New mainsail question for a 2005 Beneteau 323 furling mainsail

[cstonedent]

headsail is about 115% not sure of mast I have. I know I researched prior to purchase and the type I have was suitable for vertical battens. Maryland is not allowing boating so have not been to boat in quite a while, but will check next visit

 

[bob_pattison]

I recently purchased a 2005 Beneteau 323 with a furling mainsail and a US Spars Z400E mast. The sails are original and need to be replaced. I'm interested in cruising and racing. Therefore, I was looking into vertical batten mainsails (for larger surface area = faster sail for racing). Specifically, I reached out to UK Sailmaker and Doyle.

UK Sailmaker said that vertical battens shouldn't be an issue with my mast and furling the sail. Doyle on the other hand, mentioned that they have experienced some issues with furling mainsails in "older" furling masts (i.e. getting caught up or "jammed"). They went further and said that you needed at least 1 to 1.5 inches width in the opening which the sail gets furled into.

I wasn't sure if different sailmakers had different width battens, etc.

I was hoping to get other owners experience with vertical battens. I would really like to purchase the larger sail, but don't want to have issues with the main when furling/unfurling it.

Thanks in advance!

At Neil Pryde our minimum is 5/8". To give you some background, the zspar mast originally had a bare metal slot, finished smooth. This was true up into the very early 2000's. They at some point started fitting the slot with plastic 'guides' on both sides, which reduced the opening a lot.
We designed and started building the first vertical battened sails for Beneteau in 2006 and by 2009 introduced our newly designed 'bow' batten system that reduced the thickness of the batten, sail and pocket to around 8mm. And then zspar introduced new sections that were a bit bigger as well...making it all work quite well. A lot of folks remove the plastic bit when it starts to go to hell from UV and chafe...and then make sure the bare metal is smooth and get a much bigger slot as a result.
There is a link to our 'how to furl' video on youtube at our website: Beneteau How-To Videos - Neil Pryde Sails International
Or directly on youtube: Neil Pryde Sailmakers
And a how to on the 'bow' batten.
Bob Pattison
Neil Pryde Sails