Page 36 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

Figure 1-19A-C. Basic Trucker’s Hitch—a Slipknot very fast and easy to tie (Figure 1-19A–C) and is
made with one hand. End is led through ring, then a good knot for light-duty use and emergencies.
through loop. Very handy but has tendency to jam. Unfortunately, it and most other Trucker’s Hitches
either jam under heavy tension or can spill if tension
Figure 1-19D, E. An improved Trucker’s Hitch, the is removed. What’s more, the single loop makes a
Biegner Hitch—a Slipknot made with a bight. Less hard bend for the hauling part to go around, result-
liable to jam, wider radius for rope to pass over
ing in lower breaking strength and shorter rope life.
The knot used in the middle of Figure 1-18
offers some improvement. (It was introduced by
Norman Biegner in the August 1980 issue of Cruis-
ing World.) As the illustration shows, the Bieg-
ner Hitch is a Slipknot made with a bight (Figure
1-19D, E), and the hauling part is rove through all
three of the resulting loops. This knot resists jam-
ming and presents a broad bearing surface; use it for
medium-to-heavy loads or for any situation when
you can take a little time. The most secure and slow-
est-to-tie loops are the nonslipping variety, detailed
in the “Six in the Bight” section of Chapter 3. Use
them for permanent lashings.

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