I was asked if an aluminum carabiner could be used in place of a clevis pin. A carabiner is quicker to get on and off, but probably not as strong as a clevis pin of the same size. Any thoughts on using a carabiner or another type of connector for rigging lines?

Curious what you want to use the caribiner for. There are many shackles that are easy & quick to use, like a caribiner.

As for caribiner, use stainless, not aluminum.

I think using alum.anything would be very dangerous. I have used a shackle in place of a pin. I did this on my bridles at the hull. This gives me a attachment point for, anchor, spin. pole and removable front tramp.

What you are probably looking for are called quick pins and are available at West marine and all sailing online shops.



They are stainless steel and have a push button that allows the pin to slide on an off a fitting. They come in various lengths and diameters. Various opinions exist on how safe they are for standing rigging.



Aluminum will not hold any rigging loads.



Take care

the one right system uses quick pins on the shroud lines. i have had no problems with them. i use stainless beaners on my cunningham and outhaul (clew). they have to be about 2 sizes larger to handle the equivalent loads of a shackle. the manufacturers publish the strengths for most of these parts. they do save me time when rigging and unrigging the boat. i do not use beaners on the standing rigging.

Hi:



The answer isn't as simple as yes or no. It depends on how much loading is on the pin to begin with. For example, if you wanted to hook a shock cord to a becket that had a 3/16" diameter SS pin, there is no reason you couldn't use an aluminum pin. On the other hand, if the pin was holding your rig up, I'd be very careful what I used. You should be able to find published working loads for various pin diameters and materials used in normal configurations and then evaluate the application for yourself. WRT aluminum, corrosion issues can quickly reduce the strength of pins that are exposed to salt water, particularly if the pins are in close proximity to stainless steel or carbon fiber. For all pins, wear on the pin, pitting, and any scratches (particularly circumferential) that are on the surface will substantially reduce the strength of the pin.



So a short answer is yeah you could do it if the carabiner was very lightly loaded, not in a critical application, not exposed to corrosive environments, and if the condition of the carabiner was evaluated on a frequent basis. If it were my boat, I'd go about the weight saving in a different way, such as losing pounds off my gut - a cheap and highly effective way to reduce the "as sailed" weight of a boat.



-Greg

The tensile strength of aluminum (t-6) is between 40-72 KPSI and can be as low as 6 KPSI

Stainless is at least 70 and is usually in the 150 - 200 KPSI range. If you are using an aluminum Beaner for the trap line then that is about what they were intended for. I would never trust any stressed rigging to a beaner designed to hold about 3 or 400 pounds. Sails have thousands of pounds of force on them, the sheet on my I20 is 8:1 and I pull about 50 lbs in good wind that makes the force about 400 lbs at the attachment point and about 2400 Ft/Lbs for the boom. rough math but I think the point is use what works because waiting for a tow from a stink pot with your mast in your lap is real embarassing.