Shackles

Like last year, Blue Mistress will probably stay in the water through the winter.

She is moored fore and aft in a line of boats, (trot moorings).

Most of the boats will be hauled out in the next month, so Blue Mistress will face the winter storms with a line of buoys stretching out behind.

On Saturday, in the sunshine, I checked the mooring.

The  stern warps are on the left of the picture, the bow rope of the boat behind is on the right.

The top two shackles hold the mooring warps, the bottom shackle the trot rope – (the rope that holds the buoys in line when there is no boat on the mooring).

So far so good – but I used a nylon cable tie to mouse the middle shackle when I originally attached it. It seemed a quick and easy solution and plenty of other people do this.

However, the cable tie has rubbed against the other shackles and broken. The pin is loose and will fall out as the various shackles, eyes and ropes constantly work against each other.

How do I know? Because I used cable ties on all three shackles and twice this summer I have come back to the boat to find a warp detached from the buoy. (That’s one of those moments when you hope no one else has noticed but know for sure that someone will have :-D, and it’s also one of those moments when you’re pleased to have put two warps out).

The two other shackles were remoused with mouse wire. I had not got round to changing this one. After an entertaining few minutes leaning over the side of the dinghy trying to thread wire through a moving pin hole, I have now.

For the origin of this series: here.