How important are battens?

[kwaltersmi]

My mainsail has 4 partial battens. Two of the four are broken into two pieces and don't quite reach to the end of the pocket. I know they're fairly cheap to replace, but just how important is it to do so? Am I missing out on some performance?

By the way, my mainsail is quite old and seems to be blown out (it's sloppy/baggy). I'd replace it if I could, but I think it will have to wait until next season's budget.

[Faster]

Battens are crucial for a sail designed to have them. Broken or short battens will not support the leech and will lead to flutter, poor shape, and yes, loss of performance.

If the sail is really bagged it's still better to have the battens properly fitted. In some cases the "bagged" sail can have a season or two added to it's life by converting it to full battens, but really that's money that would be better put toward a new sail. The slugs/slides are rarely made for a full batten type sail and it's a medium short term solution.

For now, replace the battens and look to improving outhaul/cunningham tackles to see if you can stretch a few more inches out of your poor old sail.....

[CBinRI]

It would be money well spent. If you don't want to do it yourself, I would bet a sailmaker would do it for you cheap, hoping he would get your business when you do get around to replacing the main. You will not only lose significant performance, but the sail will likely break down more quickly because of it. In fact, when you get those battens replaced, you might be surprised how much less "baggy" the sail is.

[SEMIJim]

Battens are important, for the reasons noted above, and they're trivially easy to make.

We accidentally left behind nearly all the battens for the new mainsail for our new-to-us boat, and didn't realize it until we went to put that new sail up for racing the fall series end of last season. Luckily a club mate had bunches of spare batten material, in various widths and thickness', and gave us a length. A hacksaw to cut it, a file to clean up and lightly bevel the edges, and some rigging tape over the ends and we had battens .

We just noticed, in hanking-on the old main weekend-before-last (we save the new sails for racing), that its top batten was missing. The left-over piece I have from making the ones for the new main looks like it might be just about the right length.

Now, where you go to buy batten material, that I do not know. Also, I imagine the width and thickness are probably somewhat critical to the sail's behaviour.

Note: Better to make them slightly too long, and trim the length down with the file, gradually, using trial-and-error, than to make them too short. They should be just a bit difficult to get into and out of the pockets--that way they'll stay put. Make them too short and they can move around--possibly slipping right out of the pockets on their own.

Jim

[sailingdog]

Another point about battens being too short...if they are, they'll likely move and chafe the sail.

[RickQuann]

Ck out

Western Marine - Sewing Yarn, Sail Battens, Rubber Guys, Rings for Sails

for replacements

[Idiens]

An aerodramatic friend of mine said that an aerofoil with a circular segment shape develops no lift from its form, just from its incidence, whereas moving the bulge forward and flattening the tail increases the lift for the same incidence. Battens flatten the tail and reduce undesirable flapping about.

So chest out and stomach in...

(Corsets also have battens to provide extra lift)

[T34C]

Ditto.......