Shackled
You gotta love YouTube, and especially the instructional clips put up by Colligo Marine, makers of Dyneema® line.
The soft shackle below, the first one that I have made, took me only about 10 minutes to complete, following along with the above video.
And speaking of Dyneema®, we’d really love to win the contest to have our boat re-rigged with this high-tech line. You, yes YOU, can help make that happen by joining our virtual crew. To do so, simply go to this page and click the orange Follow Me button. You will receive a confirmation email right away so look for it. You’ll need to click the link in that email to actually make it onto our crew, and thus help us to win. Thanks in advance everyone for taking a moment or two to help us out!
You old salt you…I put two of those on my reef lines at the leech with small blocks..works like a dream…hope to see you soon..we are having a blast in all these little places north of you ..heading to Blackpoint Thurs ..going to wait for the mass exodus from Gtown after the regatta..really hope you guys are still in town..rock on
You are waiting until AFTER the regatta to come here? I think you’re going to miss a lot of fun if you do that. Get your butts down here!
Thanks for sharing the video! We’re on your virtual crew and hope ya’ll win!
Muchas Gracias!
John of Colligo Marine is a great guy. He helped me rig my trimaran with Dyneema shrouds when I was dismasted. He lives here in the Valley of the Sun and came out to the boat for the install. We now have his lifelines on ‘DreamCatcher’.
Very cool!
Just a historical note:
This is actually a very old idea, up dated with modern materials. They were common on square rigged ships 100 years ago, used to attach smaller lines where we might use a shackle or a carabiner. I was introduced to the idea by the Glenans Sailing Manual 30 years ago, and have always had a few dozen on the boat.
I don’t really like them much as shackles; stainless works fine and eliminates any concern about a sharp edge doing damage over time. I use them on tarps and other places where I might use some manner of metal clip, but a strop is just as fast and will not scratch the gel coat. I don’t think I’ve ever had one shake loose, though it sure seems like they could… but they don’t.
In the classic form it is nothing more than a length of hemp (polyester or nylon now) line folded in half (about 12″ of 1/8″ line), with an over hand loop tied on the bight near one end, and a second overhand knot tied near the other end. I believe this simpler construction would slip in Amsteel, but it works fine in old line; the line will break first.
You should put some info on these and how you use them on your blog.
As you have noted, I’m sure, I did post something on stropes. I do, however, think the Amsteel version is very cool!
But I would think twice about re-rigging a boat with high-tech lines. I have some expereince, and it is mixed.
* Halyards. Bad for spinnaker, where shock absorption is good. Don’t do it; the set can be less stable.
* Bad for reefing lines and travelers. The line is a bit more stiff and they will not run as well through blocks. I know this because I did Spectra reef lines on my last boat (got the line free) and the traveller on my PDQ (got the line free). In both cases they are stiffer and I would switch to Stay-Set if someone gave me the line. You don’t need the strength anyway and cannot down size because of handling.
* OK for main and jib halyards, but not great because you don’t race and halyard tension is not key. I did have a Kevlar halyard on my Stiletto, BUT that main was tension only by down hauling and so there was no good way to adjust for stretch. On the PDQ, you won’t see an important difference.
* Sheets. Good for the spin sheets, as they stay lighter (dry), but there are cheaper lines, since strength is unimportant on your boat. Jib and main sheets are good applications, with some advantage. I have Kevlar hybrid Jib sheets and like them, but I will go with Stay-Set on my mainsheet; there is less load and it runs through more blocks.
* Standing rigging. I would NOT use it inside the furler, not for free. Too much risk of chafe.
* Furler line. That is a very interesting possibility. But if they are removing the core, pointless. I would need to hear more. Really, if there is more than ~ 200-pound load on the furler line, something is very wrong.
The Amsteel lifelines I will do (probably in just a few years), if just for the nice feel. You did a great job.
Good post here by Drew…
http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/2011/02/soft-shackles-stropes-and-square.html