Hobie 16 Sail Size Question Based on Batten Lengths

I recently bought a set of H16 sails off of craigslist. They are an aftermarket set that appear to be in very good condition. When I pulled my battens from my old sail and put them into my new sail, they all stick out between 1" and 2" longer than before. Could the aftermarket sails be cut smaller than the stock sails?

I put the main and jib sails together and the panels on old stock sails are definitely wider. The luffs are the same. My old stock sails are pretty well used, there isn't much crispiness to them anymore. The newer aftermarket sails are still crispy. Assuming that they were both originally cut the same size, can a dacron sail stretch out over time so that the batten length will change that much? Also, why would they stretch horizontally vs. vertically?

I am torn whether to cut my battens to fit my new sails (I have to do this on the jib for sure) or buy a new set. If I cut them, they will not be able to be used in the old sail anymore. I'm not sure if I am going to keep the old sail as a backup set or sell them yet...

Part of me wants to keep sailing with the larger sails, as larger sails mean more sail area means you go faster, right? Or can smaller, non-blown out sails be faster than a larger sail? I can probably find this answer if I search the forums, but how can you tell if your sail is blown out?

Stretch...

It seems pretty normal to have a inch or two of batten sticking out when new. Likely the new will be faster due to batter shape than a larger blown out sail.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

I did some measurements on the new (smaller) sail and my older (larger) sail, mainly on the jib because I can hang it in the garage. The main, not so much...

Here's the sizes of the batten pockets from the edge of the sail with the jib luff wire to the end of the sail by each set of grommets:

Old jib:

• 28"
• 43.5"
• 55"
• 66.5"

New jib:

• 27"
• 42.5"
• 54.5"
• 65.5"

The new sail is almost 1" smaller than the old sail! I need to go search some more to see how much a H16 Dacron sail will stretch, especially if blown out.

The new jib size is

• Luff: 179"
• Leech: 187"
• Foot: 63.5" (from the Jib tack edge to the 5 hole metal plate edge, and I have a smaller 5 hole metal plate on the new sail than the old sail)

I need to find the dimensions of stock H16 sails...

I was able to measure the new main batten pockets. Here's the sizes:

• 40"
• 57.5"
• 70"
• 81"
• 89.5"
• 95"
• 101"
• 104.5"

The foot of the new mainsail was 104.5". Again, I need to go research the luff, leech and the foot sizes of H16 sails.

I am still torn whether to sail with the smaller (but probably less blown out) sail or with the larger (but probably more blown out sail).