Knots for towing

[roo]

@someone post:1

G’day!

Forgive me for my sin, it’s been a long time since I visited

I’ve been thinking lately on the best knots to come untied after a very heavy load. More of a thought exercise than a real situation, but to give it some practical direction, I imagine a hypothetical scenario of towing a pallet of bricks, or a vehicle/machinery with brakes locked. Something like that.

If the overriding consideration is ease of untying, a simple Timber Hitch will be an obvious contender:

https://notableknotindex.webs.com/timberhitch.html

The Sailor’s Hitch (ABoK 1688) also unties reliably:

https://notableknotindex.webs.com/sailorhitches.html

And there are friction-based load-shedding strategies that can be used to reduce loads on other hitches, such as seen in the third diagram here:

https://notableknotindex.webs.com/slippedbuntline.html