I have been following the threads on snap shackles and spinning leashes. I just bought Rhino2's and have the sceptor bar. Now its time for mods. I would like to replace the chicken loop with a piece of rope with steel ring tied to it. The ring would attach to my shackle.

What are the best knots for attaching the rope to the ring? Rope to the depower strap?

Any info or web addresses with how to tie the knots would be great.

Also, want to attach a holt fair lead to the bar for the rope to go through along with a leash line for a spinning leash system. A french guy named Barre has a picture of this system, in a previous thread. I went to West Marine and they did not have a fair lead that bolts on. Anyone know where to get a Holt fair lead?

Many thanks

Larry

Hey larry, under the forum..go to
" alternative to safety leash" there are pics there by a certain Mel...it may give you and Idea.

rope to the ring: use a buntline hitch
rope to power adjust strap: bowline
check http://www.netknots.com

Holt fairlead:

http://kitesite.net/cgi-bin/shopper.exe ... key=HOLTFL

continue search google.com

thanks for the info.

One more question, for the rope between the shackle ring and depower strap, what should the minimum strength be?

You can simply carefully cut the tube off the trim loop & lark's head it directly to the ring (feed the loop through, over the end of the ring, & double back onto itself). Make sure you can't even make the ring stick on the end of the open shackle.

There's no need to feed the leash through the bar for it to spin. It spins fine when set up as shown at http://www.scka.org/images2/spinleash2.jpg and http://www.scka.org/images2/spinleash1.jpg
but note that the line from the spreader to the shackle is shown extra long only for photo clarity, & it should go over the little hook strut. Also note that you should avoid attaching ANY style of shackle to a trim loop with a tubing cover (don't do it as shown).

Bolt-on fairleads are at http://www.murrays.com including a kite-specific one from Bump $ Jump that's all plastic & fits on many different bar diameters.

re:
Also note that you should avoid attaching ANY style of shackle to a trim loop with a tubing cover

Why you think that chicken loop (tubing cover)in wichard is dangerous? Do you (or anybody)now about an accident with this setup?

Thanks Tom

Everybody whos done it that way knows!

its big trouble if you dont have metal to metal. underload, it gets caught.

doesnt look like it would, but it does... and at the worst possible time!

DONT DO IT!

The soft plastic tube seems to create friction under high load (kind of like a rubber tire on the road).

Keep in mind that "metal-to-metal" contact is NOT required with the Wichard 2673 shown, nor does it assure release. It will release reliably from a plain line loop of any size in any size line. It will NOT release from every size metal O-ring of any thickness: Much like the side pivot shackles, it requires a ring of sufficient radius AND thickness.