Snap shackles on mainsheet block

[blue angel]

Snap shackles on both the mainsheet and boom vang blocks came in handy today when I had a need to drop the mast down
into the crutch, as the fellow for australia said a while back, on the nwer M model on calm water (in my slip), one need not even take off the mast or even the sail cover in this case, I just undid the snaps and wrapped the blocks around the boom and sail, then raised the boom straight up to the mast, bungeed it off, then used the mast raising kit to quickly lower the whole thing down to the crutch, did some adjustments, and put it back up. maybe those carbiners would come in handy to attach the side supports for the mast raising kit to the loops in the stanchions, might prevent losing pieces overboard wthout resorting to more exensive hardware. roy

[Rick Westlake]

they work fine...as long as they are big enough...these units cost $3.00 each...made in China i think...I have them on all my connections...



Puggsy

Looks like a Chinese knock-off of the Wichard "spring carabiner" shackles I use. For those of us in the USA, Annapolis Performance Sailing has better prices on Wichard than West Marine ... but I'd ask WalMart if they'd consider importing the Chinese ones Puggsy is using.

[Kelly Hanson East]

I use the cheap ones for gear and temp use on the boat..but I get the real things for running rigging, anchor tackle, and safety related stuff.

Next time you are in Harbor Freight, pick up 10 of the "316 SS" shackles at 0.99 each and look at the colour of the metal - fascinating variations in hue. Probably made in the Ulan Bator suburb of "316"

[Scott]

I have used both of these and have no preference. They both speed up the job and have never had a failure with either.