Description
Soft Shackle
A rope soft shackle offers a strong lightweight alternative to a metal shackle.
The origins of these started when yachtsmen started used Soft Shackles in 2009.
Final tightening of the Lanyard (Button) Knot is critical. The tightened knot should feel and behave like a wooden ball.
The Advantages
The soft shackle weighs little and is less likely to cause injury if it strikes a person or vehicle.
It is easy to store in your truck cab, doesn’t damage surrounding kit, doesn’t rust and can be used for in far more situations that a traditional steel shackle.
Strength
Soft shackles have been extensively tested. The ideal strength might approach four times the line strength as there are two lines on each side of the shackle – four in all. In practice, the line just under the knot and the kinking in the loop are the weak points and it has been shown that breakage typically occurs around 175% of Line Strength. This means when attached to a single winch line, it is likely the winch line will break long before the soft shackle does.
9mm Rope Diameter:
MBS – 117kN – 12,000kg – 26,455lbs
Colour – Green
Length – 600mm
All our soft shackles are published as rated / certified to the figures above and come with rating label.
A soft Shackle does not need a sheath or sleeve on it with the Snatch Rings, as this outer sleeve does not work well under friction unlike the rope, which does. However we do supply wear sleeves to protect your soft shackle if you are using them around other objects but the S-Ring should never be run on the sleeve.
Durability
Our testing has show that using the larger diameter ropes to construct the Soft Shackle works best with recovery situations. Giving much bigger factors of safety in the line and a more practical feel to them.
The larger diameter ropes also work best with our Snatch rings, offering very little resistance around the ring when being used. Less resistance resulting in less heat. In practice with the snatch rings the larger diameter you can use, the less heat is generated to such a degree the 16mm we recommend generated hardly no heat at all when used with the larger Snatch Ring.
