This also applies to cable, chain, and webbing.
Gear that is anchored includes anchors, rocks, trees, tripods, trucks, etc.
A "bight" is a simple loop in a rope that does not cross itself.
A "bend" is a knot that joins two ropes together. Bends can only be attached to the end of a rope.
A "hitch" is a type of knot that must be tied around another object.
"Descending devices" (e.g., ATCs, Brake Bar Racks, Figure 8s, Rescue 8s, etc) create friction as their primary purpose. The friction in descending devices is always considered when calculating forces.
The "Safety Factor" is the ratio between the gear's breaking strength and the maximum load applied to the gear (e.g., 5:1).
To connect gear to a raft, you should first connect carabiners to the raft's D-rings.
Systems containing rafts usually look best if you first resize and rotate the carabiners. In the following illustration, all of the carabiners have been resized so they are smaller. The carabiners in the "distance" were sized even smaller to give the appearance of perspective, and everything (i.e., carabiners, raft, and water knot) was rotated.
The following illustration uses slack points to make it look like a rope is connected directly to the D-rings without using carabiners.
