Thank you for the positive responses David and Arne.

If anyone is interested -- I am slowing making some progress. I attached loops along the head of the sail and put larger loops on the four corners. Shown in the photo is my second attempt making the loop for the yard at the luff. I am still not sure it will work but I don't really feel like trying again at the moment.

One day I lifted the sail while I was standing on one of the tell tails and it popped right off. Darn. I will need to find a way to reattach this.

I have been sewing on the aft batten pockets. I have 4 of the 6 stitched on.

Scott, it's the stitching that needs protection from the battens, not the cloth. It's quite in order to have an unfinished edge of cloth inside a batten pocket. If you're doing your pockets according to Arne's method, I just don't see a problem at all. The Weathermax 80 that I used for a sailcover is not at all inclined to fray when scissor cut, so I don't suppose that Weathermax 65 is particularly vulnerable.

Don't worry, be happy!

Arne,

I am planning to add 'pocket gap cover strips' near the luff and leach. I am also planning to use 'marine vinyl' for batten pockets near the mast and the Weathermax 65 for pockets aft of the mast. The aft pockets will be cut with a hot knife.

Even with everything above I think the battens in the pockets will wear on the raw fabric edge that was cut with pinking shears.

Several times I found myself asking if the sail would be big enough. When it came time to stitch the upper and lower section together I stopped wondering. This is a substantial piece of cloth.

I cut the cloth with pinking shears. I do not think this will be a problem along the outside of the sail where I will have seatbelt webbing sewn over the raw edge. I expect it might be a good idea to do something else with the seams between the panels.

I am considering one of the following

1. Overcasting the edges with a zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine.

2. Using a butane torch to singe the edges.

3. Using the hot-knife tip for my butane torch to cut just a few mm off each seam allowance.

4. Nothing.

Does anyone have practical experience with fusing fabric at this point? I clearly missed the opportunity to do it right and use the hot knife while cutting out the panels.

Scott,

as you will have found out by now, I have not produced any hard rules or formulas about batten scantlings. That is because I find it too complex to produce any formulas. Instead, I record what I have used, how it worked and then try to interpolate or extrapolate to get the scantlings right on my next project.

My guess is that the 25 x 2mm tubes would be fine on the lower battens of your boat. However, batten 2 from top should be of the 1.5” x 0.065”, as it takes a much higher load than the others. It might be an idea to use that dimension for the boom as well.  One may be tempted to use the strongest dimension throughout. However, I have found that although these big-diameter-thin-wall battens are great for stiffness and strength, they also result in a quite bulky furled sail bundle, so moderation in all things.

One more thing. You are using 6061-T6 alloy which has almost twice the yield strength of the 6060-T6 I use on my battens (I only use 6082-T6 on my masts), so I am pretty sure you will be fine.

Good luck!

Arne