Mornin' All,
I have come to realise that the Truckers Hitch as tied in the States generally seems to start with either a slipped overhand eye or a slipped figure 8 eye. Over here in England it is invariably tied as the first end of a short sheepshank, with a twist put in the eye to firm it up, then a bight of the W E pushed thru to secure to a hook or if securing to a spar or rail reeve it round that and back thru the eye. Haul tight and tie off. I have never seen it tied any other way over here, nor have I ever known it to fail if tied well. When undoing, a shake of the rope drops the eye out in an instant, and when tying it's very easy to get the eye exactly where you want it, or adjust it's position if required. Photo to follow. Comments please? Now a separate thread, (first posted in Knots in the Wild).
Regards, Peter H
P.S. Found something similar in Ashleys but with an extra HH which seems superflous to me and may in fact weaken the arrangement as it takes some of the nip out of the first HH, shown as #2126.(quote) " A quicker but less dependable lashing is based on BELL RINGER'SKNOT #1148." I've always found it very dependable with just the top HH myself. Perhaps a case of 'More is Less' in this instance. Or should that be 'Less is More'?