Pile Hitch
Friction on hardware · Physical hitch theory
Does not pick a knot
This page does not pick a knot for you. DNA, molecules, quantum braids and vortices stay off Decide.
Finished structure
Drawn from a rope model of this knot: which strand passes over which comes from where the rope actually lies.
When this family fails, it fails as these. The recovered end still outranks the name.
A finished eye dropped over a post — both legs share. Temporary, not overnight.
- !Only one leg loaded — the hitch walks as a girth
- !Bight never taken over the top of the pile
- !Left as overnight mooring on a tide
- !The bight went over the standing part instead of under it, so nothing traps the line and the hitch pulls apart under load
- !The bight was left hanging in front of the post instead of over the top, and one pull on the line unwraps it
- !It is left as a permanent mooring, which Animated Knots does not recommend for this hitch
Bight never taken over the top
Hitch walks up and off the pile
The bight must go over the top of the post to form the collar · step 03
One strand of the turn left slack
Walks off under the first surge
Both strands of the turn must bed down together, or one strand takes the load alone · step 04
Left through a tide cycle
Temporary hitch asked to be a mooring plan
Overnight cyclic tide is round turn and two half hitches · step 04
Hitch walks up and off the pile
Check
- ?Bight over the top
- ?Bight tucked under the standing part
- ?Pile taller than the hitch
Then
- →Retie with a longer bight
- →Switch to round turn and two half hitches for a soak
Bight never taken over the top
Check
- ?Hitch walks up and off the pile
- ?Inspect step 03
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
One strand of the turn left slack
Check
- ?Walks off under the first surge
- ?Inspect step 04
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Left through a tide cycle
Check
- ?Temporary hitch asked to be a mooring plan
- ?Inspect step 04
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Same failure class, different geometry. Open the plates — Diagnose still starts from the symptom.
What holds it
- ·A hitch is object-dependent. Remove the spar, cleat, ring or pile and the structure is usually the unknot.
- ·Bayman / Maddocks–Keller describe a no-slip regime from wrap count and friction. The prediction is approximate, and only for hitches.
What topology does not predict
- ·Closed-loop knot invariants (Jones, Alexander) do not say whether a clove hitch will walk on a smooth spar.
- ·No manufacturer working load is implied by wrap count.
- ·Wet, iced, or HMPE covers change friction — topology is silent.
Not for
- ·Joining two free rope ends — that is a bend
- ·A standing loop that must survive after the object is gone
- ·Overnight cyclic tide (use round turn and two half hitches)
- ·A finished eye you already have (cow hitch)
Same pattern, different job
No sourced twin among these knots. Related knots stay on the Library card.
- Crowell — The physics of knots (Bayman / Maddocks–Keller) — Bayman 1977 hitch theory; Maddocks & Keller 1987 extension. No equally good general theory for all knots.
- Sano et al. — Inner workings of the clove hitch (Extreme Mechanics Letters, 2022) — Elastic rod on a rigid cylinder. Empirical hitch mechanics.
- Knot — practical vs mathematical (Wikipedia) — Closed-curve knot theory ignores friction. Practical knots are classified by function.
- Animated Knots — Pile Hitch
- WhyKnot — Fast Temporary Mooring With A Pile Hitch — Cited tying video already attached to this record.