New soft shackle?

[DemostiX]

Multiply the minimum strength of the line by 1.6 and you'll have a tensile number for your shackle.

Allen Edwards had been serious about testing these. My estimate of "20% stronger than the line" was recollection of the lower bound from his earlier testing. Here is the current state of his belief and why:

>"Note: Other tests I and others have done show that the weak point is the knot and that the knot degrades the line to 30 to 45% of line strength. As there is a 4x multiplier, that means the soft shackle is 120 to 180% of the strength of the line it is made of. My testing shows that a soft shackle is only slightly stronger than the line it is made of. We tested 3 samples at the test facility at New England Rope. They failed at 1.04, 1.09, and 1.10 times line strength. The 180% number quoted on other sites is optimistic."

--------Allen Edwards http://l-36.com/soft_shackles.php?menu=3

[opie]

EDIT:

Better things to do.

[nacra533]

And even if Alan Edwards is correct, who cares for our usage. Any strength over 100% ensures it is not the weakest link in a 7/64 suspension system.

NE ropes was late in the game with spectra in my opinion. Amsteel is now the standard, which is a Samson product. Harken, Ronstan, and others that use soft shackles or similar in their blocks use Amsteel almost exclusively. Amsteel is now a more common name than spectra, which was the common name for all UHMPE lines, at least in my circles.

There might be a reason for casting doubt on to the soft shackles.

[kolby]

Nice going to have to give this a try. Will let every one know how it works out.

[stevebo]

Thanks for posting this !

[Oper8or]

If you're looking for simplicity, why not use the method used when I introduced them. Picture below is how I tie almost all of mine. This is the original "kohlhoff loop." In the link in the OP, stop at the first picture and tie the knot.

If you're burying part of the tail, you're only doing it for looks. If you're using the one Colgate Marine made the video of, that's a different story because its a different shackle.

I like that one. I think I'll try it out. I do see your point, if its good enough for what we need them for then why modify something that works. Sorry to post something that was already posted in one of your threads. I just thought I would share what I thought was a good find.

[Gideon]

Wow my head is hurting. Read all the posts and still not sure how this would be used with a hammock. I'm a bit slow on the uptake I think.

Still seems impressive if i had a clue what or how I'd use it... "blinking"

Gideon

[Oper8or]

Wow my head is hurting. Read all the posts and still not sure how this would be used with a hammock. I'm a bit slow on the uptake I think.

Still seems impressive if i had a clue what or how I'd use it... "blinking"

Gideon

It would be used to replace a carabiner. I use three on my setup. Two on my tarp ridgeline and one on my hammock ridgeline.