skydiving soft link (slink) soft shackle alternative

[Breaking Waves]

I recently ran across these skydiving slinks. They are interesting designs.

here is how they are used:

SlinkInstructions_1.pdf

[Breaking Waves]

photo open

[Breaking Waves]

they are simple construction. two buried loops - with three bar tacks to lock them.

And doubled over webbing bar tacked into one of the loops, which acts essentially as the knot in a soft shackle

The other loop is sized to be just barely big enough to fit over the webbing

the stitching is machine sewing, but it is not any sort of sophisticated pattern or design and could easily be replicated by hand.

[Breaking Waves]

Closed they are extremely secure - no way to flog open (they are essentially cow hitched closed rather than just looped as in a soft shackle - which don't flog open in any case).

It removes the weakness of the diamond knot - and the noose area is also strong with 4x strength in both parts. I need to do some pull testing.

And the 'standard method' of double looping them adds further strength and security.

Overall it is extremely easy to make an extremely secure system

[Breaking Waves]

There is a patent number of the little tab, which may be why they have not been more broadly sold commercially

Note: I have nothing at all to do commercially with these. I just ran across them and thought the design quite interesting and possible useful in sailing. Several interesting features we can learn from.

[Benz]

It's pretty much like a toggle (sometimes called a "dogbone") but with soft materials. I can make a toggled shackle in a couple of minutes--it might take lots longer to hand-stitch though multiple webbing layers. Still, good on them for finding a super-simple twist on the soft shackle.