Drill luff caps?

I have a consistant problem with my battens poking through the sail. I decided to place the batten snugly in the luff cap and drill through both the luff cap and batten and place an 8-32 machine screw with nylon nut lock in the hole to secure the batten to the luff cap. I have not had broblems since. Should I expect problems?

If your battens are fiberglass they will split from moving against the bolt. The battens shouldn't come out of the pocket easily with tension applied. Maybe in a hard capsize but not thru normal use. I have 15 year old sails that have never been damaged by a loose batten poking thru, even in rough pitch poles and gail force winds.

The one and only time I had a batten slip, the batten was not tensioned and the leach line was not properly secured in the batten leach tip slot.

Something else to check. If you have an old sail, it may have been repaired by someone who didn't know what he was doing and who stitched the batten pockets closed at the point where the battens enter the batten pocket ends.

Another thing to check- the batten may not be seating in the pocket end because old batten luff caps previously separated from battens and are now clogging the pocket ends.

I have seen both of these.

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Alan
'86 H16, Sail #89057