bowline come loose on any size
line - and I once spent two years in charge of one of the
Deck Department divisions on an aircraft carrier. Believe
me, when you work closely with Boatswain's Mates for that
long, you get to see just about every knot imaginable.
The bowline was probably used more than any other knot
when a secure attachment was required at the end of a line.
Dan KB5MY/6
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-admin@contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-admin@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Guy Olinger, K2AV
> Sent: Saturday, December 21, 2002 16:51
> To: Dale L Martin; towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [Towertalk] Knots
>
>
>
> Bowline never came loose on me even once in my life. Never heard of
> such. Never read of such. Once tension is on them, takes a little
> doing to get them loose.
>
> Towertalk has the distinction of carrying the only mention of bowline
> self-loosening I've seen in my entire lifetime. Maybe it doesn't
> happen.
>
> 73, Guy.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dale L Martin" <kg5u@hal-pc.org>
> To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Sent: Saturday, December 21, 2002 11:28 AM
> Subject: RE: [Towertalk] Knots
>
>
> >
> > To continue the sea stories subthread, I crewed on a Cal-40 racing
> in
> > Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico for about 15 years. I don't
> recall a
> > bowline ever working itself loose on our boat. I don't even
> remember anyone
> > checking before tacking. When on a tack, the windward sheet (line)
> is slack
> > and tension is off that bowline knot at the genoa clew while the
> leeward
> > sheet has the strain.
> >
> > Out in the Gulf, there were opportunities for being on one tack for
> hours
> > and hours, even days (Galveston-Vera Cruz race).
> >
> > I think that if there was a concern about the bowline going loose
> and
> > possibly letting go, it wouldn't have been used or we would have
> done
> > something to preclude it.
> >
> > Maybe the conditions onboard weren't conducive to knot loosening.
> >
> > Under exactly what conditions will an unloaded bowline knot become
> loose?
> >
> > 73,
> > dale, kg5u
> >
> > >
> > > You're close. The only problem with a bowline is that if it's
> under
> > > no load, it tends to loosen. You can make it more secure in
> various
> > > ways. I believe that it is one of the good knots that maintains
> more
> > > of the strength of the line. OTOH, the figure-eight loop is
> easily
> > > tied, even in the middle of the line and seems to stay tight, but
> > > loses more of the inherent line strength, and perhaps as the
> obverse
> > > of the above, is hard to untie. Many of us think a knot should be
> > > easily untied.
> > >
> > > BTW, I've seen figures that indicate an eye splice is actually
> > > stronger than the line, and a cunt splice is the absolute
> strongest
> > > way of fastening two laid lines together. But I still don't know
> how
> > > to make an eye splice in the braided lines I like.
> > >
> > > 73, doug
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> See http://www.mscomputer.com
>
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