Sail pendant using dyneema
 

I need to attach a 15" pendant to the head of a jib. I thought I would use dyneema rather than wire. If I used say 1/4" dyneema, would a "ring hitch" (occasionally called a luggage tag hitch) work for the attachment through the sail head ring if the loop is sufficiently long? The other end of the pendant would have a standard thimble for dyneema. I'm concerned about wear and strength. I considered using a thimble on the sail ring but for smallish line can't find a thimble that would go over the ring. Any ideas and recommendations? Thanks

I have done that with the jib on a Farrier F-24. The pendant goes from the sail head ring to a shackle, luggage tagged on both ends, which I feel allows no movement and therefore no chafing.
It has been in service for a year and has been perfectly reliable and shows no wear.

I think it is 3/16" Amsteel made into a continuous loop.

I made a couple of different lengths to make sure it came out right, so I wasn't very careful about making the length right the first time.I was just learning so I figured doing several would give me more practice anyway.

Another dyneema ?
 

Thanks for the info. I have not worked with dyneema much and understanding the need for a fairly long bury of the loop ends, what do you do on a shorter piece with loops at both ends? Thanks for any help. FHP

Options
 

Hi,
First, do we have to call it a luggage tag hitch? The knot has lots of other perfectly valid, long-employed names (ring hitch, girth hitch, lark's head hitch, bail hitch, etc), none of which involve something as unsalty as luggage.
Second, yes there is some weakening resulting from the hitch, but that is easily compensated for by diameter.
Third, consider multiple Brummels for short pieces, or make a soft shackle.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

Brion: Thanks for your quick response. First, sorry about the "luggage tag" reference, lesson learned! One additional question. When you say "multiple brummels" is a single pass through the line a "single" brummel or is a brummel the double pass (both ends through once) so that I would be passing the line through itself maybe 4 times for additional locking and then use less bury of the end?

Thanks FHPG

Structure
 

Hi again,
A locking Brummel has each part going through the other. So one Brummel has each part tucked once. A Multiple Brummel repeats the process; 4 Brummels will get you close to 80% efficiency -- IF you space them consistently, so that all of them share the load.You'll see one way to do this in our Book 5.
A Faux Brummel has one end snaking back and forth through the other. A largely decorative structure.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

ps,
Thank you for your patience with my Luggage Tag rant.

Ah, sorry, I did not give enough information, I used a continuous loop, which was easy enough to, um, Lark's Head to either end.

Brion, do you never take luggage on board? ;-)

Anton

Brion Question
 

Brion: For my short pendant, I used your advise and made a loop using 4 brummels (per the book 5 instructions.) As I am finishing, I wondered if there is a requirement for minimum length of tail to burying? Seems pretty well locked with the 4 brummels so wondered if a fairly short tail is workable. Also, I can see that making sure each bury is the same distance from one to the next is important. Is there a recommendation for how many strands to pass over before starting the second and subsequent pass throughs? Thanks for you help. Great book by the way.

I have a very short hybrid knot-splice on my web site. It is the splice part of the but there is no reason you cannot use it by itself. The bury is about 20 diameters so in 5/32 line about 3 inches. If that is too long, use an Ester hitch. I coined the name for a knot developed by Evans Starzinger as we were collaborating on making knots that would not slip in Amsteel. Here is the knot http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/estar.pdf

Here is my hybrid knot-splice http://l-36.com/HybridHalyard.php

One of the advantages of my knot-splice is that it is short but also does not have an end sticking out like a knot. I then applied this hybrid idea to soft shackles but my button capsized. Brion then came up with a button that did not and thus was born his stronger soft shackle.

Options
 

I think this shows how options are proliferating, and we have yet to mention tucked splices, which give maximum efficiency in a very short length. As for spacing, I just look at the arcs formed by the first Brummel, and try to duplicate it in the subsequent ones. And the tail doesn't need to be tucked at all; it is an aesthetic consideration. Burying a stub is fine if you wish to.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss