Replacing battens
- Thread starter hercguy
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I believe rthe width for the 23.5 was 5/16 inch but I could be wrong. Anyway, when you cut, just be careful as you are dealing with fiberglass and I always used gloves so the fine splinters would not go into my skin. In addition, file off the ends in an arc on the two ends and around the sides of the arc to keep the ends from rubbing a hole in the batten pocket. I also sanded with sandpaper as I put them on a grinder doing that to get the ends extra smooth.
crazy dave condon
crazy dave condon
I bought the rubber caps that I glued to the batten ends so they would not chafe through the pocket ends - seems to work pretty well. Boat came with all batten pockets worn through, and PO had used grey duct tape to close the luff end of each pocket (I had a loft repair these). And as other posters noted, just get a batten long enough and cut it to the right length to fit in the pocket.
those ends have a tenacity to fall off which is why I went to rounding the edges of in an arc style angle and then around the sides with a final sanding by hand. Worked all the time and the batten pockets never wore out after 30 plus years of doing that.
I have lost many a batten to the deep blue sea aboard my 23.5 due to the line used to hold the end of the boom up when the sail is lowered. While sailing, the line catches the end of the velcro closures on the end of the batten pockets when you tack, thus launching a batten into the deep. After loosing a few that way, I taped the end of the batten pocket closed using sail repair tape. No more surprise launchings. !
There are many solutions but one I used but never told many is to drill a hole into the batten and tie it off. I would then locate the area of the drilled hole on the batten in relation to the sail and then would take a needle style sodering gun and burn a small hole into the sail and then tie it off. The key is to singe the hole in the sail so it will not unravel. I felt confortable doing this but others do not; yet it worked. Also, the hole in the sail cloth needs to be very small. I would then take a string and go thru it and the batten and then tie off.
crazy dave condon
crazy dave condon
Mike, I assume you mean the topping lift? Is yours adjustable? When I bought mine it was not - the PO had rigged a wire rope with cable clamps to a fixed length. I retrofitted mine with a small swivel block and a line through the boom. While you have solved the problem of the pockets opening, I wonder if the lift is fraying your sail - if so, perhaps making it adjustable would help. I set mine so it is tight enough under sail to not flap on the sail, yet not so tight it prevents the main from fully supporting the boom.
Rather than fish the toping lift through the boom, I simply attached a block to the out board boom end and then tie a rolling hitch with the dead end of the topping lift line around the standing part of the topping lift. I then slide the hitch up or down the lift for the desired boom height. No batten problems to date.
Kind regards
Hugh Straub
Kind regards
Hugh Straub
Regarding the topping lift, I use to add a block with a V jam at the end of the boom. Simply the topping lift line would go thru one roller and around the other roller and then to the V jam. Worked like a charm and most customers of mine actuall liked it and some would use a shackle to remove it or permanently leave it on the boom threading the line thru it.
The v jam block I refer to is one used for a boom vang.
crazy dave condon
The v jam block I refer to is one used for a boom vang.
crazy dave condon
Use a Dremmel tool with a cutter wheel. You can use a hacksaw but use only I think it was the back stroke do not go forward. Cutting with a knife or anything like that will shred it. I went through the same thing last weekend and they did not have the ends to build the battens completely. Luckily I found my misses batten. I also figured that measuring them may not work.
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