Soft shackles

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mike cunningham
Posts: 489
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:21 am
Location: Jacqueline, F30 #3, Discovery Bay, California

Soft shackles

Post by mike cunningham »

Boy am I late to this party!

I made some soft shackles and replaced all my SS shackles at the mast... Fantastic. I used some abrasive to take a little of the edge off the ring holes. The beauty is I can now tweak shackle lengths and twist to get fair leads and deconflict block locations when lines and halyards are under tension.

I Will, however, need to be diligent about weathering and periodic replacement.

I am now busy deploying them to replace other hard shackles where appropriate.

Thoughts anyone?
Mike Cunningham
Freedom 30 (Mull) Hull #3
Build date...June, 1986 . Freedom Yachts USA, sloop, shoal keel
Gun Mount and pole retrofitted (purchased from a Hoyt Freedom 32)
Yanmar 2gm20F , 1600 hrs fixed two blade prop
e-rud and ocean racing equipment

iansan5653
Posts: 101
Joined: Sun May 09, 2021 4:39 pm

Re: Soft shackles

Post by iansan5653 »

I've been having a lot of fun with Dyneema since I first started using it. I love how easy it is to splice. Soft shackles are especially great anywhere you want to save weight, like on the spinnaker. Plus they're cheaper than SS and easier to customize, so that's nice.

I also replaced my rusting old SS lifelines with Dyneema according to the US Sailing standards (https://www.ussailing.org/wp-content/up ... n-2014.pdf). It ended up being significantly cheaper and faster than it would have been to have a shop fabricate the stainless ones for me.

One problem I ran into was that the Dyneema dulled my brand new Fiskars scissors after just a few uses. Over on Cruisers Forum there's a thread on Dyneema scissors (https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f1 ... 05941.html) and I ended up buying these: https://www.knifecenter.com/item/AU1847 ... fn-handles. They seem great so far.
Ian Sanders
1983 Freedom 21 - Shoal Draft
St Petersburg (Tampa Bay), FL

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mike cunningham
Posts: 489
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:21 am
Location: Jacqueline, F30 #3, Discovery Bay, California

Re: Soft shackles

Post by mike cunningham »

Sounds good. I do have a pair of those special shears, the exact same ones. They work great.

Speaking of which, the original reason I bought the scissors was to deal with protective Kevlar sheathing for my halyards.

I participated in a long distance race... 18 days of sailing 24/7 and was amazed when I finally dropped my sails to the deck (must have reefed and un-reefed sixty or seventy times but never dropped sails completely). What I found was significant halyard chafe from the masthead sheave on the main ...and at the sheave box on the jib and spinnaker halyards.

Someone recommended I install kevlar sleeves to protect the halyards. When I had the halyards replaced with hi tech line I asked the rigger to do this. It worked really well. After f second long distance race (15 days 24/7) and a long trip home (20 days), I found almost no wear at the bearing points

This is a good thing when you think about the cost of replacement halyards fabricated with some of the low stretch hi tech rope available these days.

Since I do a lot of motoring I have also noted some wear with halyards rigged but run down to the deck. This prompted me to do self help with the Kevlar to protect these additional areas across the sheaves when sails are down. This is really easy to accomplish but you definitely need those hardened shears for this work.

I have also gotten into the habit of removing my halyards all together when I won't be using the boat for longer than two or three weeks. This is helpful to reduce weathering and dirt accumulation. I use paracord leaders to facilitate this and can get all three halyards on or off the boat in about 20 minutes after having done it a few times and learned the drill.
Mike Cunningham
Freedom 30 (Mull) Hull #3
Build date...June, 1986 . Freedom Yachts USA, sloop, shoal keel
Gun Mount and pole retrofitted (purchased from a Hoyt Freedom 32)
Yanmar 2gm20F , 1600 hrs fixed two blade prop
e-rud and ocean racing equipment

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newt2u
Posts: 236
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 11:24 am
Location: UK

Re: Soft shackles

Post by newt2u »

I find a good sharp knife is the best way to cut dynema. I use an old non stainless chefs knife, which I give a quick hone before working on my splices. One tip that I picked up on a video was to tape up the rope first, I use paper masking tape, and cut through the tape. It holds the fibres in place and makes the cut easier. If you cut diagonally it also makes splicing much easier. I do have shears for cutting glass and carbon cloth but find the knife easier for complete cuts, I only use the shears for tapering. For finishing the crown knot, I use a hot cut with the tip of the same knife. A few seconds in my propane blow torch and you get a nice clean finish.
Rockin - F21 twin drop keels - located Whitehaven, Cumbria, UK

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