How To Tie A Boat To The Dock - DesperateSailors.com How To Tie a Boat To a Cleat Now, the knot. A cleat is the metal t-shaped piece attached to the deck where you tie up the line end, whereas the other end is attached to the dock. The knot is called the cleat hitch. It consists of one wrap around the base of a cleat, then several figure eights follow, and one-two half hitches in the end.