The clove hitch is an old tie with many outdoor uses. This ancient connection has been used successfully by people since the early 1500s, as shown in old paintings. Today’s uses for the clove hitch cover a wide range of activities, especially for boaters, campers and for use with outdoor vehicles.
Its primary benefit is for securing a line to a round object or anchor, like a line from a tree limb to a camp lantern, or when hanging a boat fender from a boat railing. It also can be adjusted easily to lengthen or shorten a line as needed. It can be adjusted from either line ends of the hitch.
Tent support poles, fence posts, and trees are all serviceable anchors for a line tied with a clove hitch. The knot is used by outdoorsmen securing lines to truck or ATV railings and rings.
While a clove hitch can be tied to a square or odd-shaped railing or post, it’s most useful and secure when drawn tight around a rounded pole, post, railing, even a push pole when a boat line is tethered to it for anchoring a skiff in shallow water.
A clove hitch may slip a bit when under heavy load with stout lines. So, tying a large Hatteras fishing boat to a dock mooring post is not the best use for a clove hitch. Further, fine-diameter lines also can be a bit difficult to loosen a clove hitch.
But the clove hitch has stood the test of time for generations of outdoorsmen, because it’s simple to make, easy to adjust and untie, and holds well for most purposes. It can be made one-handed, but that takes skillful practice.