i Must work on the vision of my web sight, thanks!
Properly, and i think what you mean; is how to make a marl not as a back up, but as a preceding function; that is backed up by the running bowline etc. this is done for lengthwise pulls on the spar, not perpendicular pulls across a spar.
i take it we all know how to tie a Half Hitch to precede a Running Bowline, Clove etc.
for lengthwise pulls. Just take a Turn, s-lightly past it's own self and pull the ends perpendicular to the lay of the Turn. If you slip this off the end of the spar, it melts into nothing. Likewise it can be made in the air and slipped over spar.
A Marl is similar; only we make an Overhand knot around the spar, and then pull the ends perpendicular to the lay of the Turn. If slipped off the end of the spar, there is now an Overhand Knot in the line. If we did a series of Half Hitches and slipped them off the end of the spar, they all melt out, a series of Marls/ Marline Hitching would leave a series of overhand knots in the line.
So Marls can be kinda troublesome, but hold better and lay flatter. 1 trick is to use a single preceding Marl and groundies slip it off end, then on return to climber the Overhand Knot jams into pulley, keeping rope from coming out and falling to ground. The closest i think i have to it pictured at MTL is to be seen in the differences between the
animations in tying a Knut (Half Hitch finish) and a TK (Marl finish). Click the 2 self tending climber's friction hitches, the Knut, then TK, they show the finished form, then clicking the play button shows their makings. Purposefully set to be exact copies except the final phase that performs either a Marl or Half Hitch type finish, to accentuate the fact of their similairty and this defining mechanic. Also, this duplication keeps the filesize small in the FlashPlayer; new/free FlashPlayer8 required, becasue of the gradient shadowing.
1 key thing here, usually not mentioned; is that a Running Bowline, Bowline, Clove etc. are mechanically meant to pull across/perpendicular to spar; this way the Standing Part that is pulled is inline with the back of the line on the backside of the spar. Pulling rope inline with itself; gives direct force, not leveraged against itself. Now if we pull lengthwise down the spar, then the Running Bowline's etc. Standing Part that you pull is not inline, but angled from the back of the loop on the backside of the spar; so this system is not inline with itself, but leveraged against itself. The preceding HalfHitch or Marl makes this more of an proper inline force on a lengthwise pull on spar. In the "Ashley Book of Knots" knotting bible, bowlines, timbers, cloves etc. to grab spar perpendicular are in 1 chapter, then in the next chapter lengthwise pulls are noted as the hardest angle to secure to, and the knots are upgraded with preceding halfs to make a timber into killick etc.
Note that though it would seem that a Clove satisfies this lengthwise pull formula, it does not, for the lenght between the '2 opposing halfs' is not a straight but a slanted one; also the first lifts up when loaded, to lift off the 2nd too!
My favorite rigging knot is a
DBY-Double Bowline with Yosemite Tie Off. The 2 rings make it a Double/ Mountaineering/ Round Turn Bowline for extra grip/security on itself and soften the arc of bend in the Standing Part to make it more stronger/efficient/ retain more of the rope tensile strength. The Yosemite tie off is taking the tail and feeding it up the Standing Part, this gives more security, as well as 'cleans up the eye'(which is really handy not having tail in the way every time you link krab into it etc.). i have maid it so many times; it floats in my hand easily, and i put together this
movie clip of making DBY behind my back some years ago, to get more people to use it. One advantage is that you can make the knot half way, wait for line to be slung to you, truck hitch backed up to you etc. then finish by placing line around host rope/ball hitch etc. and reeving thru slip knot, then pulling into place. This is also called a slip knot method of making a bowline (can be applied to single bowline) and also a Climber's Bowline, because if you were stranded on side of mountain they would lower line to you from overhead cliff or helicopter and you'd work line around and tie to yourself with this method in 2 parts, keeping one hand holding on to mountain. There is another 1 hand bowline method made popular in a Paul Newman movie, but this slip knot method works better with double bowline and also you could fall at end and just hold on and it sets itself proper. It isn't so hard, no magic to it; if'n ya look real closely you can witness my fingers never even leave my hands!:hmm3grin2orange:
Truly a great knot in our lines IMLHO(In my lowly humble opinion). Knots are mechanics in their making and then the way we apply them as 2 separate sciences to apply. These are the Nature of them; as it says in my sig "Nature to be commanded, must be obeyed" -Sir Francis Bacon; the father of inductive reasoning who gave us the scientific view of Nature and Natural forces. To command these forces in the pwoerful magic machines made with rope as the device; we must obey their principals as any other.
