Eye splice vs splice w/thimble vs direct splice vs soft shackle

[crayiii]

I haven't heard of any failures but I think it's usually only used for the anchor bridle. Most owners use the cleats and run the line through the bow pulpits and across the deck. That is a mess in my opinion.

I would however have a dock line connected to cleats on one side as a backup.

[Breaking Waves]

Pretty much anything you do for a dyneema lashing here will be strong enough, but let me offer a few comments to make it 'proper'

The ideal number of round turns for a hand diy lashing is fewer than most people think - 3 or 4 round turns (so 6 or 8 strands holding the load). More than that and they start to not self-equalize loading as well and you waste turns. So, your picture has about twice too many turns to be optimal - more turns are stronger but with decreasing efficiency.

You want to use smaller diameter dynnema than the rod size of the shackle you are lashing around, in order to get a decent bend radius. In this case, I would do 3 round turns with 6mm (which would result in effective breaking strength of around 25k lbs - plenty strong enough).

Splice your bridle line around your sailmaker thimble or low friction ring. You can last with both ends of the lashings 'free' (eg both ends terminated in half hitches around the outside of the lashing) but I prefer to anchor one end of the lashing to one of the fittings - preferably a simple eye splice to either the shackle or ring (I'd probably do it to the ring/thimble so it stays with the bridle if you remove it). Then take your 3 or 4 round turns, tighten up so all the stands are the same length/holding equal load, and then cover the outside of the lasting with half hitches and either lightly stitch oir tape the tail end to prevent it starting to work loose.

You can cover the thimble/ring with something like a neoprene (or leather) cover if there is any issue with it banging on the hull.

Length of lashing is totally up to you. You might make it long enough so you can pull it up on top of the beam to look at/work on. If you use a low friction ring, and make as above, there is the possibility of adding a secondary line if/when needed thru the middle of the ring opposite the lashing.

[Breaking Waves]

I've looked at your other hardware, and there is not really anything else which is attractively positioned. And this fitting is certainly the strongest mounted to the hull.

You could mount a strong padeye, to near tip of bow, with the padeye bail aligned with the bridle load. Even better - You could also mount a front bail/chainplate, as described by other person (no -exit) above. This would need to be custom fabricated but is not that hard a job for a reasonable machine shop. Both would need some excellent interior backing plates, and probably interior glass reinforcing to be 'totally proper'. Don't know if you want to go to the efforts to do either of those.

Using the front beam still looks pretty feasible to me (to lash around). It is strongly mounted and is a stiff/strong feature. And there looks to be plenty of access/room to do the necessary 3 or 4 turn lashing to it - then perhaps a smaller lashing or soft shackle to the shackle to hold the beam lashing out toward the hull - prevent it from sliding toward the center. I don't really see any downside to doing that, but I may be missing something which would be more obvious if I was there in person.