Help needed: boom D shackle

[ericoh88]

I have 3 of these D shackle with blocks for the main traveller. During the last trip out, a squall caught up from behind and I made an accidental gybe ripping out 2 of the 3 D boom shackle.

Do you where I can buy ready made D shackle like these in the pictures?

Or do I have to cut one out from a D shackle and weld it to a ss plate?

I appreciate any information that you can provide.

Eric

[roverhi]

They are pad eyes not shackles. Try Schaeffer Marine, Garhauer, Harken, and any
Marine hardware mfg./supplier you can Google. It would be a good idea to replace tapped fasteners with machine screws with nuts and washers on the inside. Another fix would be to slide them inside the boom and drop bale ring through the slot if it's not too long or lengthen it if it is too short.

Must have been one exciting jibe to tear out the fasteners.

[JPA Cate]

ericoh88,

Have you checked that the bolt holes in the boom that that pad eye screwd in with, are the threads okay? or stripped?

If they are stripped, you can buy spectra webbing, and sew a strop that goes almost around the boom and sew D rings to each end. That will be really strong and spread the load a bit. In another post today, UNCIVILIZED described how to make a saddle for the boom that even spreads the loads more. On our boat, Jim has hand sewn strops for the blocks to shackle to, and they are also sometimes made up with the 2" wide velcro, and 2 or 3 wraps of nylon webbing. Or, sometimes people put helicoils in the stripped holes and then re-tap the holes.

Ann

"Where Can I buy Nylon Strap, With Velcro" is the name of the thread.

[savoir]

The others are quite right. That is a pad eye not a D shackle.

That fitting looks to be from 1/4" SS and custom built but it has a vertical rise greater than the production versions. The nearest production equivalents that I know of are the 1/4" Schaefer and Sea Dog.
SS Welded Pad Eye 78-05 [78-05] - $30.00 : Schaefer Marine, Inc.

http://www.sea-dog.com/groups/1448-oblong-eye-plate

Even so I have a better solution. Do you have a loose foot main ?

[ericoh88]

Thank you for all your replies.

roverhi,

Yep that is a pad eye. I am a newbie on many things on the boat. The pad eye has to be drop from inside the boom and 2 screws holds the pad eye plate in position. The 2 pad eyes that broke showed signs of either incomplete welding or corrosion over the last 30 years.

Ann,

I sail back after losing 2 /3 pad eyes by wrapping 2 nylon strap around the boom to hold the blocks . I feel more confident of this set up that using the pad eye not knowing how is the condition of the welded joints.

During the uncontrolled gybe, it was very scary to hear the loud snap and seeing the boom end hitting the water. Later the Admiral told me that she was certain the boat was going to sink. Lol.

Savoir,

Great tip. I am going to check out the stamp on the base plate again tomorrow. Looks very much custom made as the finishing isn't that neat. Maybe this is meant for inside the boom.

Yes I have a loose foot main. I am in favour of using strap but how do you keep the strap stay at one position instead sliding on the boom.

Eric





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