Battens

Hi all,

I have been wondering if it would work to use only partial battens on my H16 mainsail. Just enough to hold the roach out.

Ed

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'76 Hobie 16

What would the advantage be?

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It would be a lot simpler and much less expensive.

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'76 Hobie 16

What makes you think the sail would be simpler or less expensive?

Hobie mainsails come with and are designed to be used with full-length battens, so switching to a partial batten would require purchasing a new set of battens and having a sailmaker modify the sail - expensive. There is nothing complicated about having full-length battens, the sail hoists and operates the same as a "soft" sail. Plus, performance of a soft sail would suffer. Catamaran sails operate at higher apparant wind speeds and at a lower angle of attack than traditional monohull sails and therefor need full-length battens to support the entire chord length of the mainsail. A mainsail with partial battens will have reduced draft stability and overall poorer performance. I wouldn't suggest persuing this modification.

sm

What SRM said.

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Actually I was just thinking out loud... Thanks for the explanation srm.

I might dig up an old sail and try it. No sail maker needed. The end pockets are readily available and easy to install and some old, beat up battens could be cut down to fit.

Ed

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'76 Hobie 16

Having only 'leach' battens wouldn't work really - unless you were to first cut down the leach of the sail to a 'hollowed out' shape - with a leach which has 'roach', it needs the full length support.

Just so you understand before you hack up some perfectly good battens, stitch up a perfectly good sail, and spend a lot of time on this, the sail is going end up as a floppy mess. There is no benefit to making this modification. It will not make the boat faster, easier, or more fun to sail. A total waste of time and energy (just my opinion, of course).

Good luck.

sm