Sounds like a non-lock carbiner. I wouldn't use those either.

--

Roger Long

Roger-

On the body side, a snap shackle is what is recommended, as it can be
easily released under load. There are many situations where you may
not want to stay attached, and getting the tether off quickly is an
imperative. This is also a good reason to always carry a knife with
you, when on a sailboat.

On the boat side of the tether, you want something that is sal****er
corrosion resistant, which the standard climbing aluminum carabiners
really aren't designed for. You also want something that will only
come detached intentionally. The Gibb and Wichard safety snap hooks (as
opposed to snap shackles which are a different beast entirely) are much
better at staying attached to the boat than regular snap hooks or
carabiners. The mountain climbing ones have mild steel springs that
are subject to corrosion, especially the ones used in the locking
ferrules, and they are difficult to undo with one hand. Of the Gibb
and the Wichard, I prefer the Wichard, although the Gibb design is a
bit more secure. The Gibb will tend to bind up on webbing jacklines at
times, due to the secondary gate across the hook—this doesn't seem to
be an issue with the WIchard.

Given that a majority of the fatalities in boating are due to falling
overboard—because of failure to recover the COB, hypothermia setting
in, or the person drowning—I would prefer to stay on board and deal
with the slight additional expense and hassle of dual-action snap hooks
on my safety harness.

Regards,

Dan

On 2006-03-23 14:58:11 -0500, "Roger Long" said:

I think this was discussed recently here but it wasn't on my radar
screen at the time. Apologies if itÂ’s too soon to bring it up again.

Would someone please tell me why standard snap shackles shouldn't be
used for safety harness tethers, at least on a casual cruising boat
where midnight headsail changes and spinnaker dousing isn't part of the
normal drill?

I looked at the double acting Winchard shackles that are supposed to be
the latest and greatest and the designer in me goes "Ugh". Your fingers
are in the way of what you want to clip to and the sharp edges are
going to be hard on jacklines or any other fiber. The tightwad in me
says something even less printable.

Does anyone have another recommendation for a boat where there is very
little deck work or much unclipping and moving around?

The regular snap shackle is what I am using on the body side for
exactly the reasons you cite.

The sea kayakers are using the cabiners so they can't be too bad in
salt water. Besides, at less than 10 bucks each, I can replace them
as frequently as needed.

The binding you mention is the primary reason I'm going with the
carbiners. There will be very little clipping and reclipping on our
boat.

The world is till waiting for a good teather snap hook design. I've
got it in my head but I don't have time to go about trying to get
someone to build and market it.

--

Roger Long



"dog" wrote in message
news:2006032509134916807-dog@nomailcom...
Roger-

On the body side, a snap shackle is what is recommended, as it can
be easily released under load. There are many situations where you
may not want to stay attached, and getting the tether off quickly is
an imperative. This is also a good reason to always carry a knife
with you, when on a sailboat.

On the boat side of the tether, you want something that is sal****er
corrosion resistant, which the standard climbing aluminum carabiners
really aren't designed for. You also want something that will only
come detached intentionally. The Gibb and Wichard safety snap hooks
(as opposed to snap shackles which are a different beast entirely)
are much better at staying attached to the boat than regular snap
hooks or carabiners. The mountain climbing ones have mild steel
springs that are subject to corrosion, especially the ones used in
the locking ferrules, and they are difficult to undo with one hand.
Of the Gibb and the Wichard, I prefer the Wichard, although the Gibb
design is a bit more secure. The Gibb will tend to bind up on
webbing jacklines at times, due to the secondary gate across the
hook-this doesn't seem to be an issue with the WIchard.

Given that a majority of the fatalities in boating are due to
falling overboard-because of failure to recover the COB, hypothermia
setting in, or the person drowning-I would prefer to stay on board
and deal with the slight additional expense and hassle of
dual-action snap hooks on my safety harness.

Regards,

Dan

On 2006-03-23 14:58:11 -0500, "Roger Long"
said:

I think this was discussed recently here but it wasn't on my radar
screen at the time. Apologies if it’s too soon to bring it up
again.

Would someone please tell me why standard snap shackles shouldn't
be used for safety harness tethers, at least on a casual cruising
boat where midnight headsail changes and spinnaker dousing isn't
part of the normal drill?

I looked at the double acting Winchard shackles that are supposed
to be the latest and greatest and the designer in me goes "Ugh".
Your fingers are in the way of what you want to clip to and the
sharp edges are going to be hard on jacklines or any other fiber.
The tightwad in me says something even less printable.

Does anyone have another recommendation for a boat where there is
very little deck work or much unclipping and moving around?