Dyneema Shackle

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Ian_Rob

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My old Genoa was orginally attached with a shackle that caused the tack loop to twist and stress the stitching. I want to avoid this with my new Genoa and was thinking of using a twisted shackle or perhaps better still, a dyneema loop? Would a dyneema soft shackle be suitable or would it be better to have a closed dyneema loop made up?
 
GHA said:
Dyneema soft shackles work great for attaching sheets, might look like they could come undone but they just don't. Handy on a cutter so you can have eyes in the sheets instead of bowlines which like to catch the inner forestay when tacking .
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Are hard or soft eyes best?
 
Poignard said:
Are hard or soft eyes best?
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Up to you, hard would hurt more when they bang on your head flogging. Softy some people might worry about chafe & wear. Need to try a handful of boats over thousands of miles to get any real data, or just assume and make up an opinion which is a more normal forum response . :)

I've a length to dyneema spliced into the sail end of each sheet with soft eye, next to no weight on the sail & next to no stretch on that bit. Works great.
 
Ian_Rob said:
My old Genoa was orginally attached with a shackle that caused the tack loop to twist and stress the stitching. I want to avoid this with my new Genoa and was thinking of using a twisted shackle or perhaps better still, a dyneema loop? Would a dyneema soft shackle be suitable or would it be better to have a closed dyneema loop made up?
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Just use a soft shackle.
 
We have sewn the 2 sheets together with dyneema webbing in between - so sheet, webbing, sheet - its not actually webbing but an outer dyeema sleeve. This is cow hitched to the tack. Being dyneema cover they lie flat and do not catch on anything. We fed the sheet into each end of the dyneema tube, the sheets are also double braid dyneema and used braided dyneema fishing line to sew everything together. We have a big 45m^2 code Zero type and a 35m^2 150% Genoa and both use the same system.

The idea is not original but was introduced to us when we raced in HK, before dyneema, and we then used hollow nylon tape. The idea came from Neil Pryde. The advantage being it does not catch on anything.

Jonathan
 
gregcope said:
Hi @Ian_Rob I would just make a up a soft shackle. Probably one of the improved types as these are my recent favourites, although a diamond knot, properly tightened would be fine.
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Arguably about the best use of a 'Soft Shackle'.... cheap and easy to make oneself. Should chafe be a concern, simply slip a sleeve of antichafe tubing over, then fit.
 
Use one continuous line and cow hitch it to the sail directly. Nothing to catch, nothing to come undone. Will come undone at the end of the season. Optionally, have it a little longer than it needs to be and you can move the hitch along a little way each season to move any wear points (if you have any).
 
PaulRainbow said:
Use one continuous line and cow hitch it to the sail directly. Nothing to catch, nothing to come undone. Will come undone at the end of the season. Optionally, have it a little longer than it needs to be and you can move the hitch along a little way each season to move any wear points (if you have any).
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See post No 6.

A soft shackle just seems unnecessary - how do you attach the sheet to the soft shackle?

My understanding is you need an eye in each sheet - so now we need to splice 2 eyes and one (or is it two) soft shackles.

A cow hitch works for me.

Jonathan
 
Gary Fox said:
+1 for the cowhitch on one long sheet, on my cutter.
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Add a soft shackle between the cows hitch & clew and it's exactly the same but you can take the sheets off the sail in an instant should the need arise without having to completely remove & unthread both sheets. Same with 2 sheets & eyes, just one shackle has the same system but you can do what you want with the sheets but still nothing to catch or come undone.
 
Nice thread drift about attaching sheets (done to to death on many other threads :-) but didn't the OP ask about the tack fitting?

Ian_Rob said:
My old Genoa was orginally attached with a shackle that caused the tack loop to twist and stress the stitching.
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Unfortunately I can't help as our tack fitting has a metal shackle as part of the fitting and works fine
 
Ian_Rob said:
My old Genoa was orginally attached with a shackle that caused the tack loop to twist and stress the stitching. I want to avoid this with my new Genoa and was thinking of using a twisted shackle or perhaps better still, a dyneema loop? Would a dyneema soft shackle be suitable or would it be better to have a closed dyneema loop made up?
Click to expand...
I use both a twisted shackle fitted to the sail’s tack which in turn is linked to the furling drum with a long soft shackle. This ensures that no twisting moment is imparted on sail or furling gear. I adjusted the span (about 15cm) of the soft shackle to raise the head of the sail sufficiently to ensure that the rotator engaged fully in the anti-wrap dog fitting (Profurl).
Mike
 
Cow hitch can creep under load and if it fails you have nothing connected to the sail. Same with a soft shackle. That's why individual sheets is the traditional method.
Having said that you take's your choice and I use a soft shackle.
 
GHA said:
Dyneema soft shackles work great for attaching sheets, might look like they could come undone but they just don't. Handy on a cutter so you can have eyes in the sheets instead of bowlines which like to catch the inner forestay when tacking .
Click to expand...
Love them, very boat friendly, and not difficult to make
 
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