dyneema soft shackles - a lot learned

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Sailingsaves

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Learned a lot from this forum and just started making a few. The eye splice needs some winching to get cover sorted.
The shackles were sk75 and no cover.
Great fun and hopefully useful.
Big difference in price of dyneema and even the types of dyneema - sk65 I think is an alternative - (some have an extra special coating to protect against UV)
View attachment 45891View attachment 45892View attachment 45893
 
I've been using my home made dyneema soft shackles for a couple of years now. I wouldn't go back to metal shackles unless I see any indication that there's a problem. I have a couple laying around on the boat ready for use - had to use one last November when the one of the mainsheet blocks securing swivel let go in a F7. The soft shackle was straighforward to loop through the body of the block, I'd never have been able to do that with a solid shackle. Plus there was sufficient rotation in the shackle to allow the block to continue to swivel appropriately.
 
Well done! As you know, YouTube has hundreds of 'how to make soft shackle' videos but I've not had a go yet.
 
No need to buy fids either; bic pen works and so does the inside of the pen for 3mm dyneema.

Great stuff to work with.

Ebay sells 3.5m of the stuff for £1.5 - can make some cheap shackles with that - and making something with my hands gives me more pleasure than using a shiny stainless steel one
 
Pladdatoo said:
Got a link for that as I would be interested in making up a couple.
Thks
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Watch this seller.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/sailboatsolutionsltd

No link to him and he is a SLOW person to dispatch.

He sells 3.5mm for £1.5 a metre, but he does some auctions (maybe offcuts?) where he sells 6m, 7m etc at auction starting at £0.99 with free p&p (very slow - took a week for me to get my rope).

I won 3.5m of dyneema for £1.5 I missed his 7 metres stuff - went for just over £5 I think.

You just have to keep an eye on him and see when an auction pops up (or pay more for his Buy it Now stuff)
 
Another convert here! The ability to make long shackles is especially useful on my junk rig.

Good tip with the bic - I've been using a knitting needle and a kebab skewer.

It's worth pointing out to anyone who wants to try making them you do need single braid Dyneema and not the Dyneema core in a polyester braid rope.
 
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I have one attaching my semi-continuous genoa sheet (if that makes sense) to the clew of the genoa. It's a lot nicer being whipped in the face with a soft shackle than it is by a pair of bowlines. And it's quick and simple to remove, unlike a cow hitch.
 
nigelmercier said:
He sells a lot of different types, which is best? Also, what size would I need to make a SS for Genoa sheets (47 ft yacht)?
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I would be looking at buying from a chap called englishseadog I think - I 'll just check -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dyneema-w...ing_Moving_Equipment&var=&hash=item6b2e607aa4

I am no expert, but 8mm diameter may do it, but if in doubt, over engineer (not always my moto - only when I am not sure) and use the 12mm.

Ask Estarzinger or check out his wonderful website:

http://www.bethandevans.com/load.htm
 
estarzinger said:
You might take a look at the stronger soft shackle design - it is both a bit neater because the tails are buried and meaningfully stronger, and not much more difficult to do.

http://l-36.com/high_strength_soft_shackle.php
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You, sir, are a genius.

I am glad you posted because now I have found your thread from which I learned the shackle with the two tails - I think it is the one you mention?

http://forums.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?390967-Improved-soft-shackle/page3

Great website and a fountain of knowledge that you have given us.

Many thanks and I am sure many sailors will remember your name.
 
Sailingsaves said:
I would be looking at buying from a chap called englishseadog I think - I 'll just check -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dyneema-w...ing_Moving_Equipment&var=&hash=item6b2e607aa4

I am no expert, but 8mm diameter may do it, but if in doubt, over engineer (not always my moto - only when I am not sure) and use the 12mm.

Ask Estarzinger or check out his wonderful website:

http://www.bethandevans.com/load.htm
Click to expand...

I doubt any of us here have an application that needs more than 6mm dyneema. 6mm in the 'stronger' design will create a soft shackle with a 9,000kg breaking strength. I use quite a bit of 3mm, for average sort of applications and 6mm when I want it really strong, and I have made a pair of 10mm but have never used them.

12mm dyneema single braid would be monster strong, and would create a pretty massively big stopper knot. And you would have to apply a huge force to set the knot properly.

Regarding different types of dyneema - there is a heat set type that is strong and relatively stiff. This is good for applications where the shackle needs to be threaded or pushed thru a hole (like an anchor chain link) or where you need the most strength possible in a given size. But otherwise I prefer bog standard, the cheapest available, stuff.

By the way, you can also make soft shackles perfectly well from dacron single braid. And 8mm here is strong enough for most applications. Dacron has the advantage that it is cheaper, and not as slippery as dyneema so you don't have to be as careful with setting the stopper knot.
 
Shuggy said:
I have one attaching my semi-continuous genoa sheet (if that makes sense) to the clew of the genoa. It's a lot nicer being whipped in the face with a soft shackle than it is by a pair of bowlines. And it's quick and simple to remove, unlike a cow hitch.
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How do you do that then? Surely you still need loops in the sheets for attaching to something, whether it is the sail or a soft shackle.
 
trapezeartist said:
How do you do that then? Surely you still need loops in the sheets for attaching to something, whether it is the sail or a soft shackle.
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I have posted pics of mine previously. Splice loops into the sheets, then attach to the clew using a Dyneema shackle. It is far easier to tack the sail around a babystay with spliced sheets than knotted ones.
 
This is today's effort for a 16cm 10mm Dyneema soft shackle. I used 3M of Dyneema, and buried the tails of each end loop all the way back to the middle loop, ie when you have the middle loop, and hence 2 150cm tails, half the tails and burry at that point - ie each tail with loop becomes 75cm ish. I used the small of the knots on the instructions, as the larger was huge when using 10mm.

http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/improvedsoftshackle.pdf

Nice and simple instructions, and the smaller stopper knot is easy. Thanks Bevan.

With a 10mm fid for scale (and tape measure)
View attachment 45959

Quite happy with that. Got the 10yr olds to work out how many of them would needed to break it (1000KG*2/35kg == allot of 10yr olds!).

Not sure what I will use it for, but you never know...
 
That's a monster - what the hell would you use it for? You could lift a tank with it.
gregcope said:
This is today's effort for a 16cm 10mm Dyneema soft shackle. I used 3M of Dyneema, and buried the tails of each end loop all the way back to the middle loop, ie when you have the middle loop, and hence 2 150cm tails, half the tails and burry at that point - ie each tail with loop becomes 75cm ish. I used the small of the knots on the instructions, as the larger was huge when using 10mm.

http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/improvedsoftshackle.pdf

Nice and simple instructions, and the smaller stopper knot is easy. Thanks Bevan.

With a 10mm fid for scale (and tape measure)
View attachment 45959

Quite happy with that. Got the 10yr olds to work out how many of them would needed to break it (1000KG*2/35kg == allot of 10yr olds!).

Not sure what I will use it for, but you never know...
Click to expand...
 
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