Inside Practical Sailor Blog
Tips on Choosing and Sizing Anchor Shackles
July 25, 2019
No matter what brand of anchor shackle you decide to use, understanding sizing and grades of shackles is essential, since this connector between your rode and anchor is often the weakest link in your ground tackle. And the weakest point in the shackle is often where the shackle pin meets the body. When the shackle pin or body is loaded from an angle, the shackle body can be forced open, causing the pin to break or fall out. This is the most common failure we have seen in our tests—even when under straight-pull loads.
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