Stopper knot for soft shackle

[eddystone]

I’m trying to make some Dyneema soft shackles. The book on splicing (Polman) I was given uses a diamond stopper knot to finish. I find his instructions/diagrams impossible to follow and having spent hours trying to follow different YouTube videos I’ve concluded I must have a form of knot dyslexia.
Is there a simpler stopper knot eg a simple overhand knot that will do the job?

 

[GHA]

I found this image easier to follow, still took a while and still need to have a look at it every time ..

 

[nigel1]

Rather than using a Diamond Knot, consider using the Button Knot instead.
Very good thread from Cruisers Forum on how to make this
Instructions for Tying the High Strength Soft Shackle & Button Knot - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

 

[eddystone]

I found this image easier to follow, still took a while and still need to have a look at it every time ..

Thanks that’s easier to follow - had to zoom in quite a bit to follow 8 and 9

 

[tim_ber]

If you cannot get on with any alternatives, drop me a pm and I will make a video of an easy way to do the diamond knot and send it to you.

After trying three instructions I found one set of instructions that is so much easier than all the others and I know it by heart but cannot find a link to the instructions.

Soft shackles are now made in minutes rather than hours.

 

[eddystone]

If you cannot get on with any alternatives, drop me a pm and I will make a video of an easy way to do the diamond knot and send it to you.

After trying three instructions I found one set of instructions that is so much easier than all the others and I know it by heart but cannot find a link to the instructions.

Soft shackles are now made in minutes rather than hours.

Very kind but I think it should be me making the effort - think I’ve almost got there with GHA’s diagrams. I looked at the button knot but it looks harder to me

 

[rgarside]

I found the instructions here quite good:-

Soft Shackles

 

[knuterikt]

This is the one I used when learning

 

[Ian_Edwards]

I've been using the "improved soft shackle" for the last 3 or 4 years, for all sorts of applications on the my Southerly 46RS.
Perhaps the most demanding application is the secure the mainsheet blocks at the goose neck. It's a German mainsheet system, the mainsheet is lead forward along the boom, then turns 90 deg down to the deck at the goose neck, before being turned a further 90 deg at the foot, and lead back to the cockpit. The sheet is a 12mm dyneema D12 and there's 2 sheets taking the full load of a 63.57m^2 (684.26 ft^2) mainsail, controlled by Lewmar 54 electric winches.
I don't know what the max load is on the soft shackles, which are made of 6mm D12 dyneema, however they have survived for around 4 season and many thousands of miles cruising the West Coast of Scotland, including the occasional crash jibe.
This a link to a youtube video of how to make them. I found them very easy to make, no complicated knots, just 2 brummel splices.

The claim is that they break at 230% of a single line; note there are 4 lines taking the load, so the shackle is a losing a little less that 50% of the total line strength.
For 6mm d12 sk78, breaking load 3490 kg, the breaking load for the shackle works out at just over 8000kg.
The more conventional soft shackle breaks at around 180% of the line, about 6280kg.

 

[noelex]

My clever wife has written easy to follow instructions with some clear photos for tying both the Diamond knot and the Button Stopper that is used for making “high strength” soft shackles:

How to tie a Diamond Knot - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Instructions for Tying the High Strength Soft Shackle & Button Knot - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

 

[alahol2]

Agree with Ian Edwards. The improved soft shackle is the way to go. Uses a bit more line and the stopper knot is not quite as elegant as a diamond or button knot but a dozen times easier. I've got the attached instructions on my phone. If I remember correctly this came from Evans Starzinger's site. Can't find them on the web anymore.

 

[GHA]

Agree with Ian Edwards. The improved soft shackle is the way to go. Uses a bit more line and the stopper knot is not quite as elegant as a diamond or button knot but a dozen times easier. I've got the attached instructions on my phone. If I remember correctly this came from Evans Starzinger's site. Can't find them on the web anymore.

Don't see why he bothers with modified brummel splices though. No need and reduces strength a tiny bit. Not that it makes any difference on a boat, either knot something else will go bang first. Evans load test page still on the wayback machine -
https://web.archive.org/web/20160318230212/http://www.bethandevans.com/load.htm
I find the diamond knot quicker.

 

[alahol2]

Don't see why he bothers with modified brummel splices though. No need and reduces strength a tiny bit.

I don't think Evans uses modified brummel splices. They look to me like ordinary buries.

 

[GHA]

I don't think Evans uses modified brummel splices. They look to me like ordinary buries.

It was the video in post #9 that used brummels. seems pointless. Probably not much point even in normal bury spices but s'pose if it makes you feel better then that's reason enough. I did a big theatre install few years ago in china, part of the rig was lots of vertical single line high speed winches. The load test was full speed down simulated power loss, so half a tonne at 6m/s (20kmh straight down) and BANG, both brakes on the winche went on. Quite spectacular! Line was just one 5mm dyneema, a straight bury spice with tapered tail. I put a little mark of tipex across the throat of the splice and not a single test cracked the tipex, amazing stuff, dyneema!

 

[Garry Sagert]

To answer the OP's question directly, here are a couple of YouTube videos on soft shackles with overhand knots and break tests:

Simple overhand knot and double figure eight:

Big overhand knot:

 

[fredrussell]

To answer the OP's question directly, here are a couple of YouTube videos on soft shackles with overhand knots and break tests:

Those are great vids, cheers. As someone who has also struggled with diamond knots in soft shackles I shall now be switching to the figure of eight type stopper knot.

 

[Garry Sagert]

Those are great vids, cheers. As someone who has also struggled with diamond knots in soft shackles I shall now be switching to the figure of eight type stopper knot.

Here's another way to tie an integral soft shackle into the end of a line using a double overhand stopper knot or figure eight climber's knot. It's not quite as strong as a splice and traditional shackle, but still useful for many purposes IMHO:

 

[LittleSister]

I found this image easier to follow, still took a while and still need to have a look at it every time ..

Thanks that’s easier to follow - had to zoom in quite a bit to follow 8 and 9

That's perhaps because, mysteriously, there isn't an 8!

 

[rgarside]

Other useful instructions and ideas here:-
Better Soft Shackle