I am getting used to my H18, and I'm finding places where clevis pins or other traditional links are in place but where I might like to use something faster and easier to handle. Since I normally wear bifocals, this is sometimes because it's easier to see (small rings!), and in other locations it's to make the process of set-up or take-down less bother.

What are the thoughts and experience you have on which places to prefer QR pins or links, where they may or may not be used, and where they should never be used despite the convenience?

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Tony H
Hobie 18
Sailing Mission Bay and nearby CA
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great question

i personally use cotter pins on the top of my mast when possible - and tape up with rigging tape

i use rings and rigging tape and plastic protectors/adjuster covers on my sidestays (those need to be taped or they snag on shorts, and rip the shorts, cut you and bend the ring - then you demast (when everything that can - does)

if i recall the h18 furler has 2 holes - one for the jib - this should be a shackle

Your other hole in your furler is a good spot for a quick pin - lashed to the furler so it is always handy and can't fall in the process of stepping/pinning - the quick pin is really only a backup to the shackle and an attaching aid

i used a quick pin on my outhaul to clew connection. it eventually wormed a hole in the brass clewplate and failed at the absolute worst time (in a tack, 50' from a bridge downwind of me). boom hit the tramp and i had zero engines to move as needed. luckily my crew saved the day and had it reattached with a few feet to spare before we crashed into the bridge - so NOT there

lots of people use then with hiking sticks.. make sure you remove then after use - they get frozen in there and every now and again i see people unable to sail because they can't get it out of the hiking stick

personally i don't use them anymore

I was using some quick release pin's until I lost one while sailing. Since it was gone, I don't know if it failed or I didn't lock it correctly. It's much easier to rig one time on land than try to re-rig on the water.
Quick release pins I no longer use (except on tiller stick). Quick release snap shackles on main and jib - perfect.

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Quick release snap shackles on main and jib - perfect.

+1 on the main

a quick shackle on the jib tack is fine, but on the clew:
I would recommend a soft shackle on the jib. A metal shackle (quick or not) on your jib clew will beat the snot out of your mast over time or if it unfurls in real air and flogs. And can easily take out a tooth or similar if someone gets hit with it while taking a sail down in a storm...



doesn't have to be spliced dynema - can really just be a loop of regular line.



Edited by MN3 on Jul 08, 2020 - 03:25 PM.

I've been using this style for tillers to crossbar. I like that they are solid rather than hollow, that they won't slip out of a slightly oversized hole, and that the don't get jammed with sand or other grit:

https://www.e-rigging.com…XRtu29JdgiMaAglFEALw_wcB

I don't use quick release
- On standing rigging
- On rudder pins, after I lost a spring clip while sailing

For the rest they definitely simplify things:
- Jib halyard: a fast shackle to the 3:1 system on the mast. Sister clips may work too. At the jib head a stopper knot through the webbing, just pass it through, no need to redo the knot every time.
- Jib clew: Two lines permanently attached with sister clips to attach to sister clip on each block. (A soft shackle sounds better, haven't tried yet).
- Jib tack: fast shackle to the stay adjuster.
- Main Halyard, would like a fast shackle but the ring and shackle are one piece, only available with threaded pin. (let me know if one with fast shackle exists..)
- Jib blocks to the hulls: snap shackles
- Main blocks to the traveller: fast shackle
- Main blocks to the sail: hook
- Downhaul: a fast shackle to connect both sides, with a line that goes through the sail's grommet
- I will consider the fast pins shown above to connect tiller cross bar and extension.



Edited by Andinista on Jul 08, 2020 - 12:18 PM.

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- Main Halyard, would like a fast shackle but the ring and shackle are one piece, only available with threaded pin. (let me know if one with fast shackle exists..)

Drill out the threads to match a quick pin

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- Jib blocks to the hulls: snap shackles

why? no 4 way adjuster?

sounds like you could shed a few lbs with 20' of dynema
soft shackles are pretty easy to make

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- Jib blocks to the hulls: snap shackles

why? no 4 way adjuster?

Yes, a simplified version, which I leave on the boat and take the jib blocks off with the jib sheet.

makes sense

I use soft shackles almost everywhere these days. They are

- cheap-ish to buy (definitely cheap compared to metal shackles) - there's a chap selling them on ebay at very reasonable price.
- easy to make right, if you have some dyneema and a fid, and a little bit of time (10~15 minutes each maximum, once you have the hang of it)
- easy to make with shortcuts - in a pinch, I make a trucker's hitch knot and a monkey fist knot. After a few tries you'll find you can make the hitch _just the right size_. My mainsail strop and jib tack attachments have these not-quite-soft-shackles. If you get a bag of cheap bungee-loops-with-balls from amazon, you can use one of those plastic balls and it works better than the naked monkey fist. Bungees with balls: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DPLM63A

Why soft shackles?
- no corrosion
- no problem with sand, salt, water
- no smacking and scarring of the face, no denting of any boat parts
- dyneema is very tough - weather and UV have little effect on it, probably 5 years of life in full exposure to the harsh FL sun.

The only place where I still have a metal shackle is in the main halyard, where I have a ring (and a hook on the mast).

Downsides: Soft shackles don't do "quick release" -- they are the devil to release under pressure. If they rub against a sharp edge, although it's comparatively much tougher than other lines, it will eventually fray and cut. And you need un-gloved fingers to manipulate them effectively. In practice, none of these are a problem in my use of the catamaran.

cheers ~ martin

Good summary, thanks!

Thanks, all - some great guidance here!

--
Tony H
Hobie 18
Sailing Mission Bay and nearby CA
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