About The Rope Doctor

The Rope Doctor is dedicated to producing only the highest quality, most authentic, traditional and modern day nautical rope items.   

Who is "The Rope Doctor"

My name is Donald Patrick Allen. I was born November 20, 1973 in London, Ontario, Canada. I grew up in the small town of Aylmer Ontario (nowhere near the Ocean). My interest in knots began in the summer of 1994 when at the age of 19, I moved from Aylmer to Tofino, British Columbia. I started working on an oyster farm where I was introduced to my first two knots, the clove hitch and bowline. These are two of the simplest and most practical of all the knots. Learning these knots made working with boats and ropes much easier. Knowing this, it occurred to me that there were many other knots that would make my job easier yet. Seeing also as I had access to miles of rope and that I was going to be working with it on a daily basis, I figured that I might as well learn how to use it properly. I began observing the knot work on the boats in the area. There were a few boats in particular that had some particularly fancy knot work on them. I soon found out who the boat owners were and asked them to share their knowledge. They all suggested the same thing. Go out and buy yourself a good book about knots. I soon found out that there were a lot of good books. More so, I discovered that there were a lot of knots and so my studies began. It was in September of 2003 that I began producing rope doormats for resale. More to come...