Best knot to tie a boat to a cleat
A dock line on a horn cleat has to hold through wind and wake and still come off fast when you leave. Most of the method is the turns, not the finish.
Full turn on the far horn, figure-eights across both horns, locking hitch under the last cross.
Ranks first
Cleat Hitch
Strong field fit · 79% · 29 ruled out first
Why it wins
- ·Casts off under surge when the lock is one clean hitch
- ·The job you will tie every trip
- ·Strong connection-job fit (100)
- ·29 knots were ruled out before ranking even started (Round Turn & Two Half Hitches, Clove Hitch, Anchor Bend…)
Watch for
- !Several locking hitches stacked, so the turns jam under load
- !A full extra round turn on the base, which can clamp down and jam
- !Too few figure-eights for the load, so the line creeps
What changes the answer
The same question with one condition added. Each row is its own engine run.
- Cold, wet handsHolds
- Low lightHolds
- First time tying itHolds
How sure this is
Moderate confidence: the order is sound, but the top few are close enough that your own conditions can reorder them.
29 of 30 modelled connections were ruled out by hard constraints before anything was ranked. A knot that fails a constraint is never scored, however strong it is elsewhere.