Soft shackles

[GUMPY]

Does anyone here use a soft shackle to attach their centre rope in order to save the paint on the roof?

 

[PeterF]

What about if you use an eye splice on the end of the rope over and through the ring on the roof to save your paintwork.

[GUMPY]

1 minute ago, PeterF said:

What about if you use an eye splice on the end of the rope over and through the ring on the roof to save your paintwork.

Couldnt do that on my boat with my centre lines as they are too thick.

[cuthound]

I use a spliced eye on each of my centre lines, rather than a soft shackle.

 

It protects the paint, like a soft shackle, but has the advantage that the lines can be quickly and easily removed and re-attached.

[alias]

1 minute ago, PeterF said:

What about if you use an eye splice on the end of the rope over and through the ring on the roof to save your paintwork.

 

I do that, and it seems to keep the ring on the roof clean of paint (and presumably rust), but wouldn't a soft shackle do the same? Given a choice, I think I'd specify that a stainless steel ring was bolted onto the roof for the centre line.

[Rob-M]

I use soft shackles to attach two centre lines, one for each side. I also use them to attach fenders on the gunnels.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, Loddon said:

Couldnt do that on my boat with my centre lines as they are too thick.

 

My mooring lines are 25mm and are spliced - what size are yours if you cannot splice them ?

[Steilsteven]

40 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Does anyone here use a soft shackle to attach their centre rope in order to save the paint on the roof?

 

I don't have a centre line and don't want one either.

 

Keith

[dixi188]

11 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:

I don't have a centre line and don't want one either.

 

Keith

Hi Keith, Why not?

Assuming you have a narrowboat, how do you get on handling the boat when coming alongside a lock landing or mooring place. I find using a centre line much easier than bow or stern lines.

When actually mooring,  I only use bow and stern lines, not the dredded centre line that some seem to think make the boat more secure.

Cheers, Dixi.

[tree monkey]

38 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

My mooring lines are 25mm and are spliced - what size are yours if you cannot splice them ?

I suspect the eye splice would be too big to fit through the loop rather that the line itself

[David Mack]

46 minutes ago, PeterF said:

What about if you use an eye splice on the end of the rope over and through the ring on the roof to save your paintwork.

 

43 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Couldnt do that on my boat with my centre lines as they are too thick.

 

I have an eye splice on my centre line which is a very tight fit through the ring on the roof. So I don't remove the centre line more often than I have to!

[Hudds Lad]

Think ours is an eye splice then larks headed through the hoop.

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, David Mack said:

 

 

I have an eye splice on my centre line which is a very tight fit through the ring on the roof. So I don't remove the centre line more often than I have to!

 

 

OK - I obviously had an abnormally large ring - it was 4" - 5" internal diameter and I ran lines both left and right from it so there was no getting hooked up on solar panels, etc when changing sides.

The mooring lines in the picture were 19mm.

 

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by Alan de Enfield

[Sea Dog]

I use a long centre line, doubled over in the middle and the free ends passed through, forming 2 lines which reach the steerer but not the prop.  Easy to rig and derig, easy to adjust whenever a longer line is required. 

[Hudds Lad]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

OK - I obvioulsy had an abnormally large ring - it was 4" internal diameter and I ran lines both leadt and right from it so there was no getting hooked up on solar panels, mushrooms etc when changing sides.

The mooring lines in the picture were 19mm.

 

Looks same set up as ours, we have no solar in the way but two lines means not having to flick it over the mushrooms and Alde chimney  

[Ray T]

Like Alan de E we have the same pattern of "D" ring. (Reeves Hull, Weltonfield fit out)

 

Don't use rope shackles on the centre lines, don't see a need, but do on the fenders.

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by Ray T

[GUMPY]

49 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

My mooring lines are 25mm and are spliced - what size are yours if you cannot splice them ?

I dont do splicing,  thats what bowlines are for,  but that is not what I meant.

What I meant was I cant pass two ropes of suitable size through the eye welded to the roof, so no chance of passing two eye splices through there,  doubt I can get one 25mm rope through it. It just accepts a 11mm soft shackle or a 3/4 ton steel shackle so thats about 20mm max. 

[David Mack]

37 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Think ours is an eye splice then larks headed through the hoop.

Mine is the same.

35 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

OK - I obviously had an abnormally large ring - it was 4" - 5" internal diameter and I ran lines both left and right from it so there was no getting hooked up on solar panels, etc when changing sides.

Mine is an eyebolt bolted through the cabin roof. The internal diameter of the ring is about 1 1/4 inches.

[Tonka]

No but i use s soft shackle to attach the side rope fenders to the boat when i moor up

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Mine is an eyebolt bolted through the cabin roof. The internal diameter of the ring is about 1 1/4 inches.

 

As you can see on Ray Ts photo our Welton boats had a large diameter 'half-circle' welded onto the roof.

There is (should be) very little load on a centre line as you only use it to hold and to stop it drifting off whilst waiting for a lock, you don't actually use it for mooring.

[GUMPY]

28 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

As you can see on Ray Ts photo our Welton boats had a large diameter 'half-circle' welded onto the roof.

There is (should be) very little load on a centre line as you only use it to hold and to stop it drifting off whilst waiting for a lock, you don't actually use it for mooring.

But I do use it to bring the boat to a stop  and have always done it that way.

Only once did I have a post give way and that was when the rope cut through one of the big wooden GU strapping posts that was more rot than wood.

 

[ditchcrawler]

I have a piece of rubber mat with a hole in on the roof with the ring poking up through it, then use a steel shackle.

[Ray T]

20 minutes ago, Loddon said:

But I do use it to bring the boat to a stop  and have always done it that way.

Only once did I have a post give way and that was when the rope cut through one of the big wooden GU strapping posts that was more rot than wood.

 

 

We do likewise, never had an issue in 12 years of boating. We do not use the centre ropes to moor when finished boating for the day.

[Rob-M]

I use the centre line for stopping the boat and holding it in a lock when single handing.

[Opener]

3 hours ago, Loddon said:

Does anyone here use a soft shackle to attach their centre rope in order to save the paint on the roof?

 

Just finished repainting the roof so intimately acquainted with the state of the centre 'loop'. No paint damage visible since the last repaint. I use a centre line with a spliced eye at t'end. Feed eye through the ring then feed the length through the eye. I was surprised to see one regular vlogger attach a lazy line using a metal shackle. 😲 I also use centre line to stop/hold the boat while the croo does the lock/bridge. And as an extra mooring line - tied off to the outside handrail on the principle that scrotes can probably reach bow and stern lines on their cleats if they wish to set us adrift for a laugh but, to get the centre line, they'd have to negotiate the offside gunnel which we might notice.