Tugboats and trawler fishing boats inspired the trawler yacht and it is a descendant of its working cousins. These yachts, more often than not, are equipped with Bitts and / or Bollards just like their relatives. They have cleats just like other boats, but Bitts and Bollards are there to do the big jobs.

Now if your yacht is equipped with one of these babies, you might want to know the correct way to belay a line to one. Let’s look at them first as there are many different styles. Even ff your boat doesn’t have one of them then you should pay attention anyway. Sooner or later the docks that you pull up to will present one of these varying styles, especially if you travel around the world as trawler folks like to do.

Bitts and Bollards are heavily built devices and are used for belaying lines. There are different types of Bitts such as single, double, H-Bitt, Cruciform Bitt and others. Bollards also may have a single post, double posts (either vertical or angled outward from center), Cruciform, staghorn, and many other styles. Sometimes Bollards are called Bitts and vice versa.

Friction is the mechanism that keeps lines attached to Bitts, Bollards, Cleats, Lines, or other things. As “normal force” increases friction increases. The perpendicular force between two objects is the normal force. When the load on a line increases, say by the boat drifting away from the dock with the line tension increasing as a result, the normal force between the line and the Bollard increases and therefore the friction increases. If the total friction between the wraps of the line and the Bollard is greater than the force on the line to the boat, the connection holds, if not it slips.

Lines can be secured to Bitts and Bollards in such a way that they can be quickly released or made with a more permanent arrangement. The first such method has the problem that a boat tugging on a line can cause it to become undone or alternatively, if a line is positively tied off it can be hard to undo when required. The obvious difficulty with using a pre-tied loop of line is that its size has to be predetermined which may not be possible when the intended object for the bitter end is not in sight. A loop may not be a positively secure way of attaching to a Bollard. It may be used as a Lark’s Head however with a double cruciform Bollard which would be a very secure attachment in my opinion and it can be released quickly if it does not have a load on it. If loaded it cannot be easily undone. Another way to more securely attach a loop to a single post Bollard is to place the loop over the Bollard and form another loop behind the Bollard by making a half twist in the loop and then bringing the resulting second loop back over the Bollard toward the front. A larger loop is required for this, but the result is more secure than just dropping a loop over the Bollard.

The bowline is a knot known as the king of knots because it will never slip and nothing can jam it and it can be tied in one hand to form a loop.

A Clove or ratline hitch is a convenient knot for making a line fast to a spar, the standing part of another line, a piling, or a Bollard. It is used to temporarily fasten a line, but it must be watched as it might undo if slack. When under a strain, however, it will not slip, but when under a hard strain, it will set up tight and may be difficult to break loose.

The usual methods of securing a line to a double Bitt is to make one turn on the first post and then wrap the line in a figure eight pattern over both posts of the Bitt. This arrangement may be removed quickly when necessary. Belaying the bitter end of the line coming off the Bitt on a cleat can further security. On a single post Bollard the usual way is to either tie several hitches to the Bollard or to slip an appropriate sized loop of line over the Bollard or as described earlier. Cross pieces on the Bollard can help keep the loop from slipping off the Bollard, but I prefer to ensure that the line will not accidentally come off.

A well known method is the Lighterman’s Back Mooring Hitch which may be used on a single post Bollard, on a piling, or for heavy towing. Tugboats use this method and it is called the Tugboat hitch and sometimes the Backhanded Mooring Hitch. It is a trusted attachment method and, like the figure eight described earlier, can be undone even with a great pull on it. Once this hitch is learned it’s great when you wish to moor to a Bollard (maybe whilst waiting for a lock or taking on water etc.) and can be tied or untied in moments.