Repair of the material around the boltrope mainsail

I have wanted to ask this question for awhile and now that it is getting worse think it is time to ask! I have several areas on the mainsail (where the battons are fixed close to the boltrope) that were ripped a bit and I have ripped them even more raising the sail over the last two years. Now the battons kind of hang on the mast. I am sure that is not good.

Is there a quick fix with sail tape or something. I was concerned that the sail tape would curl and and make it even harder to get the sail up.

Not sure of any local sail repair places in my local area (Bradenton Florida) so I don't mind trying a DIY.

TIA...

Matthew

Post some pics.

Sail tape is not going to fix a torn out batten pocket. You probably need to remove the luff protector and then wrap some sail cloth around the bolt rope and stitch in place. Most likely this would be something best left to a sail shop if you have never done any sail repairs before. Hard to say for sure without seeing it.

sm

boltropes can be replaced by a knowledgeable sailmaker, but repair isn't likely to be successful without replacement.

You CAN, however, add sail slugs along the luff. Sailrite sells them--I prefer the allslip brand, but the nylon ones work OK. You will need slugs for each batten and the head and one near the foot...depending on the distance between battens, you might like one between battens near the bottom. That'll help you get a few more seasons out of the sail. You will lose some performance, though, since there will be a gap between the luff and the mast. You might find you can't put a slug directly in front of each batten, if that is the case, you may have to put one on top and one on the bottom of each batten.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

I will see if I can get pics up tomorrow but basically there is a 3" to 4" tear of material right at the sail pockets on 4 of the battons. It is an old sail but it is the rainbow colors and I just like it. I ripped them even more on the sail guide when hoisting the main a couple of times.

Sailing performance is not a real issue for me as at this point in my sailing experience I don't know if I would notice the difference

I just enjoy going out in the Bay behind my house, however over the past two years it has been fun to learn how to use the harness when the wind kicks up.

The rest of the boltrope is fine, just the 4 areas where there is that tear. If it gets a bit tight while hoisting I spray a bit of McLube and I am good!

I can see it would be difficult to stitch in a 4" section of replacement material as it could make it hard to raise the sail. The slugs are a nice idea but as you said, it would leave a nice 3" to 4" hole there....

It's a shame there is not a quick fix out there....

Thank you for the ideas and input.

Matthew

The hole isn't that large when using sailslugs...less than an inch. Sailrite even sells little plastic screw in straps so you don't even have to do much but punch a little hole in the sail fabric. I did this for my neighbor on his windrider after he ripped his boltrope. Like you, he cares more for expediency than performance, so for $20 he as a much easier sail to raise.
http://www.sailrite.com/Slug-Nylon-Round-1-2
http://www.sailrite.com/Screw-On-Plastic-Shackle-15-16
I don't know your boltrope size, so check before buying the 1/2".

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

It sounds like your bolt rope is OK. And that the cloth covering it is torn loose. If that is the case you could take it to a sail shop and have the areas patched, they would have to remove the plastic batten pocket protectors to do this. I have sails where this has been done.

_________________
JKK
83 yellow/ white decks Hobie 14 Corando turbo
82 yellow hulls Hobie 16 Cat Fever
84 yellow hulls hobie 16 Yellow Nationals
plus a few extras that I'm restoring

Here is a pic of the ripped material around the boltrope. Hopefully I can find someone in my area to do this repair.

Wow that is a big pic I posted. Not sure how to get it smaller....

As I thought from your original post, that's a difficult repair. The battens have to come out and the end pocket plastic removed where each of the rips are (I think you mentioned 3-4). A sailmaker would then undo the double zig zag stitching along the entire luff, then sew a new one on and then replace the plastic and battens...probably charge you about $250--might be more. A new mainsail is about $1100 OEM and $800 after market. If you have a heavy duty sewing machine, you might try patches of fabric around the rips, but as you said, it will likely make hoisting harder and you'll probably rip them again.

Fully battened mainsails tend to get these sorts of rips around batten ends since the batten tension is pushing the sail at the mast while you are trying to hoist it--what makes it even harder is the batten is pushing from below since the back end of the batten isn't supported. New boltropes have stiff fabric that holds shape--as they get older, the fabric gets looser and the contortion wrinkles--sailors being sailors, we then pull harder on the halyard and cause a rip--which grows over time.

You could buy the sail slugs and attachments for about $30 (you'll need to put a slug on top and bottom of every batten). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neXePf8ZZIY&t=111s
Note that if you get the screw in plastic shackles, you don't have to install grommets.

_________________
R/Thom
SeaRail 19
Triak
BMW C600
Formerly Getaway with Custom Spinnakers
Formerly raced F24 Mk II

Matthew,

You should be able to have all of your torn batten/luff rope pockets repaired (as srm recommended above) by a sail shop for a reasonable price.

Similar to you, I like my colorful nostalgic sails (1987 blue prism) and have received great sail repair service from Island Nautical in St. Petersburg, FL, which is just over the I-275 Sunshine Skyway Bridge from you.

To help prevent them from ripping in the future (and to make it easier to raise/lower the main), I recommend that you reduce the tension on your batten ties. You really only need enough tension to remove the wrinkles in the sail's batten pockets.

_________________
Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL

Hey Tim;

Thanks for the reply. I reached out to some local sail shops today just to see what it would cost. One in Palmetto and one in Sarasota.

I will keep Island Nautical in mind as I bought a 5.7 G-Cat a couple of weeks ago and that sail needs some help to.

The PO of my Hobie 16 was in St Pete and had some sail modifications done on this sail (installed windows in the main and jib). Maybe it was the same place.

I am stuck sailing in Palma Sola Bay, trapped by the Cortez bridge heading to Sarasota Bay and the Manatee Bridge (AMI Bridge) heading out to Tampa Bay. Probably better that way as I am not sure I nor the 1982 Hobie 16 would withstand all of the stress!!

Thanks for the tip on the batten tension.

Matthew

This is a very common repair. That protector has been off before because it has screws in it. It's a simple repair for a sailmaker, but not so simple DIY. There will be an extra layer of cloth over that section after the repair, so you will need to take a little extra care getting it into the track on the mast when raising the main.