1. Mark point A in the middle of the rope and point B to determine the size of the shackle. This should be about 20cm from the centre for a 4mm rope.
Soft shackles are strong, light and safe and are increasingly replacing stainless steel shackles. Not only are soft shackles lighter, they also prevent damage to the boat and crew. Soft shackles are stronger than the breaking load of the original rope because the rope is doubled up. To close the shackle you use a soft shackle knot or diamond knot, as explained on Soft Shackle Knot.
Vary and experiment with the size of the soft shackles. I usually use about 85cm of rope for a 4mm shackle. For an additional 1mm in diameter you’ll roughly need an extra 10cm of rope.
1. Mark point A in the middle of the rope and point B to determine the size of the shackle. This should be about 20cm from the centre for a 4mm rope.
2. Insert a pulling needle into point B.
4. Clamp the long end in the needle and pull it back.
5.
6. Feed a round object through the loop and stretch the rope.
8.
9. Tie the soft shackle knot with both ends, using the method on Soft Shackle Knot, and cut both ends.
10. Make the eye of the soft shackle as large as possible. Take a thin rope and feed it through the inner rope.
11. Have both ends of the quick-release string visible and close up the soft shackle. Tie a knot in the thin rope and the soft shackle is finished.
12. The quick-release string is used to open the eye.
13. This creates a Dyneema soft shackle, type 1.
1. Fold the rope and take a fid right through the rope just next to the centre.
2. Take the longest end through the rope.
3. Determine the size of the soft shackle and mark point A. This would be at about 20cm for a 4mm rope.
4. Take one end through point A, as shown.
6. The splice is now locked.
7. Tie the soft shackle knot with both ends, using the method on Soft Shackle Knot, and cut both ends.
8. Open up the eye and place it over the knot.
This splice shows how you can combine techniques from this book. A combination of the soft shackle on Dyneema Shackles with a double braid Dyneema eye splice on Method 2: cover taken back over the eye splice will give you a soft shackle that is integral to the rope. This is something for the more advanced splicer.
1. Take 5–10cm of the core from the cover. Milk the spare cover a few metres down the rope.
2. Take out the core from the cover at about 80cm from the tail end.
4. Take the core further out from the cover and fix it temporarily in place with a needle.
5. Determine the size of your soft shackle and mark point B* opposite point A*.
6. Place a fid in between A* and B* and lead the end of the core to A*.
7. Put a round object through the loop and stretch the rope. Mark point C* on the inner rope at the intersection.
8. Insert the fid through the inner rope at C* and feed the long end of the whole rope through.
9. Pull the rope through fully. The loop is now locked.
10. Take a single braid Dyneema line and thread the core through it.
11. Fix the single braid Dyneema line in place at point C* by taking it through the inner rope first.
12. Pull the line through.
13. Now take the line through the outer rope at point C*.
14. Tie a soft shackle knot with both ends, using the method on Soft Shackle Knot.
16. Taper the single braid Dyneema line and slide the core back over.
17. Make the eye of the soft shackle as large as possible. Take a thin line and feed it through the inner rope.
18. Feed the cover through the shackle and, with a pulling needle, tuck the cover about 5cm back into itself.
20. Pull on the loop in the cover while milking the cover over.
21. To finish, pull on the end of the cover, cut it and stretch it again. Add a double stitched whipping just below the eye.
22. This creates a Dyneema soft shackle integrated into a rope.
The so-called diamond knot is used as a stopper knot in soft shackles. The instructions below show this knot in detail.
1. Use the two loose ends of the shackle. Make a loop in the red rope.
2. Start braiding. Lead the blue rope below the red rope, then over it and under it again.
3. Continue by leading the blue rope over itself and then below the red rope.
5. Flip the knot over.
6.
7. Take the red tail around the blue standing part and then lead it back up through the middle.
9. Repeat this with the blue tail: around the red standing part and up through the middle.
10.
11.
13. This creates a soft shackle knot.
