How do you tie up to these cleats ?

[Dave_S]

They are a "Double bollard H Type cleat" mirror polished stainless steel.

I tied up to some yesterday with a single cleat hitch and it slipped - 2 hitches and it slipped. I doubled up the ropes and went back to the cleat on my boat, a single hitch going out to the dock cleat then returning with another single back on my boat.

I went for a walk around the marina and it seems no one else knows either, some attempts are worth a laugh but even boats you would expect to have professional crew didn't seem to do a good job of it.

Tried to Google it - no good

[SFS]

Bollards are generally meant to have loops put over them. The fact that this looks a little like a cleat is, IMO, a coincidence. The crossbar may be structural.

If you don't like just dropping a loop over the bollard, then run the loop through the open eye, and back over one of the bits. Then the load will keep it attached.

A standard cleat hitch will not work because the various portions of the hitch do not have enough contact with each other. The are too spread out to constrict each other, which is where the "grip" comes from in a cleat hitch.

[chris mac]

Through and cleat back on the boat

[StuM]

Ah., cleats, bitts and bollards


Regardless of what you will see it called in various places, the correct name for that fixture is actually "H-Bitts", not a cleat or bollards.


What do you mean by a "single cleat hitch" ?


Given that it is nice shiny stainless and you are presumably using synthetic line, there won't be much friction until you get multiple turns around the bitts.




As others have said, using a loop on it or passing your line through it and back to deck, then doing your adjustable attachment on board is a good solution.

[Dave_S]

I've been calling this a single cleat hitch.

[Alan Mighty]

H-bitts on a dock have the advantage that two vessels can hitch their lines independently. No need to "dip the eye", so to speak.

Two approaches:

1. One vessel hitches above the horizontal bar, the other below. Same technique you would use on standard bitts aka Samson posts: a full round turn around the nearer post, then figure-8s around both posts. The vessel using the upper part of the bitts is advantaged because making and removing figure-8s is easier from above.

2. (especially for synthetic rope and low-friction bitts such as shiny stainless steel). Each vessel hitches to one post and its horizontal bar end. The technique was described by Samson Ropes. See attached: H-bitt hitch.gif

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

They are a "Double bollard H Type cleat" mirror polished stainless steel.

I tied up to some yesterday with a single cleat hitch and it slipped - 2 hitches and it slipped. I doubled up the ropes and went back to the cleat on my boat, a single hitch going out to the dock cleat then returning with another single back on my boat.

I went for a walk around the marina and it seems no one else knows either, some attempts are worth a laugh but even boats you would expect to have professional crew didn't seem to do a good job of it.

Tried to Google it - no good

These bollards are quite normal for docks handling Super yachts.
As others said, you snake the eye under the cross member then to the post on same side as lead, if a spring line.

On bigger yachts, they keep your line adjustment onboard, often using winches to tighten.

If shared with another yacht, it also has the advantage that you can "dip" your line in a way that either line can be released, without disturbing the other.

[TrentePieds]

Use a Tugboat Hitch or a Mooring Hitch laid on only one bitt (the upright part) above the crossbar.

Because I singlehand [MyBeloved loves being in the boat, but she doesn't love seamanship :-)] I have an aversion to anything that involves a loop in a mooring line. I want the line to be able to run free when I handle it from the deck. Snags are NOT permitted :-)

TP

TP

[RogerD]

Use a round turn and two half hitches.



Round Turn and Two Half Hitches | How to tie a Round Turn and Two Half Hitches | Knots

[StuM]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Use a Tugboat Hitch or a Mooring Hitch laid on only one bitt (the upright part) above the crossbar.

Note there are several very different knots which share the names Tugboat Hitch / Mooring Hitch / Lighterman's Hitch / Bollard Hitch.

If you look on the intertubes, you will find lot's of very different knots under each of these names. (including some "slipped" hitches similar to a Highwayman's hitch)



My preferred one is ABOK #1795 which Grog calls the Lighterman's (Tugboat) Hitch. (he says it's ABOK #2046, but I don't think that is correct)


Lighterman's (Tugboat) Hitch | How to tie the Lighterman's (Tugboat) Hitch | Knots

[TrentePieds]

Spot on, Stu - that the "tugboat hitch" we use in these waters where tug-boating is a pedestrian affair :-)

TP

[hamburking]

use a bowline (or eye splice) to put a loop in the end of your line. Pass the loop through the hole at the bottom then back over the top. This way you have a secure loop over the bollard/cleat that can't slip off.

[zeehag]

looped line over bollard. affix free end to cleats in boat.

[NotCook]

I should have thought a Clove Hitch would have worked just fine. That's what we usually use. But, I kinda like that Tugboat Hitch...

[TrentePieds]

Under stress a clove hitch can jam beyond the possibility of your opening it with your fingers. A tugboat hitch NEVER jams like that, even under enormous stress, which is why it is used to belay the towing hawser to the bitts.

TP