Real Boats Have Bitts And Bollards

Tugboats and trawler fishing boats inspired the trawler yacht and it is a descendant of its working cousins. These yachts, more often than not, are equipped with Bitts and / or Bollards just like their relatives. They have cleats just like other boats, but Bitts and Bollards are there to do the big jobs.

Now if you have a trawler yacht, you might want to know the correct way to belay a line to one of these babies. Well, first let’s look at them because there are many styles. If your boat doesn’t have all of them (and I have never seen one that does) then you should pay attention anyway because chances are the docks that you pull up to will sooner or later present the other styles, especially if you travel around the world as trawler folks like to do.

Bitts and Bollards are heavily built devices and are used for belaying lines. There are different types of Bitts such as single, double, H-Bitt, Cruciform Bitt and others. Bollards also may have a single post, double posts (either vertical or angled outward from center), Cruciform, staghorn, and many other styles. Sometimes Bollards are called Bitts and vice versa.

Friction is the mechanism that keeps lines attached to Bitts, Bollards, Cleats, Lines, or other things. As “normal force” increases friction increases. The perpendicular force between two objects is the normal force. When the load on a line increases, say by the boat drifting away from the dock with the line tension increasing as a result, the normal force between the line and the Bollard increases and therefore the friction increases. If the total friction between the wraps of the line and the Bollard is greater than the force on the line to the boat, the connection holds, if not it slips.

Lines can be secured to Bitts and Bollards in such a way that they can be quickly released or made with a more permanent arrangement. The first such method has the problem that a boat tugging on a line can cause it to become undone or alternatively, if a line is positively tied off it can be hard to undo when required. The obvious difficulty with using a pre-tied loop of line is that its size has to be predetermined which may not be possible when the intended object for the bitter end is not in sight. A loop may not be a positively secure way of attaching to a Bollard. It may be used as a Lark’s Head however with a double cruciform Bollard which would be a very secure attachment in my opinion and it can be released quickly if it does not have a load on it. If loaded it cannot be easily undone. Another way to more securely attach a loop to a single post Bollard is to place the loop over the Bollard and form another loop behind the Bollard by making a half twist in the loop and then bringing the resulting second loop back over the Bollard toward the front. A larger loop is required for this, but the result is more secure than just dropping a loop over the Bollard.

A knot called the bowline is known as the king of knots because nothing can jam it and it will never slip if properly tied. It can be tied in one hand to form a loop.

A Clove hitch (or ratline hitch) is an easy knot for making a line fast to a Bollard, the standing part of another line, to a piling, or to a spar. However, this hitch must be watched as it might undo if slack and is only used to temporarily fasten a line. If a Clove hitch is under a strain it will not slip but if under a hard strain, it may get so tight that it will be difficult to undo.

When securing a line to a double Bitt the correct way is to first make one turn on the first post of the Bitt and then make several wraps of the line in a figure eight pattern over both posts. The line may then be undone from the Bitt quickly if necessary. Further security may be gotten by belaying the bitter end of the line coming off the Bitt on a nearby cleat. On a single post Bollard the usual way is to slip an appropriate sized loop of line over the Bollard, or preferably as described earlier, or tie several hitches to the Bollard. Cross pieces on a Bollard will help keep a loop from slipping off; but secure ways of belaying the line to the Bollard are preferred to ensure that the line does not accidentally come off.

Next is the Lighterman’s Back Mooring Hitch which may be used on a single post Bollard, on a piling, or for heavy towing. Also known as the Tugboat hitch and the Backhanded Mooring Hitch, it is a well known and much trusted little number that, like the figure eight described earlier, can be undone even if there is a massive pull on it. It works well when you wish to moor to a Bollard - maybe whilst waiting for a lock or taking on water etc. and can be tied or untied in moments.