Soft shackle application

[Cris]

Has anybody tried a soft shackle from Colligo Marine to attach the mainsheet to the metal loop on the cockpit steering wheel post (or the rail loop on the cockpit table for those who have this option)? I'm looking for a shackle that doesn't make the annoying clatter that occurs from metal to metal whenever the wind shifts.

http://www.colligomarine.com/Colligo-Sy ... -f-SWL.htm

[restless]

Cute looking widget..
not quite sure how it works, but not sure what your issue is with the standard set up. Being one who dislikes rattles etc I've not noticed being annoyed by this. Except really light airs... I think for the $ I would tie my end down with standard knots first

[Rick Westlake]

These "soft shackles" are much simpler than you might think. What they've done is to pull one end of a length of line into the middle of the other end, leaving a small "eye" or "snare loop" where the line is pulled back inside itself, then tied a big stopper knot in the doubled line at the other end. You pull the eye open and push the knot through it, then pull the loop tight around the knot to "lock it down".

After taking a look at these at Annapolis Performance Sailing, I made my own from 1/4" single-braid Dyneema. It's quite simple. All you need is a long, straight splicing fid (one without a knob on the end) to pull one end of the line through the middle of the line - I use a Samson aluminum fid for mine.

Try this with cheap yellow polypropylene line before you make one in Dyneema, though!

Take a 2-foot length of single-braid Dyneema line, and push one end of the line into the smallest splicing fid that will accept it; then tape the line into the fid. Now push the fid into the center of the line, about 14" from the other end of the line - it needs to be "off-middle" this way, because the outer line will get shorter when you push the inner line through it. Pull the fid through to the other end of the line, pull the inner line out as well, and remove the fid. Now what you have is like a short piece of "double braid" - the core will take all the strain, and the outer braid simply holds the snare-loop shut.

Pull down the outer braid so it's a little bit "bunched up" over the inner braid, then tie an overhand knot in the end opposite the snare-loop. Melt the end of that knot so that it can't come undone and so it will slip easily through the snare-loop.

To secure this loop shackle, pull open the snare-loop by bunching down the cover braid toward the knot. Push the knot through the snare-loop, then pull the cover to the snare-loop to close it. The core takes all of the load, and (as Colligo says) when tension is applied, the snare-loop gets tighter.

These "softies" are not as convenient as a snap-shackle, because you cannot open them under load and it usually takes both hands to work them. But they are inexpensive, light, and quite secure - and you can make them just-about any length you need; to fit around a mast or a boom, for instance, or to use as a tack-pennant for a jib or genoa that you want to get up above the bow-pulpit rail.

Hope this helps - Rick

[Highlander]

So Rick
@ 29$ a pop when does production start would be be quite a litlle money making project over the winter

J

[restless]

Rick..
great explanation, though something goes wrong with my brain when I read it
I would love to know how to make some of these as I'd use them all over the place I'm sure, though not at $30
I vote you take some photos and post it in the mods section, and I promise I'll love it!

[restless]

I'm so impatient!
I've found this... looks like I'll have to go look in my pile of old strings now! (btw it's in spanish, but pix are good.. read with above post)
http://sybrancaleone.blogspot.com/2009/ ... ssile.html

[Bumpcity]

That's not Spanish!! But it sure looks cool...

Lorenzo

[Cris]

Thanks all. I have to say that adage about pictures & words rings home for me.

And yes, the nature of my sailing leaves me with often fickle light breeze that distracts my attention from the pleasant sound of water lapping on the transom to the clatter near the binnacle.

But to beg the question, has anybody actually used this or something similar?

[Rick Westlake]

I'm so impatient!
I've found this... looks like I'll have to go look in my pile of old strings now! (btw it's in spanish, but pix are good.. read with above post)
http://sybrancaleone.blogspot.com/2009/ ... ssile.html

At'sa Italian!

These pictures are a perfect explanation of how to make a soft-shackle. That little bit of binding he adds in the snare-loop will keep it open and make it easier to use the 'softie'; I'm going to try that, next time I need to make one up.

Dyneema is good; maybe Vectran is better; but make your first one up in cheap polypropylene, so you know how to get it right when you buy the expensive stuff.

[Rick Westlake]

Thanks all. I have to say that adage about pictures & words rings home for me.

And yes, the nature of my sailing leaves me with often fickle light breeze that distracts my attention from the pleasant sound of water lapping on the transom to the clatter near the binnacle.

But to beg the question, has anybody actually used this or something similar?

Not for my main sheet, though I believe it would do just fine.



This is one that I use shackle the turning blocks for my boom-preventer lines to my jackline pad-eyes, up in the bows of the boat. I made it by a simpler pattern, with the snare-loop simply punched back through the line instead of pulled up inside; it seemed simpler to make, but it's not as neat. I also use one for a turning block that I attach to a bow cleat for running my spinnaker tack-line back to the cockpit. I also made up a long one for the tack-pennant of a small sail I tried out as a free-flying staysail, to go with my genoa in light winds - and for possible use as a storm jib in heavier conditions.

At roughly $2.50 for two feet of 1/4" Amsteel single-braid, you can't beat the price!

[Knot Tied Down]

What about some sort of grommet or coating on the mainsheet attachment? Might make it quieter?

[Gater Dunn]

here is a video in English I found
http://youtu.be/jH66tGsWv_Y
I'm gona get some fids and play

[Ixneigh]

Wow they sure have fancy-fied something that I've been doing since the day I put up a bedsheet on a dinghy. Tie it on with something? I've used multiple passes of 3/16 lashing line to tie on pretty much anything in a pinch or even permanently.
For thirty bucks I'd use that and two half hitches on the main sheet if it bothered me.
You can also use it to replace turnbuckles, shroud plates, lifeline adjusters or wherever.
Maybe some math whiz on here could tell exactly how many passes of dyneema one would need to pitch that headstay turnbuckle on my M model?? It would be way easier to deal with it that way. Place an over size thimble in the bottom of the head stay and an oversize shackle on the stemhead fitting. With three or four passes you can crank that puppy down as tight as needed and the rest is just for security. If I trailored often I would have already been doing this.

Ixneigh

[Phil M]

Maybe some math whiz on here could tell exactly how many passes of dyneema one would need to pitch that headstay turnbuckle on my M model?? It would be way easier to deal with it that way. Place an over size thimble in the bottom of the head stay and an oversize shackle on the stemhead fitting. With three or four passes you can crank that puppy down as tight as needed and the rest is just for security. If I trailored often I would have already been doing this.

Ixneigh

A clevis pin and ring would be faster than threading three or four passes of dyneema, especially at the critical set-up moment of fastening the head stay.

Phil

[Ixneigh]

Mine is a struggle to pull it tight enough to get the Pin in and then tighten the turnbuckle with two tools that really want to go swimming . Threading it might be slower but it would be easier for me.

Ixneigh