Best shackles for 6:1 downhaul?

I just LOVE my 6:1 downhaul but it's currently rigged with a pin and split ring at the bottom and a pin shackle at the boom. I'd like to make at least one of these easier, like a snap shackle or a captive pin shackle. It's under a fair amount of load (probably gets close to 300 pounds) and the hardware is pretty small.

At the top I think it's not challenging to find something, but at the bottom the post from the block is pinned to a bracket in the mast track and I think you don't want to increase the distance between them. Maybe just a spring-loaded ball pin, if it's not so long that it interferes with anything else?

What do y'all use?

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'00 H16 #104691
'78 H16 #32692 ex-rental [gone]
Old Holsclaw trailer
My Hobie 16 pages

I see the H17 uses a simple hook to grab the boom slider. Any reason not to use this on the H16?

At the bottom, it looks like the bracket is the same part as the traveler attachment for the main sheet block: DECK PLATE 11870000. I might buy a new one of those (just so the holes are not worn) and use a 3/16 x 3/4 quick pin there.

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'00 H16 #104691
'78 H16 #32692 ex-rental [gone]
Old Holsclaw trailer
My Hobie 16 pages

On my Hobie 14 beach boat, I have used one of these detent pins to attach the lower downhaul block to the mast fitting for the past several years without issue. It works really well for quick install/removal. And it is lower profile as compared to a ball lock pin. Also with fewer moving parts to jam up with sand.

I have been a little reluctant to try it on our H16, only because we use that boat for racing and I like the extra security of a clevis pin. But based on my experience with the 14, I highly doubt there would be any issue. Once there is a slight amount of downhaul tension, the pin is locked in.

https://www.mcmaster.com/product/98404A006

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Edit/correction to my post below...the upper quick pin that attaches gooseneck to mainsail clew is 1/4 inch diameter, not 3/16 inch (but y'all already knew that!).

Unless I'm mistaken, mine came with skackles/clevises/split rings on both top and bottom. I leave the top shackled to the gooseneck, so the downhaul always stays with the boom. I use 3/16" quick pins to attach gooseneck to main clew and bottom block to deck plate fitting in luff track. They are the kind with a hole in the bowl part where I attach a thin dacron lanyard and secure them to the gooseneck and lower block assembly. Quick pins are expensive, of course, but they make this fiddley task easy...well worth the cost if you sail a lot. Stack height really isn't an issue, but you could probably go without the shackle on the bottom and pin direcltly to the luff track fitting. Not sure if I ever tried that.

Been doing it his way for...I don't know...20 years? Haven't had anything fail, foul or get lost (yet!).

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

On the top is a standard shackle connected to the gooseneck, the bottom I have a shackle but with a quick release pin (the kind with the button and detent ball).

I'm thinking that for ease of rigging I am going to try the H17 hook, because I can then hook it to my main halyard and secure both at once when I am beached mast-up. The bottom I may leave as-is for now.

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'00 H16 #104691
'78 H16 #32692 ex-rental [gone]
Old Holsclaw trailer
My Hobie 16 pages

How did the H17 hook work out? I’m thinking of the same setup with upper hook and lower quick-pin shackle for the H16

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H16 2002 "Islands" Sail No. 107432