Soft shackle follow up

I found some grey 1/8" Dyneema single braid. This is much more suitable for soft shackles than the 1/4".

I made a fid from a metal rod that I had laying around and worked up a few soft shackles.

Top to bottom: better 8", better 5", better 5", normal 5"

 In the above picture you can just see the vise marks where I clamped down and pulled the knot tight. I did it twice, once from the tails and once from the top. Similar to the instruction page.

The same after using a hot knife to trim

I installed the soft shackles on the cabin top. I've gotten some wear there from the 90 degree stainless shackles that I had. These seem to lay better and won't scratch my finish.

Cabin top

When I recently re-rigged my traveler, I had two shackles to join the two blocks. I replaced that with a soft shackle.

Traveler

I am keeping all the original stainless shackles in my repair kit in the boat. I know Dyneema has amazing strength properties, but having a backup is a good thing.

Unfortunately, today is not a great sailing day. Tomorrow may be better.

I'm looking forward to the Red Lantern Rally 2016 at Mystery Bay July 9-10.

Update: Also see my post on soft padeyes. I put 4 of them under each side of the cabin top and more of them in each well under the hatches. The toy hammocks that hang there work well for storing objects up off the bottom of the hull.