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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:

      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. :)

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

                                          Your last warps (?, not sure of the item name, the black ones) look perfectly symmetrical on each end. Much more so than the previous ones you posted. Is that a good sign of your ‘warping’ progress/prowess?

                                          The journey is the objective.

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

                                            @goosehd:

                                            Did it work?

                                            Nope, miles too short…...I'll make a new one when we get rid of the family who are here for New Years Eve.

                                            "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

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