Clove Hitch
Fast temporary hitch. Walks under cycling load — not a mooring plan.
Beginner · Polyester / Nylon rope / Polypropylene / Natural fibre
Connection card
Clove Hitch
For rope → bollard / piling.
This card does not say how strong the knot is. A retention figure comes from a bench, in one material, at one diameter, tied by somebody who ties it all day — and the line in your hand is none of those. What it does tell you is whether the thing you have just tied is the thing the record describes.
What this plate is telling you
Fast temporary hitch. Walks under cycling load — not a mooring plan.
Save this as a picture and it works with a dead signal and a nearly dead battery, which is when a joint is most often tied badly. The rest of this page — the steps, the seating sequence, the failure modes and the bench — is for the evening before.
Before you start
- ·Suited to short, attended stops and lines you adjust, such as a fender line on a rail. It has no locking part, only two turns pinching each other.
- ·Polished stainless and a load that keeps swinging to new angles can work it loose.
- ·For a boat left unattended or overnight, use a round turn and two half hitches on a piling, or a cleat hitch on a cleat.
- ·Leave a tail several inches long, so there is rope for two half hitches round the standing part.
Step 1 of 4 · move 1 of 1. Pass the end round the post and bring it back across the front of the standing part
swipe to step
01.1
Pass the end round the post and bring it back across the front of the standing part
- Hold:
- Left hand holds the standing part against the post
- Move:
- Right hand takes the end round the post and back across the front
You should now see: One turn round the post with the end lying diagonally over the standing part, ready to go round again.
Pass the working end around the post or rail and bring it back across the front of the standing part.
One turn around the post with the working end lying diagonally over the standing part, ready to go around again.
Bringing the end back behind the standing part instead of over it. The second turn then has no crossing to trap, and the knot falls apart when you pull.
Fix: Unwrap it and make the turn again, laying the working end over the standing part as it comes back around.
Why: This crossing is what the second turn traps. Without it the two turns only lie next to each other on the post.
arrow keys work
Tying procedure — Clove Hitch
Step 01 / 4
Pass the working end around the post or rail and bring it back across the front of the standing part.
You should now see: One turn around the post with the working end lying diagonally over the standing part, ready to go around again.
If it goes wrong: Bringing the end back behind the standing part instead of over it. The second turn then has no crossing to trap, and the knot falls apart when you pull.
Fix: Unwrap it and make the turn again, laying the working end over the standing part as it comes back around.
Why: This crossing is what the second turn traps. Without it the two turns only lie next to each other on the post.
1Across the standing partStep 1 of 4 · move 1 of 1
Pass the end round the post and bring it back across the front of the standing part
Hold: Left hand holds the standing part against the post. Move: Right hand takes the end round the post and back across the front.
You should now see: One turn round the post with the end lying diagonally over the standing part, ready to go round again.
Step 02 / 4
Take the working end around the post a second time, going the same way round as the first turn, so it lies beside the first turn.
You should now see: Two turns side by side on the post running the same way, with an X on the front where the working end crossed the standing part.
If it goes wrong: Going around the second time in the opposite direction. From the dock it looks almost the same, but there is no X, and the hitch lets go once it is loaded.
Fix: Unwind the second turn and wrap it again the same way round as the first, checking for the X across the front.
Why: Turns running the same way pinch each other where they cross. Reversed turns do not grip each other and slide off the post.
Step 2 of 4 · move 1 of 1
Take the end round the post again, the same way round, beside the first turn
Hold: Left hand keeps the first turn and the crossing in place. Move: Right hand takes the end round the post a second time, below the first turn.
You should now see: Two turns side by side round the post, going the same way, with an X on the front where the end crossed.
Step 03 / 4
Tuck the working end under the second turn, where it crosses, so it comes out next to the standing part. Pull both ends to close the turns together.
You should now see: Two turns packed tight against each other with the diagonal on top, and the end and standing part leaving the middle in opposite directions.
If it goes wrong: Pulling only the standing part, so the turns stay spread apart along the post. A gap between the turns means the hitch is already starting to roll.
Fix: Push the two turns together by hand and pull both ends again. Leave a tail several inches long so there is rope to spare if it slips.
Why: A clove hitch has no locking part; it holds only because the two turns pinch each other. On polished metal, wet plastic, or a load that keeps changing angle, that pinch can walk loose.
1Under the crossingStep 3 of 4 · move 1 of 1
Tuck the end under the crossing so it comes out beside the standing part, then pull
Hold: Left hand holds the standing part. Move: Right hand tucks the end under the diagonal and pulls both ends to close the turns.
You should now see: Two turns packed together with the diagonal on top, and the end and standing part leaving the middle in opposite directions.
Step 04 / 4
Judge the load before you leave it. If the line will surge or be left unattended, back the clove hitch up with two half hitches around the standing part.
You should now see: Either a bare clove hitch you are staying beside for a short stop, or a clove hitch with two half hitches tied snug on the standing part.
