LOOP Cover Shackles - A New Twist on Soft Shackles
by Aleix Escorsell 21 May 2021 09:00 BST
LOOP Cover Shackles - a new twist on soft shackles © Loop Products
LOOP soft shackles are a simple, yet highly versatile product. They can be used almost anywhere that you would use a conventional shackle and have an incredible strength to weight ratio, as you would expect from Dyneema®. The new LOOP Cover Shackles take things one step further.
It's no surprise that Dyneema® is being used as a replacement for traditional metal deck hardware by an increasing number of sailors. It's light, strong, resistant to wear and tear, and less damaging to hardware and fittings around it, than metallic fittings. These soft shackles are corrosion free and require very little maintenance. Plus they float, so there is less chance of losing them overboard!
LOOP Products have taken this one step further with their new LOOP Cover Shackles. Instead of traditional soft shackles which are made from Dyneema® core, LOOP Cover Shackles are made from polyurethane coated Dyneema® SK78 braided cover.
LOOP Products CEO, Peter Kohlhoff explains: "It's one of those things that just 'happened'. We normally use Dyneema® core for our soft shackles but one day we had run out and so we tried using some cover instead. We wanted to test the break load before we sent it to the customer, and we couldn't believe the results!
"Despite having less Dyneema® in them, they were as strong as the core shackles. We believe this is to do with fibre alignment. The long braid angle and flexible nature of the cover allows the fibres to align better around corners and so a higher percentage of the fibres are taking the load. It's a win-win: they are lighter, stronger, and they look great!"
As a finishing touch, the LOOP Cover Shackles feature a short piece of colourful Dyneema® twine to secure the shackle in place.
The full LOOP Cover Shackle range is available at upffront.com and custom lengths/sizes are available on request.
| Cover Shackle | Open Length (mm) | SWL (kg) | NBL (kg) | Weight (g) |
|---|
| Small - L150 | 150 | 500 | 1500 | 4 |
| Small - 300 | 300 | 500 | 1500 | 6 |
| Medium - 150 | 150 | 833 | 2500 | 8 |
| Medium - 300 | 300 | 833 | 2500 | 10 |
| Large - 180 | 180 | 1167 | 3500 | 12 |
| Large - 380 | 340 | 1167 | 3500 | 14 |
| Xtra Large - 220 | 220 | 1500 | 4500 | 16 |
| Xtra Large - 400 | 400 | 1500 | 4500 | 18 |
A strong, safe and extremely low maintenance solution, LOOP Cover Shackle take soft connectors and weight saving to another level.
You can view our complete range of Loop Cover Shackles or if you have any questions or would like to request a custom size, you can contact support@upffront.com or use the Deck Hardware Enquiry Form.