Soft hanks and Soft shackles

[petermat]

Jack,
Thanks for the info - the video in particular answered all my queries on how it works.

I can see uses, but in my current state of slowly decreasing ignorance, I seem to see one significant limitation. With a spinnaker type snap shackle, or a regular shackle with a bar, you can attach a line to the shackle by knot, whip or splice, and be confident that the shackle and line will stay together. I mean particularly while not in use. This does not seem possible with the soft shackle as shown. If one simply put an eye splice in the end of the sheet / halyard ... then the eye end of the shackle is likely to easily slip through the eye splice. One cannot seize or sew anything to the soft shackle as portraid, since the cover of the soft shackle line must be able to move over its core. The only way I can see of meeting this requirement would be to make the soft shackle with a very much longer loop, seized in the middle making a figure 8 with one loop the disconectable part. This disconectable part would have to be long enough that the cover could be pulled back enough despite the seizing.

Or am I still missing something?

Peter

[John D]

Peter,

Soft shackles are very flexible* in that you can build them to suit your purpose. Your suggested method of a long soft shackle seized to an eye-splice will work, but you have other options available.

You can extend the distance between the moving portion of the soft shackle and the diamond knot (described as a "spherical knot" in the video) and use this to luggage tag the soft shackle to the eye. After you've made the locking brummel measure off a little more than the circumfrence around the eye's cross-section and make another locking brummel ( A through B, then B through A) and tie the knot as in the video. Attach to the eye by passing the soft shackle portion through the loop created by the two legs luggage tag fashion. The diamond knot will be standing proud and it will be easy to snug the constricting loop of the soft shackle around it. This isn't going to shake of easily, but for security always close the shackle after use.

For an even more secure attachment of the soft shackle to the eye, you can build a double shackle with a single, central, knot. Again, follow the video up to the locking brummel. Call the end that just passed through the rope A and the other end B. On the B side mark a dot a brummel's length away from the brummel you just made. Mark a second dot 5 1/2" away from the first dot towards the B end. Feed the B end in at the second dot and out at the first dot (use a fid as in the video to open up the line). Use something (3/8” fid [as in the video] or a length of 3/8" line) to keep the constricting loop from collapsing. Next make your second brummel with the B end, just as you did earlier with the A end. It's best if B emerges on the same side as A. Pass A through B and B through A to make a third brummel. This brummel will be roughly perpendicular to the other two brummels. Use the A and B ends to tie the diamond knot. In use both of the soft shackles constricting loops will go over this knot at the center of the double soft shackle. Attach to the eye with one side of the shackle and use the other side to connect to the clew.

While the double shackle is a clever hack, I prefer the luggage tag method as its less work and 'feels' better. As you work with soft shackles you will probably find even better solutions.

John D.

*pun intended