If it goes wrong: Leaving a bare clove hitch on a boat that moves on its line. It works loose while nobody is watching, and a short tail disappears through the turns.
Fix: For anything longer than a short stop, untie it and use a round turn and two half hitches instead.
Why: Animated Knots warns that the clove hitch can slip and can also bind, and advises two half hitches round the standing end as a backup. Stacking extra clove hitches on top can bind hard under strain.
Step 4 of 4 · move 1 of 1
Judge the load; for surge or an unattended line, back it up with two half hitches
Hold: Left hand holds the standing part. Move: Right hand tests the hitch with a pull before leaving it.
You should now see: Either a bare clove hitch for a short stop you are staying beside, or one backed up with two half hitches on the standing part.
Watch the tie
CLOVE HITCHAmerica's Boating Channel · Opens on YouTubeExternal video from a creator we follow — not produced by us. Nothing on this page loads from YouTube until you follow the link.
Seating sequence — where failures are born
The step list compresses the finish. Run these phases in order, one at a time.
01 Form
Build the structure loose enough to see every turn.
None. Shape first.
02 Dress
Nest every turn. Crossed parts will walk or jam.
Light — hold the shape.
03 Set
Load the standing part so the intended turns take the strain.
Working load, not a snatch.
04 Check
Confirm the lock still breaks or inspects as the job requires.
None extra.
05 Commit
Only load it after the structure reads correct. Wrong means remake.
Working load, not a snatch.
Finished structure — what correct looks like
Drawn from a rope model of this knot: which strand passes over which comes from where the rope actually lies.
- ·Two stacked turns on the spar, working end tucked under the second, both turns tight together
- ·Dressed tight and watched, or backed up
- ·Working end tucked under the second turn, not left as a slip
- ·Turns stacked on top of each other — a spread clove is walking
Verify before you load it
Every line is pass or fail. One fail means retie — do not load a knot you argued with.
- 01Two stacked turns on the spar, working end tucked under the second, both turns tight together
- 02Dressed tight and watched, or backed up
- 03Working end tucked under the second turn, not left as a slip
- 04Turns stacked on top of each other — a spread clove is walking
- 05Same-side turns are not a clove; a gap between turns is a walk
- 06Temporary. Tide or chop means a different hitch
Field notes — dark, cold, gloves
- ·Dress is the lock. A pretty knot that is not dressed is not finished.
- ·HMPE usually wants a splice, not a hitch you learned in polyester.
- ·If you cannot break or inspect it under the load you expect, it is the wrong job.
When this family fails, it fails as these. The recovered end still outranks the name.
A round turn or stacked turns take the load; the lock only keeps them there — and still breaks by hand.
- !No round turn — the lock is asked to carry surge
- !Turns not stacked, so the hitch walks on a tide
- !Expected to jam when the job was a release-able dock line
- !Left bare on a boat that surges or swings on its line
- !Tied round polished metal or wet plastic
- !Second turn taken the opposite way round
- !Tail left short, so it pulls through the turns as the hitch slips
Turns not crossed
This is not a clove and will not hold
The second turn must cross over the first · step 02
Spread / walking clove
Walks off the rail under cyclic load
A clove holds only while the turns stay stacked · step 03
Left unattended on a tide
Fender or line on the bottom
Animated Knots: not a mooring plan · step 04
Hitch walks off the spar
Check
- ?Turns stacked and dressed
Then
- →Back up or replace with round turn and two half hitches
Turns not crossed
Check
- ?This is not a clove and will not hold
- ?Inspect step 02
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Spread / walking clove
Check
- ?Walks off the rail under cyclic load
- ?Inspect step 03
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Left unattended on a tide
Check
- ?Fender or line on the bottom
- ?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.
Get it right with everything in your favour0/5 clean
Good light, dry hands, a table. Until the sequence is automatic here there is nothing for the harder rungs to test — you would only be learning that difficult conditions are difficult, which you already knew.
How · Tie it, check it against the list, log it. Five clean and the ladder opens.
Nothing marked. Log it clean, or mark what happened first.
Not ideal for
- ×Unattended mooring
- ×Cyclic snatch
- ×The only hitch on a night tide
Strength, and where the number comes from
60–65% of the weaker line
Instructor consensusarborist rigging rope, stated as retained rope strength with no test, sample count or rope named behind it; a peer-reviewed clove-hitch study on a Yale Cordage machine exists but deliberately publishes no efficiency figure because it never broke the unknotted rope
Does Your Knot Reduce the Strength of Your Rope? — Bartlett Arborist Supply
Percentages come from published tests on their own line, their own knot-tyer and their own pull rate. Yours is a different system. Treat a figure as a reason to test, not as a result you already have.
Record reviewed 2026-08-14
Vetted references
- Animated Knots — Clove Hitch (Rope End)
Animated Knots by Grog
- CLOVE HITCH
America's Boating Channel
Check the finished knot against what correct looks like before you load it.