tapered battens

[Randolph Bertin]

I have an Ulman Sails main with tapered partial battens, one of which is broken. The battens are 5/8" wide. I searched through SailNet catalog but found only plain (non-tapered battens). I also performed an internet search for tapered battens but did not come up with much that looked promising.

My question is, does anyone know how to go about getting replacement tapered battens for a sail. (Note: I contacted Ulman Sails via email but received no response.) Are there such thing as generic tapered battens of different standard lengths, or are the tapers and lengths fairly sail specific? Do I really need a tapered batten or would a constant thickness batten be fine (I am not racing, but am learning and would generally prefer to sail as well as I can, performance-wise)?

Thanks for any information and/or leads anyone might have on this topic.

[billsails]

tapered battons are used on racing cats ,windsurfers & very high performance small boats .....You probably do not need them ,however, should you get reliable class technical info that supports their use for your boat ,they are available at Hobie,Nacra,Prindle catamaran dealers ,Try www.performancecats.com or go to www.google.com & search for windsurfing /dealers or boardsailers try www.the-house.com PS I believe you can also purcase soft battens & you can shapethem like the ones you already have. Good luck ! billsails

[Jeff_H]

Actually, tapered battens are more important on longer battens used on bigger sails and especially cruising sails where they will be exposed to high wind speeds, because longer battens often need something like 3-6 times more stiffness in the leech area than they need at the luff.

Heff

[ltdavis]

I found tapered battens in the West Marine catalog but my main needs two 54" x 11/4" battens at $27.50 each.

Do I need the tapered units for crusing?

[chris_gee]

It depends on the length and position of the battens relative to the luff leach length at the point where they are positioned. That is at the bottom a short batten is essentially on the leech where it needs no shaping. At the top it needs shaping to match the shape of the sail. Probably you can get the end pieces and a length of batten and then trim the end down so that when it curves it takes a sail foil shape. You can test this just by bending it. I imagine that you would have to do this anyway rather than have a standard unit. It is easy to do and yes it makes a difference to sail shape and so speed even for a cruiser.