When it comes to the 4WD recovery rules to live by, having the right equipment on board is a step that shouldn’t be skipped.
A winch is a vital part of any self-rescue setup, giving you the means to recover with ease and safety. There are several recovery and winch accessories you should have to hand when travelling on the road or exploring off-road too.
As a rated link between your recovery essentials, a soft shackle or bow shackle is a must-have. While often mentioned in the same breath and performing a similar role, soft shackles and bow shackles are very different in their construction. In this blog post, we compare the two to reveal which comes out on top once and for all.
What exactly is a bow shackle?
Like a soft shackle, a bow shackle connects a recovery point to a winch rope or snatch strap so recovery can take place. Bow shackles are generally made from steel and are weight rated for specific applications to facilitate recovery.
Previously the go-to for off-roading fans, bow shackles are extremely economical, simple to use and of course durable.
How do soft shackles compare?
As the name suggests, a soft shackle is exactly that. Instead of being made from solid, weighted materials like steel, they are created using links of synthetic rope that are just as capable, durable and robust.
Traditionally used in the maritime industry, soft shackles have been reimagined for the 4WD market, and are now the more popular choice with good reason!
When compared with bow shackles, these softer alternatives may be more expensive but they are lighter, easier to use and even quicker to set up. Soft shackles are also buoyant – which will come in handy if you get stuck in water or deep mud – and accessible in a range of sizes and load strengths.
Are bow or soft shackles the best option?
When listing the advantages of soft shackles, we didn’t mention the main plus point. When compared with bow shackles, soft shackles are much, much safer. As a result, we would not recommend using bow shackles for recovery unless absolutely necessary.
Soft shackles are safer if they fail. We’ll let Unsealed 4×4 explain how the risks differ between soft shackles and bow shackles should failure occur:
“See, if the pin or any other part of a steel shackle fails when performing a recovery, the snatch strap which is under tension and will shoot through the air won’t have a lump of steel attached to it which can injure or even kill anyone in its path. Sure, being hit in the head by soft shackle snapping will still hurt but it’ll hurt a lot less than a piece of steel being flicked through the air at speeds of several hundreds of kilometres per hour.”
Discover the benefits of these softer alternatives for yourself by shopping our ropes and shackles today.
