mainsails - fully battened or not?

Birdseye

Birdseye

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The boat concerned has an old FB mainsail and the question is what to replace it with. I am a sail tweeker and occasional NHC club racer so decent performance is necessary. But is the extra for an FB sail worth paying? And is it true that the sail then becomes difficult to de-power?

The big FB advantage to me is the way that I see the mains rattling up and down the last without apparent effort on the club IRC boats
 
Fully battened with Rocna cars and a loose foot was my choice for my new mainsail. Every sailmaker recommended having it fully battened, also I was replacing a fully battened Hood mainsail but footed. When dropped it fits in the lazy jack without large folds of sail everywhere.

Whilst sailing I always seem to be tweaking my sails and the main is easy to alter. The only other large change was to fit a solid kicking strap as this could be winched down to reduce the twist.
 
Did the delivery trip back Portland to Pompey and out for a sail with the mrs yesterday in 5kts gusting 8

We had a choice an older but still in very good nick fully battenend or a sail 2 yrs old with only 1 yrs use due to covid with partial battens. I went for the fully battened never used one before now.
By luck skill i managed to get the batten tension correct first time and it does produce a lovely shaped sail which is great in lower wind speeds, the previous owners did say it was difficult to depower as they liked to sail onto their swinging mooring I cant as yet say what it is like in stronger winds.
Yes there is more weight to the sail as mine has 4 battens but it does come down very quickly, silicone spray on the cars and sliders and a winch and a rope clutch in use on the hoist I cant see the problem.

My view currently is I prefer it, it may be worth a chat with Flaming
 
Another vote for fully battened. They are heavier, granted, but good batten cars eliminate a lot of friction.
A point that hasn't been mentioned is there is no more flogging, hoisting and dropping are silent activities, and more importantly, the sail lasts much longer.
If your boom enables it, combine fully battened with separate reefing lines for luff and leech, the best reefing arrangement by far.
 
We have 3/4 length tapered battens so no need for cars. The sail flakes reasonably well in the lazy jacks and responds well to outhall, vang, and cunningham adjustments.
 
Full battens are great until you have taken sail off and trying to reinsert and tighten the bolts down which hold then in to cars-defo a 2 person job in any breeze, otherwise just have to get use to hoisting etc head to wind and depending on size have a n electric winch.
 
On our tank there is no such thing as too much sail. The new wardrobe was ordered with FB on both main and mizzen with the explicit instruction to maximize roach and SA. They are a thing of beauty and power, loose-footed, easy to tweak. Depowering by bendy mast is not an option on our boat and counterproductive to making the thing go forward at any rate in the first place. FBs tend to make a sail more pressure point stable in high winds and this keeps the drive pointing to where it is most needed. Cars and fancy parts are not essential until the sail reaches 400 sqft. and we are some below that.
Raising the sail is no more difficult than before and in combination with lazy jacks lowering is a revelation.
Whatever little bit more they may cost, it was worth every penny. We love e'm, no contest.
 
I renewed my fully battened main last year with a new one. It has rutgerson cars that fit in the mast track. Battens easy to fit and held in place by velcro tabs on the leech.
Very pleased with it but it has shown up my headsail as requiring replacement !
 
Birdseye said:
The boat concerned has an old FB mainsail and the question is what to replace it with. I am a sail tweeker and occasional NHC club racer so decent performance is necessary. But is the extra for an FB sail worth paying? And is it true that the sail then becomes difficult to de-power?

The big FB advantage to me is the way that I see the mains rattling up and down the last without apparent effort on the club IRC boats
Click to expand...

Previous boat had a FB batten Dacron main.
This thing was flipping heavy.
Hoisting the bugger took a while and when I was done, I had to sit down for a couple of minutes to catch my breath.

Mainsail (Hydranet) on the current boat has 2 FB (top 2) and 2 shorter and runs on Fredricksen (now Ronstan) cars.
Can hoist it without any trouble in about a minute.
Drops and flakes in the lazybag in a matter of seconds.

Another thing you might want to consider is the cut of the sail: cross-cut vs tri-radial.
This is my first tri-radial mainsail, and it has been an eyeopener.
 
Birdseye said:
The boat concerned has an old FB mainsail and the question is what to replace it with. I am a sail tweeker and occasional NHC club racer so decent performance is necessary. But is the extra for an FB sail worth paying? And is it true that the sail then becomes difficult to de-power?

The big FB advantage to me is the way that I see the mains rattling up and down the last without apparent effort on the club IRC boats
Click to expand...
Your local IRC boats are using fully battened mains....? I find that surprising.

For pure cruising use, I wouldn't hesitate for a second before ordering a FB sail. You get an easier to trim sail with great low end drive, plus when you're motorsailing the battens really help to dampen any flogging.

But... They don't work for racing all that well. They're much harder to depower, so you wind up reefing them earlier than you would a non FB sail that you can depower to a much greater extent.

For mostly cruising with a bit of club racing.... Probably FB, but it depends on where the balance is for you.
 
I am a bit surprised to read of the comments that a FB main is much heaver? I suppose it does depend on the size of the boat and hence the sail and the type of cars. But when I switched to a FB main a few years ago the weight gain was negligible, a few ounces for the extra length of the battens and extra sailcloth for the longer pockets. Anyway could still hoist the main by hand and sail shape and performance was superior. I am just a cruiser.
 
capnsensible said:
I've sailed a few yachts with full battened main. They can be flipping heavy. Even with top dollar cars, hoisting can be hard yakka.
Click to expand...
I think that is more about friction. Our mainsail is a heavily built Vectron cruising sail. The weight of 5 plastic battens and the cars is pretty insignificant by comparison. We use Selden external cars and find they have less friction than our previous reciprocating ball bearing cars. I can hoist the sail by hand . I use the winch to tension the sail. This is on a 400sqft sail.
We wouldn't consider anything other than full batten/ loose foot for cruising
 
geem said:
I think that is more about friction. Our mainsail is a heavily built Vectron cruising sail. The weight of 5 plastic battens and the cars is pretty insignificant by comparison. We use Selden external cars and find they have less friction than our previous reciprocating ball bearing cars. I can hoist the sail by hand . I use the winch to tension the sail. This is on a 400sqft sail.
We wouldn't consider anything other than full batten/ loose foot for cruising
Click to expand...
It's all about...weight. :(
 
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