ABfish
Senior Member
This is a thought-provoking post from The Hull Truth-
https://www.thehulltruth.com/docksi...rev-2-milder-pics-than-rev-1-got-deleted.html
https://www.thehulltruth.com/docksi...rev-2-milder-pics-than-rev-1-got-deleted.html
That hole in the bottom of the cleat is NOT for passing the eye through. It's purpose is to reduce the amount of metal used in the cleat and therefore reduce the price. Also a line correctly sized to the cleat won't fit through there on many cleats. Years ago my father did about the same thing to one of his fingers, didn't cut anything off but did sever tendons, nerves, etc. Basically lost the use of the digit, it just flopped around. He'd have been better off of had just been cut off.
It's not just a personal safety problem, with the eye passed through the cleat there's pretty much no way you can release the line with a big load on it. You'd have to cut it loose in an emergency.
Instead of looping them through like that, I splice my eyes so that they barely fit over the cleat. You can usually pull in enough slack to lift the eye over one horn and release, and they don't come off by themselves. If you have premade eyes that are too big, you can add a whipping to reduce thier diameter. Of course a line made up with a cleat hitch, no eye at all, can be untied no matter how much strain is on it.
I've seen the eye-through-the-hole thing recommended in boating text books, I pretty much stop reading at that point as the author just proved he doesn't know what he's talking about and I can't rely on anything else he writes.
There's logic to your post, but real world observation does not agree with you. Almost everyone passes the eye through the cleat and over at least one horn.
There's logic to your post, but real world observation does not agree with you. Almost everyone passes the eye through the cleat and over at least one horn.
There's logic to your post, but real world observation does not agree with you. Almost everyone passes the eye through the cleat and over at least one horn.
Not in my world of professional captains and experienced cruisers. But with part time boaters it's true until they learn better or the hard way.
Thus post #2.
That hole in the bottom of the cleat is NOT for passing the eye through. It's purpose is to reduce the amount of metal used in the cleat and therefore reduce the price. Also a line correctly sized to the cleat won't fit through there on many cleats . . . It's not just a personal safety problem, with the eye passed through the cleat there's pretty much no way you can release the line with a big load on it. You'd have to cut it loose in an emergency . . .
I've seen the eye-through-the-hole thing recommended in boating text books, I pretty much stop reading at that point as the author just proved he doesn't know what he's talking about and I can't rely on anything else he writes.
The spliced eye end is the first one attached to a cleat, either on boat or dock, problem solved.
There's logic to your post, but real world observation does not agree with you. Almost everyone passes the eye through the cleat and over at least one horn.
I would only use it that was if it's a line that stays permanently on the dock. Overall it's not a good practice.I agree most everyone does it that way, but does that make it safe and correct? I think that was the point of the original post.
Not really. A spliced line is hard to remove under tension. If it is on the boat it makes it hard to cast off if the pier is on fire. If it is on the dock it makes it hard to release a boat from the dock.