Bow Shackle Size ??

what specs are you looking for?
what boat is it for?

plate to take up the slack.. Besides. A bit more mast rake is not a bad thing !! I am seeing breaking figures from 3900 to 12,000 lbs. (With prices to match)..

I can break your boat with 170lbs... you name the part... i can break it

Buy cheap....... live dangerously. Just think of the story you can tell if you de-mast while flying a hull at 18 knots.

I have pretty much just been using the shackles that came with boat that are probably not original and now you tell me they may not be good enough. I have no idea what the breaking strength of any of them are. I think you need a 1/4" for the chainplate but that's the extent of my knowledge. It was recommend by a professional rigger I know to use the 5/16" shackles I had to connect my Upper and lower forestay when I was working on my furler the bridles can only use a 1/4" to connect to the forestay so I'm not sure it even matters.

Hal, check the PM I sent you

Hal,

Assuming you are talking about your N5.2, I looked at the owners manual for the N500 (and 6 other models) and it says a 5/16" shackle is the one for connecting the forestay to the mast hound (upper) (ie "bow shackle)... It actually does not state the size of the shackle below the furler...but the picture looks like a 5/16"... Different boat and all, I would think since this is the larger one, you would be ok to use it vs the 1/4" shackle. It also says those at the top of the mast should be secured with seizing wire so don't forget to do that.

I believe the masthound uses the larger shackle to make room for the three thimbles that go there, everything else is 1/4" pins.

I need a shacke at the tac of the forstay cuz the new bridals have thimbles not the solid SS pin conection.. The thimbles will not connect to the chain plate with a pin.. Too fat.. and they would quarter turn the tac of the sail and the chainplate. Just wanted to get buy spending less cash if I did not need a higher breaking stat.. Thx Hal

A 1/4" bow shackle will be fine, that's what came on my 5.7. They use a captive pin, the rigger says it won't come loose, but I put a round of tape on it anyway.

I use a 5/16 and have 4 thimbles rigged on it. On the bridle I would be leery of anything that would twist.

On the bridle I would be leery of anything that would twist.

Not quite sure what you mean by "twist". Even if you use marine eyes pinned to an adjuster, that is subsequently pinned to the forestay, it wouldn't prevent any twisting of the forestay. The forestay, being a single wire, provides no resistance to twisting. Or, are you referring to twisting the jib hangar?
The Nacra factory setup is either marine eyes, or a 1/4" twist shackle between the bridals & the forestay.(Reference step 39 in the assembly manual).
The reason they use the twist shackle instead of a plain bow shackle is to orientate the adjuster at the bottom of the forestay so that its holes face fore/aft. This allows the little metal tack hangar that Nacra supplied to attached with the same pin, & not impart a 90* turn at the jib tack.
If you want to use a Davis wind indicators,(Telocat) having the adjuster orientated so the holes are beam to beam is the better option. The Davis mounts have the rubber block go between the arms of the adjuster, & a straight bow shackle works better.
If you mount roller furling, it really doesn't matter, as the drum will turn to accept what ever you have.
Don't get locked into buying a certain type of shackle. Look at what you have, and what you want to end up with, (furling, TeloCat etc), then buy parts that work best for that application.
Either way, 1/4" forged, not stamped, is strong enough, & costs less.

Edited by Edchris177 on Aug 21, 2011 - 09:10 AM.