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KA

← Where the theory applies
Loop — fixed

Water Bowline

Interlock

DiagramsHow to tie it

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

No drawing of this exact knot yet. The written steps are the reference.

Failure modes

When this family fails, it fails as these. The recovered end still outranks the name.

Bowline family

Fixed eye whose lock is a collar seated on the standing part.

  • !Open collar — the eye capsizes under cyclic load
  • !Cowboy / wrong-direction loop
  • !Tail too short to backup, or a Yosemite finish on an unfinished bowline
Fails when
  • !The second loop is the wrong way round, so the loops do not close on the working end under load
  • !The end goes through only one loop, up or down, so the tail can pull free once the eye is loaded
  • !The clove hitch is left loose around the tail, so it adds bulk without the extra grip
Geometry

  • Loops not formed as a clove

    No extra security — wet collar walks like a plain bowline

    The two standing-part loops must sit as a clove hitch · step 01

  • Clove left loose

    Fat undressed collar capsizes under cyclic wet load

    Dress the clove, not just the eye · step 04

  • Tail left up or missing a clove loop

    Unfinished water bowline, no lock

    The working end must go through both clove loops and return down · step 03

If you saw this

  • Collar walks when wet

    Check

    • ?Two nested clove turns around the standing part
    • ?Tail long enough

    Then

    • →Retie the clove first
    • →Backup the tail on a serious job

  • Loops not formed as a clove

    Check

    • ?No extra security — wet collar walks like a plain bowline
    • ?Inspect step 01

    Then

    • →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.

  • Clove left loose

    Check

    • ?Fat undressed collar capsizes under cyclic wet load
    • ?Inspect step 04

    Then

    • →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.

  • Tail left up or missing a clove loop

    Check

    • ?Unfinished water bowline, no lock
    • ?Inspect step 03

    Then

    • →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Same family

Same failure class, different geometry. Open the plates — Diagnose still starts from the symptom.

This failed — start Diagnose

What holds it

  • ·A fixed loop is a standing eye. The collar or figure-eight body must survive a straight pull without becoming a noose.
  • ·Bowline and sheet bend are the same crossing pattern under different load. That identity is seamanship, not a reason for Decide to swap one for the other.

What topology does not predict

  • ·Fixed vs slipped is a load-path question. Invariants do not choose bowline over figure-eight.
  • ·Ring-loading and slack-shaking failure are physical. Topology does not grade them.
  • ·No UIAA or manufacturer number is inferred here.

Not for

  • ·A lure that must swing on a non-slip loop — this standing eye is a different job
  • ·Letting a climbing identity pick your fishing knot
  • ·A dry dock eye you will untie in thirty seconds (plain bowline is enough)
  • ·HMPE

Same pattern, different job

Sources