Soft shackles in anchoring system

[Chris Cringle]

Similar 60: chafe baby chafe! nfbr: using stainless steel in your ground tackle is getting down on your knees and begging for it.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Chris Cringle

Simi 60: chafe baby chafe!.

I would rather the possibility of chafe, not that I have seen it hanging our 65 tonne vessel from one on our snubber, than have a weaker than chain metal shackle break when most needed.

[Chris Cringle]

Simi 60: I hope your system continues to work for you. But I still say, 'you bet your boat' I admit that I am very traditional (read: old fashioned) but I base my opinion on 48 years as a merchant marine deck officer.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by Chris Cringle

Simi 60: I hope your system continues to work for you. But I still say, 'you bet your boat' I admit that I am very traditional (read: old fashioned) but I base my opinion on 48 years as a merchant marine deck officer.

chris, i'm from a similar background (master class 1) and admit to a similar prejudice (we don't have any soft shackles anywhere on the boat).

however my racing days have also given me an appreciation of the merits of new materials & technology. i think we should both keep an open mind and change if there is a better way to do stuff - but not just for the sake of change.

cheers,

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by nfbr

Sitting behind stainless chain, stainless shackles and a bottom that is not "engineered".

I can see arguments both ways.

No one is suggesting to use a soft shackle between anchor and chain.

The discussion is about replacing hard shackles with soft where it makes sense, generally above the waterline.

[Marathon1150]

We use a dyneema climbing sling on the chain attached to the snubber by a soft shackle. It never comes off on its own and is really easy to attach and release because it can move through the anchor roller, both in and out. On a second boat we use a Mantus hook with the plastic gate. The configuration of that boat at the bow makes it super hard to attach and remove the hook, particularly because of the plastic gate on the hook. The hook will not move through the roller so interesting acrobatics are required when attaching and removing the hook on the chain. I will be replacing that set up with a soft shackle and dyneema sling as soon as we get back to Tahiti, all going well, sometime in 2021.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Marathon1150

We use a dyneema climbing sling on the chain attached to the snubber by a soft shackle. It never comes off on its own and is really easy to attach and release because it can move through the anchor roller, both in and out....

IMO, this is one of the best reason to use a soft attachment, or whichever type you favor. No leaning around the forestay. I used a locking hook on my cat, because it was super easy to reach, super fast, and didn't need to go over the roller, but only soft attachments on my trimaran.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Chris Cringle

Simi 60: I hope your system continues to work for you. But I still say, 'you bet your boat' I admit that I am very traditional (read: old fashioned) but I base my opinion on 48 years as a merchant marine deck officer.

If you were still one you would see dyneema being used more often.

Now there are dyneema lifting chains used in the marine industry
Stronger, less weight, no rust, floats



https://www.tycan.com/

Commercial fishing vessels use it
https://www.dsm.com/dyneema/en_GB/ap...rawl-nets.html

Used in the offshore oil and gas industry
https://dynamica-ropes.com/offshore-rope-solutions/

[nfbr]

Is anyone using the bridle soft shackle directly through the chain, or always with a loop or prussik?

[Sailing Ohm]

I also use a soft shackle for my bridle/snubber set up. I have two lines from the bow each with a spliced eye that goes to their own individual Soft shackle directly attached to their own chain link. The system has held fine for two years and two hurricane seasons so far. During hurricane prep I add a third or fourth line with steel shackles for some varied redundancy.
As others have said it’s easy to inspect and replace if wear is found. I figured the chance of two oversized soft shackles chafing through at the same time is pretty slim.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by nfbr

Is anyone using the bridle soft shackle directly through the chain, or always with a loop or prussik?

We use 8mm soft shackles for the bridles to chain attachment and have 1/2” G40 chain. The soft shackle just fits through the chain link. As well, the adjacent links move against the soft shackle and we were seeing wear quite quickly.

We now use a 10mm wide dyneema climbing sling to go through the link, as this is much better wearing. Climbing gear is all rated for 22 kN break, which we double by using it in a basket configuration. This is roughly in line with the working load of the chain.

[UFO]

Originally Posted by fxykty

We use 8mm soft shackles for the bridles to chain attachment and have 1/2” G40 chain. The soft shackle just fits through the chain link. As well, the adjacent links move against the soft shackle and we were seeing wear quite quickly.

We now use a 10mm wide dyneema climbing sling to go through the link, as this is much better wearing. Climbing gear is all rated for 22 kN break, which we double by using it in a basket configuration. This is roughly in line with the working load of the chain.

Attachment 228364

The slings works for us too - Very tough with no wear issues as of yet and they are cheap enough to keep a bundle of them onboard