Wanted – Selden PBB 60 snap-shackle
After an early start for a long day, we found a sheltered anchorage, tucked behind some rocks and islands, and spent a peaceful night, shared with two German boats tied to the shore. In the morning ,we headed north, as we do not want to be far from our crew changeover port, Nynashamn, when the expected storm blows through later ...
Aladdin’s Cave
There are chandleries to buy boat bits in nearly every port and harbour here, and I love exploring them to see what they have that might be useful. But despite having well ordered aisles, and huge catalogues to take away, they just seem to have a random selection of parts in stock. But no shackle for our Code 0 sail ...
The long way round bridge to Bullando
We have been having trouble with the wind sensor on Melodrama since she was first commissioned. Initially it was an intermittent problem, but it was changed under warranty in Kalmar a few weeks ago. Then about 10 days later the replacement 'disappeared' from our display almost with an audible bang. Inspiration Marine have been terrific, and yet again arranged for ...
Twenty-first Century Argonauts
The saga of the Selden shackle for our Code 0 sail continues. Kirk's shackle from Comber was a different brand and just a little bit too small to fit, despite being an equivalent. Plan B was rolled out. We have catalogues from two different chandlery chains, and both of them list the elusive Selden 'Golden Fleece' shackle. That makes about ...
Plan C
Somewhere in Sweden there must be a snap shackle for our Code 0!! Breidge and I sat down with a map, charts, pilot books and chandlery catalogues, and identified the addresses of the shops we could reach by boat and bike. I rang round and found one Selden shackle of the correct size in a ‘megastore’ on the peninsula of ...
Unbelievable! We need a Plan D
Who would have thought it. There are two different styles of Selden Snap-shackle of the correct size for our sail. And of course the one I found is the WRONG TYPE. The subtle difference is that this new one has a groove on the opening end. You need to see it: Now there would be 100 situations where this would ...
Plan D
We took the new shackle apart, and extracted its spring, pin and ring. This fitted the old shackle. I'm amazed, because serendipity has not been a feature of this tale. I attached the shackle to the furling drum, then carefully swaged wire through the pin, so it could not come undone and flip overboard. Not that I'm getting paranoid or ...