Sail Shackles and Slugs

[BrianW]

My Hunter 26 has its original Doyle mainsail. Six of the sail slugs are held with shackles through grommets. Four of the slugs are sewn into nylon webbing. When webbibg was used, the sail had some type of seam or reinforcement in the area. I had an accidential jibe and blew out several slugs, including two "webbed in" ones. I've had the boat for three years and don't know how old the sail shackles and slugs are, so I'm replacing them all. With the webbing, I'm probably looking at a trip to a sailmaker. I don't have the necessary sewing machine and don't want to hand stitch 4 webs. I would like to ask the group whether it would be advisable to remove the webbing (on sail seams/reinforced places)and replace them with grommets or stick with the webbing? Installing grommets would allow me to later replace the sail slugs without a trip to the sailmaker. I would get a sailmaker to install the grommets initially. What do ya'll think? Thanks, BrianW

 

[Robert Gainer]

I am partial to grommets but

I am partial to grommets but also think that webbing instead of shackles is the way to attach the slugs to the grommets. If you use shackles you have a source of chafe that you can eliminate by using the webbing. It doesn’t matter much unless you will be cruising or reefing because just day sailing won’t cause any problems. You will need a sailmaker to add the grommets and sew the webbing loops unless you have the tools and know how to do it.All the best,Robert Gainer