Peter Manning wrote:

Annie, thank you for that explanation. It is rather worrying as I have these battens as did David on his big red sail. My concern now is what would happen in a mid ocean storm (should I ever get away from blighty). By the time David started crossing oceans he had changed his rig to the first of his wing sails so never found out how the fibreglass battens fared in severe conditions. Maybe I should consider alternatives before setting off.

This season I hope to cruise extensively but only in coastal waters so will be unlikely to encounter very bad weather. Maybe aluminium battens are the answer. Carbon fibre would be nice but way too expensive.

You have no need to worry. This was a case of Sunbird Marine experimenting on its customers, and fitting very small diameter battens so that they would bend, and add camber. They bent. Too much. I sailed Tystie with those 2in GRP battens in bad enough weather to know that you have nothing to fear on, say, a N. Atlantic circuit. Alloy battens are just as vulnerable to mis-handling - fan-ups, etc.

Pulltuded GRP has only fibres running along the length.  Good for resisting bending, not so good when they burst.  I would think adding a wrap of fibre around the tube would greatly increase the resistance to bursting.

Annie, thank you for that explanation. It is rather worrying as I have these battens as did David on his big red sail. My concern now is what would happen in a mid ocean storm (should I ever get away from blighty). By the time David started crossing oceans he had changed his rig to the first of his wing sails so never found out how the fibreglass battens fared in severe conditions. Maybe I should consider alternatives before setting off.

This season I hope to cruise extensively but only in coastal waters so will be unlikely to encounter very bad weather. Maybe aluminium battens are the answer. Carbon fibre would be nice but way too expensive.

Annie, why did you find pultruded fibreglass battens disastrous?

Annie Hill wrote:

roger cook wrote:
Hello David, Thank you for the information, ally tubes are a no no for me personally, and didn't consider cable ties, but can't see a problem with siezing the sail to the battens every 6 inches or so ? Not looking to try and improve anything, just to keep things simple. Thanks

The tapered ends were for H/McL-type sail construction which most people don't seem to bother with these days.  I've had had sails using straps every few feet rather than batten pockets, which were easy to attach, didn't require much fabric (although backed in webbing for extra support) and meant you didn't need to work out where the 'windows' needed to be.  I don't think you would need to seize the sails as often as every 6 ins.  An advantage of not seizing them is that they can adjust themselves evenly along the battens once the whole sail is assembled.

hello,

ok, thanks for the information, i realise you are at sea at the time of me composing this, but at some point would you be able to post images of how you have attached the sail to the battens, and or if anybody else could take some images of their setup, i am looking for a more traditional method, but wont be using batten pockets.

thanks