Removable mainsheet - what quick release shackle to use?

[Greenheart]

I wouldn't trust a snap shackle on the main. I've seen too many fail over the years when attached to spinnakers...

Surely that's the point - the waywardness of a spinnaker's corners, especially in violent conditions, make a snap-shackle quite likely to be freed at an awkward moment...

...but the movement of mainsheet blocks is relatively restricted - far less twisting and possible contact by lines, sailcloth or solid objects.

I really feel that the snap-shackles are a boon on my dinghy's mainsheet...that said, I doubt the boom of a yacht will often need disconnecting so spontaneously.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I bought a new pair of Barton mainsheet pulleys with a snap shackle on the jammer one, when I made a cockpit tent, unfortunately it would not fit on the eye on the traveller so I made an endless spliced loop doubled up for the snapshackle. I used 10mm 3 strand and it's lasted nearly 8 years.

 

[lpdsn]

Surely that's the point - the waywardness of a spinnaker's corners, especially in violent conditions, make a snap-shackle quite likely to be freed at an awkward moment...

...but the movement of mainsheet blocks is relatively restricted - far less twisting and possible contact by lines, sailcloth or solid objects.

I really feel that the snap-shackles are a boon on my dinghy's mainsheet...that said, I doubt the boom of a yacht will often need disconnecting so spontaneously.

I thought the OP was talking about a Starlight 35 mainsheet not a dinghy mainsheet. And I was not talking about snap shackles accidentally opening or not being properly closed by the bowman, I was talking about snap shackles failing. Kaput. Requiring replacement.

The danger is that such a failure occurs during a gybe. Getting a spinnaker down with only two corners attached can be a challenge for a racing crew under some conditions, especially when it's the halyard that goes, but I would say it would be an awful lot easier than trying to catch a boom and mainsail on a family cruiser.

 

[bbg]

I have been aboard a big boat (72 feet) when the bail for the main sheet failed upwind in 20 knots. A Big Bang and a lot of flapping to be sure, but with a loose footed main we just took a sail tie around the boom a couple of times (loosely) just aft of the vang, attached the main sheet to it with a shackle then quickly slid the whole thing aft and tightened the sheet. Once it was under control we weren't happy with the sail tie alone so we added a few wraps of dyneema in case the sail tie failed.

Not that difficult, really, if you start near the gooseneck and work out.

 

[John the kiwi]

Good idea. You'd need to check the strength, obviously.

I use these on my mainsheet and kicker.
My kicker is a cascade system and can exert huge loads and have bent the pin on one of these, but it didnt fail, it jsut made it hard to get off!

 

[John the kiwi]

How about a halyard shackle, the kind where the pin has a sort of short lever on the end and you turn it 180 degrees to lock and unlock? That seems more than quick-release enough for a mainsheet, and won't come undone unexpectedly. No shackle key required.

Pete

I use these on my main sheet and kicker.
My kicker is a cascade system and can exert huge loads and I have bent the pin on one of these, but it didn't fail as such, it just made it hard to get off!

 

[steve123]

Having had a snap shackle fail (on a preventer) I preferred to use Wichard safety snap hooks at either end of my mainsheet: http://marine.wichard.com/rubrique-HR_safety_snap_hooks-0202040404000000-ME.html

 

[Billjratt]

I'd vote for the quick-release snapshackle having heard of someone getting trapped by the mainsheet when a gybe coincided with the person being half in the companionway. The mainsheet track ran across the bridgedeck. I'm sure it would be possible to get size and quality suitable for the job -I've just fitted a couple of heavy ones to the rib so it can be launched in a hurry if we were to hit a container or the like. Reasonable price from Kyle Ch..!

 

[westhinder]

Wichard snapshackle on the mainsheet of our Starlight 39. Never had it come undone so far.
On our previous boat, a Rival 34, we had a halyard shackle on the mainsheet block, which was good as well, but the shackle had to be replaced eventually as the pin was wearing thin.
So far no wear on the snapshackle, which is at least 5 years old.

 

[[2574]]

Wichard snapshackle on the mainsheet of our Starlight 39. Never had it come undone so far.

Ditto. Nauticat 39.

 

[West Coast]

Wichard snapshackle on the mainsheet of our Starlight 39. Never had it come undone so far.
On our previous boat, a Rival 34, we had a halyard shackle on the mainsheet block, which was good as well, but the shackle had to be replaced eventually as the pin was wearing thin.
So far no wear on the snapshackle, which is at least 5 years old.

Thanks, what size of wichard snapshackle do you use?

 

[rudolph_hart]

Here's mine, with Wichard snapshackle. Fitted on a Dehler 35 over 5 years ago. In case you're wondering where the tail is, it's a 'German Mainsheet' system so it's in a clutch just out of sight on the left of the picture, and leads to the winch.

 

[westhinder]

Thanks, what size of wichard snapshackle do you use?

I'll have a look tomorrow when I'm on the boat

 

[Birdseye]

My starlight 35 has a mainsheet track fitted just forward of the wheel, with mainsheet tackle connected via conventional shackles to the traveller and boom. I want to be able to remove the mainsheet tackle from the traveller and clip to the toerail when in port (having just bought a cockpit tent).

Looking for advice on the type of snapshackle or similar I should consider using to make this moving operation simpler and easier - would a good sized snapshackle be sufficient?

Cheers

FWIW I use a largish snap shackle in that application clipping to the spinny block U shackles on the toe rail. Not a single issue in doing so.

 

[westhinder]

Thanks, what size of wichard snapshackle do you use?

It is a snap shackle with swivel and clevis pin, 7 cm, ref nr 2474
http://marine.wichard.com/fiche-A|WICHARD|2474-0202040108000000-ME.html

 

[vyv_cox]

It is a snap shackle with swivel and clevis pin, 7 cm, ref nr 2474
http://marine.wichard.com/fiche-A|WICHARD|2474-0202040108000000-ME.html

Mine look just like that but they came from a Furlex that failed catastrophically, so probably not Wichard ones.

 

[Babylon]

Wichard snapshackle on the mainsheet of our Starlight 39. Never had it come undone so far. So far no wear on the snapshackle, which is at least 5 years old.

I've used a snap shackle for about the last ten years on my HR 34, a bit smaller than the Starlight, and it hasn't failed, yet. It is fairly substantial...

Ditto. Nauticat 39.

Ditto. Vancouver 27 - quickly removable so (i) I can 'unblock' the bridge-deck/companionway, and (ii) so I can rig the cockpit enclosure with minimum extra faff.

BTW I have a separate 6-part purchase MOB block&tackle recovery system, which lives clipped on under the boom from the gooseneck to the boom-end: unclip at the gooseneck, clip this on to the casualty in the water, and haul from the boom end.