The Zeppelin bend is a practical bend knot used to join the ends of two ropes together.
It falls in the category of knots formed by two interlocking Overhand knots like Hunter’s bend, Ashley bend and Alpine Butterfly bend.
It’s safe, does not bind and slip and can be untied even after heavy loading.
Despite its appeal, this knot is not well known.
Let’s explore this bend in detail.
Zeppelin Bend Details
Type: Bend
Other Names: Rosendahl’s Bend
ABoK Reference: NA
Zeppelin Bend History
There is some history, or rather, a myth about Zeppelin bend.
It’s believed to have been deployed to secure the great lighter-than-air ships called “Zeppelins.”
The name came in honor of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin who was a pioneer of the Airships.
The Airships required a knot that’s safe, takes massive strain and is easy to untie when needed.
The Zeppelin Bend fulfilled all of these requirements.
It’s often credited to a US naval officer named Rosendahl who first used this knot to moor his ship.
But, Rosendahl denied all knowledge of the knot later.
This detail was brought into light by Giles Camplin, editor of the Airship Heritage Trust’s Journal Dirigible.
How to Tie Zeppelin Bend Knot
- Make a 6 shape with the blue rope and 9 with the red rope.
- Place the blue loop over the red one
- Pass the blue rope through the loops
- Now, pass the red rope through the loops
- Tighten the knot
To untie, just pull away the interlocking loops and pull out the tag ends from the knot.
Double Zeppelin Bend
If you tie the working end of each rope around and through the middle loops for a second knot, it is known as the Double Zeppelin bend.
It’s not conclusive that the Double Zeppelin bend is stronger.
Most will agree that the second pass doesn’t provide much of an advantage, but still it’s worth a try.
Application and Uses
Zeppelin bend is an excellent choice for joining two lines that will be placed under a heavy load.
It is used in rock climbing as it can bear heavy load and is easy to untie after heavy loading.
Pros and Cons
The advantage of Zeppelin Bend is that it is easy to untie even after heavy loading.
Having said that, it’s difficult to tie this knot when there’s tension on the line.
It’s easy to recognize and check if it has been tied wrong because of its symmetrical shape.
It won’t come undone after sudden jerks and is resistant to the effects of slack shaking and cyclic loading.
This works fairly well in slippery material like Dyneema.
The downside of this knot is that it needs attention during tying. It shares some similarities with some other bends like the Hunter’s bend.
Other Similar Bends
Zeppelin bend is similar to other bends like Ashley’s Bend, Hunter’s Bend, and Alpine Butterfly Bend.
All these bends are tied with the interlocking Overhand knots.
If you observe the structure of these bends, you will notice that the end of rope which is coming in from the left side always loops around and crosses over on top of itself.
The difference in these five bends depends on what happens with the end of rope coming in from the right side.
I’ll put all the images of the corresponding bends below, so you can figure it out.
Hunter’s Bend
Hunter’s bend is one of the knot that looks similar to the Zeppelin bend.
If we dip deeper, the Zeppelin bend is formed from two superposed loops of opposite chirality whereas the hunters bend is formed from two inter-linked loops of the same chirality.
The advantage of the Zeppelin bend over the Hunter’s bend is that it’s easy to untie after loading.
Ashley Bend
Ashley bend (ABoK #1452) is used to join two ropes of similar thickness.
It has all of the advantages of the Zeppelin bend, but offers no unique advantage to justify its use.
That said, it can be challenging to untie once under heavy load.
There’s a version, rather an incorrect version, of the knot called the Evil Imposter that results from threading the ends incorrectly.
Alpine Butterfly Bend
Alpine Butterfly bend is derived from the Lineman’s Loop (ABoK #1053) and it looks similar to the Alpine Butterfly loop with just the loop cut.
It is a reliable bend that’s easy to tie and untie especially after being loaded.
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