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    Iron Heart Fall/Winter 2025 Collection Preview - Now Live

    Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure

    Iron Heart Meet Ups & Travel
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    • GilesG
      Giles
      IHUK Crew
      Joined:

      8mm Dyneema soft shackle - Breaking strain circa 12,000 kilos, which is about 13 US Tons…..

      "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • motojoboboM
        motojobobo
        啓蒙家
        Joined:

        What are they used for? Is such a high breaking strength necessary?
        Very cool stuff @Giles ! Please keep posting them.

        The journey is the objective.

        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • GilesG
          Giles
          IHUK Crew
          Joined:

          I will use this one as part of my anchor bridle.  If you go here,

          http://kestrelsails.com/2020/05/27/building-an-anchor-bridle/

          then where this guy uses a metal shackle, I will use the soft-shackle.

          I'm trying to minimise the use of things that will corrode, plus it is way lighter and stronger than a metal shackle.  Do I need this breaking strain?  No, but no harm in a bit of over-engineering.

          I'll also make some soft-shackles to attach the fixed mooring warps to the cleats on our jetty.  I can make the soft shackles in advance, but I can't build the warps until I know the placement of the cleats on the jetty and the cleats on the boat.  The 4 or 5 warps will usually be left behind on the jetty when we go for short trips, but I want to be able to unattach them from the jetty cleats when we are away on longer trips, the soft-shackles are ideal for this, no tools needed and don't corrode.

          I've just made the pennant that will attach the anchor bridle to the anchor chain imagine the chair is the anchor chain, I may make another, I had a different concept in mind when I started splicing this, so it is possibly not long enough and it has asymmetrical end eyes (which do not matter from a functionality point of view, but piss me off aesthetically)….......

          This is how I originally envisaged it would work, if I get no slippage from this knot on the anchor chain with this arrangement, I don't need to build a new pennant…

          "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • B
            browniemcghee
            Joined:

            This thread continues to bring me lots of joy. G, do you have any book recommendations on the knot tying front?

            Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • GilesG
              Giles
              IHUK Crew
              Joined:

              I have this,

              https://www.ironheart.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=17049.msg764028#msg764028

              but tend to use YouTube, especially as many of the knots I am tying are not described in the book, but also because I think I'm better at following a video than interpreting drawings….

              "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

              last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • GilesG
                Giles
                IHUK Crew
                Joined:

                Seized whipping at the end of some polypropylene safety rope.  We will use this for amongst other things to float behind the boat with a bloody great big fender attached to the other end, when at anchor and we have people in the water…..

                "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • GilesG
                  Giles
                  IHUK Crew
                  Joined:

                  Today's exercise was to tie a spliced eye in my 7/8" (22mm) mooring warps and then add a leather chafe guard.  A long way from perfect, but I learned a lot.  The next one will probably take me a quarter of the time and be a lot better.  The reddy-brown stuff on the chafe guard is blood (the needle I was using is SUPER-sharp)….

                  "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                  last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • motojoboboM
                    motojobobo
                    啓蒙家
                    Joined:

                    That spliced eye with chafe guard looks like a pro job to me! Congratulations Giles, very clean look you achieved there.

                    The journey is the objective.

                    last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • Madame ButtonflyM
                      Madame Buttonfly
                      IHUK Crew
                      Joined:

                      Am seriously impressed by the splicing and other techniques Giles is learning, and it keeps him quiet for hours…  😉

                      AKA Mrs G

                      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • ROmanR
                        ROman
                        Haraki san Prodigy
                        Joined:

                        @Madame:

                        Am seriously impressed by the splicing and other techniques Giles is learning, and it keeps him quiet for hours…  😉

                        Very funny…... 😃

                        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • MattM
                          Matt
                          見習いボス
                          Joined:

                          Rope, leather and blood…  maybe I should get into sailing.

                          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • GilesG
                            Giles
                            IHUK Crew
                            Joined:

                            Not exactly busy in The Solent today….

                            "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • GilesG
                              Giles
                              IHUK Crew
                              Joined:

                              Now we have something.  I will do my best to avoid, I think it may get the better of us in a fight…...

                              Her name is fittingly seasonal.....

                              "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                              last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • TwistlockT
                                Twistlock
                                啓蒙家
                                Joined:

                                Almost home 😉

                                last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • GilesG
                                  Giles
                                  IHUK Crew
                                  Joined:

                                  Ha, yes.  Now berthed and we are back home….

                                  "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                                  last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • GilesG
                                    Giles
                                    IHUK Crew
                                    Joined:

                                    Little and Large….

                                    "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                                    last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • GilesG
                                      Giles
                                      IHUK Crew
                                      Joined:

                                      We are often short-handed - just Paula and me.  And the way we moor, we need to get a stern-line over a shore-side cleat very quickly, and then get to the bow of the boat to secure the bow-line.  I noticed when we were out on Christmas day, that it was taking ages to tie the existing mooring warp to the cleat, so I have made a specific warp, which I hope will make things a lot simpler…..We're going to the boat in a min,to see if I made it the right length, I have a feeling I haven't......

                                      "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                                      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • GilesG
                                        Giles
                                        IHUK Crew
                                        Joined:

                                        And, in any other news.  I was confirming the insurance quote we had for SAKURA with the insurers.  They came back to me and asked whether getting our coastal skipper/yacht master theory done over the winter was still going to happen.  I'd forgotten, that in a telephone conversation I had with them in September, I had glibly said that our plans were to do the theory over the winter and then do the practical on SAKURA later in the year.  Unbeknown to me, that had become a condition of the offer…....

                                        So, we have booked the 6-day theory course for the last week of January.....

                                        "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                                        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • goosehdG
                                          goosehd
                                          Mod Squad
                                          Joined:

                                          😃 😃 😃  Have fun…

                                          "I don't give a shit what anyone else is doing, we will do what is best for us and our customers" - Giles P. :)

                                          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • goosehdG
                                            goosehd
                                            Mod Squad
                                            Joined:

                                            Did it work?

                                            "I don't give a shit what anyone else is doing, we will do what is best for us and our customers" - Giles P. :)

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