Loose shackle pins

Hi all

The last two times i went for a sail i had a couple of failures happen

The first was the shackle that holds the topping lift (fixed length wire on mine) to the end of the boom disappeared and the last one was when i did a gybe and the pin in the shackle that holds the main sheet block to the boom fell out as i was pulling the boom across with the main sheet resulting in the boom slamming forwards into the the rearmost shroud

Both of these were fixed on the run with new shackles i had on board but today i decided to check the tightness of the pins on the remaining ones and around four of them were at least a turn loose and one had a bent pin

I have probably been a bit slack on maintenance and in future i will check them every couple of months to make sure that nothing is going to let go

Regards Don

And failing that, a drop of loctite might do the trick. But I often put a small cable tie through the hole in the pin and around the shackle. Yes they deteriate over time, but it is rather obvious to spot.

The top picture of Rumblefish's is the one to use. The pin is usually thicker and does not have the stresser of the thread to weaken it.

Remember a couple of weeks ago writing about my mates halyard landing on the deck. It was a screwed shackle that undid itself! And he climbs the mast regularly on screwed shackles!