Fig. 131 shows a method of securing ropes together by means of a toggle, a piece of wood turned to shape and having a groove in the centre, round which the end of a rope is spliced. An eye is made in another rope by any method and the toggle slipped into it. It is undone by slackening the ropes and putting the toggle through the eye, end foremost. Fig. 132 is another form of toggle, the round piece of wood being shaped like a button. It has a hole in the centre, through which a rope is passed and the end knotted.
Fig. 133.—Fender on Side of Boat.
A fender (Fig. 133) protects the sides of a boat from being chafed and the paint or varnish rubbed off. Occasionally a fender is of wood, which is slung over the boat’s side by a lanyard reeved through a hole in the end of it, but more often it is of canvas, stuffed with oakum and painted. Fig. 133 shows an easily made soft fender which does not need painting. Take a piece of Manilla rope double the length of the fender; unlay it, open the strands, and comb them down until all the yarns lie straight; double it and clap an eye-seizing on it, marling it down as illustrated. A lanyard of small cords, such as log-line, is then spliced into the eye.
Fig. 134.—Fender with Ropeyarn Heart.
Fig. 134 shows a handsomer form of boat’s fender. This is made of a centre or “heart” of rope-yarn worked over or grafted with short pieces of rope-yarn called “knittles” or “nettles”; this is a kind of weaving. The nettles are first cut to the right length, and the middle part slightly twisted. They are then brought snugly round a thimble, and a seizing put under it. The heart is put into its place and the nettles laid evenly over it. Half of the nettles, taken alternately, are turned back over the eye, the rest lying down the heart. Pass a turn or two of twine or marline, called the warp or filling, round the fender where the nettles separate, and hitch it. The turned back nettles must now be brought down, and those that are down turned up over the eye. The warp is now passed again, and hitched as before. This must be repeated until the whole of the fender is covered with a sort of woven coat as shown in Fig. 134. The ends of the nettles are brought round the last turn of the warp, and interlaced in the grafting. This fender requires a lanyard the same as the last one.
Fig. 135.—Thimble Side View.
Fig. 136.—Thimble Cross Section.
A thimble, shown in side view and section by Figs. 135 and 136, is an iron ring, usually galvanised, and a rope or strop fits snugly in its flanged rim. It may be heart-shaped or round, and is used as a small eye on the end of a rope to receive another rope.