I reckon I sailed for over 20 years without ever breaking a batten. (I avoid waves ). I'd use sails till they fell apart then bin them. I'd take out the battens and put them in the corner of the garage, could be useful for something one day - tomato stakes maybe.
Broke my first batten 12 months ago and yesterday broke no. 6 and 7.
Wide luffed race/semi race sails rig on starboard, but sometimes you've got to flip it to port to carry it to the water, that's when #7 went.
Why is this? Anybody else had the same problems?
Flipping them manually is no doubt tougher on a batten than using wind pressure, but sometimes it has to be done, is there a right way to do this?.
Don't think I'm tensioning them too tight, I follow the makers how-to video - the over-centre tensioner taking up just before vertical on the bottom and next batten and less on the others. That still leaves crinkles on either the panel above or below the batten and is less than I've used on narrow luff sails.
A flatter sail should rotate with less strain on the battens but I'm pretty sure I use enough downhaul and outhaul.
It's only in the second season that any of the 3 wide luffed sails I've got has given problems. I sail a lot on a short stretch of water - that's ~ 1,000 tacks/gybes - maybe that's all you can expect? The sail that's in it's 3rd season only has the bottom and top batten original - the rest are tomato stakes
Maybe the batten suppliers have dropped their game?
There is definately more shape in the newer sails giving more curve on the battens and thus more load.
I think another factor is that the battens are most likely made lighter to reduce sail weight
Hi Bristol, that problem was a badly fitting camber inducer, I've found a better one now. The original must be at the bottom of the lake, the biggest mystery of all time. How does a camber inducer work its way out of a rigged sail? Even if the zip comes undone. I'm pretty sure that kickable batten has never broken.
I rig the downhaul to the recommended setting or slightly over. I'm using the recommended mast. I am suspecting I've got something wrong. Maybe if the sail stretches a bit after a season the recommended downhaul is not enough?
Sifting thru my diminishing supply of spare battens right now just in case that norwester picks up.
