'Maxi Roach / Vertical Batten M/sail

[kidnapped]

\'Maxi Roach / Vertical Batten M/sail

Thinking of re-powering my yacht with new sails! [might save a bit on Red Deisel tax!]
Seriously, has anyone got experience of these mainsails? Do they improve performance? Do they help pointing? Do they wear unduly along the vertical battens? Need some help, guys, as I don't want to miss another scuttlebutt trip to Cherbourg, whatever, because my sails are found wanting.

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[discoduck]

Re: \'Maxi Roach / Vertical Batten M/sail

The crit of vertical battens is that they do hold such a good profile as horizontal. This you have way against the ease of mainsail reefing. Who knows ?

Spin cd's and have fun

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[rwoofer]

Re: \'Maxi Roach / Vertical Batten M/sail

I have a new main from White Sails in Warsash that has short vertical battens. The 3 battens are about 4 feet long and don't overlap when furled therefore do not create any bunching problems. It has a significantly positive roach and is a fantastic shape - I have tell tales on it and I can control the flow precisely with the kicker and topping lift. It also happens to be a tri-radial in pentex cloth, which also helps performance.

Having done my research, I found the key issue with full length vertical battens is that when the sail stretchs with age, the battens are no longer absolutely vertical, which can cause problems furling.

If you are going for full lenght that make sure you have some low stretch laminate for the sail cloth.

RB


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[chrisc]

Re: \'Maxi Roach / Vertical Batten M/sail

we have had MAXIROACH main on our boat for last 3 seaons .Have had no problems with pulling it in and out ,it furles beutifully and amazingly into the mast which does'nt look big enough to contain it.
We started with our new boat in 2000 with the standard sails (boat is bavaria 34 ,standard was Selden) after first year got the Maxiroach sail and this improved
performance terrifically .have used it a good deal as we went from sweden to med and back and used the boat solidly for 2 years without removing sails.the the Sail gives really good shape ,as you see we are very pleased with it.
only thing to beware of is dropping the 'battens 'in water when loading them at start of season,did this once have been very careful since.
no relation or interest in the company

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[chrisc]

Re: \'Maxi Roach / Vertical Batten M/sail

we have had MAXIROACH main on our boat for last 3 seaons .Have had no problems with pulling it in and out ,it furles beutifully and amazingly into the mast which does'nt look big enough to contain it.
We started with our new boat in 2000 with the standard sails (boat is bavaria 34 ,standard was Selden) after first year got the Maxiroach sail and this improved
performance terrifically .have used it a good deal as we went from sweden to med and back and used the boat solidly for 2 years without removing sails.the the Sail gives really good shape ,as you see we are very pleased with it.
only thing to beware of is dropping the 'battens 'in water when loading them at start of season,did this once have been very careful since.
no relation or interest in the company

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[robp]

Re: \'Maxi Roach / Vertical Batten M/sail

Yes, I replaced the cr*p standard sails supplied on the new boat. After having fitted the Maxiroach main, I also went for the battened Genoa. The boat balances much easier and sails closer.

Only thing that concerns me, is that when the furling line snapped in heavy weather (S/B Cherbourg weekend), I couldn't drop the sail. An unusual occurance though, I would hope.

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[Oldhand]

Re: \'Maxi Roach / Vertical Batten M/sail

How do you install and remove a main with full length vertical battens?!

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[Twister_Ken]

Re: \'Maxi Roach / Vertical Batten M/sail

How do you install and remove a main with full length vertical battens?!

Remove battens first. They 'load' from the foot. Remember, furling mains are loose footed.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[Talbot]

Re: \'Maxi Roach / Vertical Batten M/sail

I have had the maxi-roach sails for just the last season fitted to an Easy Reef. certainly a big improvement over the previous admitedly worn out fully batterned main. The sail cloth is lighter than my previous sail (albeit of a much better quality), so I tend to reef earlier - probably a good thing as I used to be a bit lazy about this. I have had a few problems with the outhaul jamming - mainly due to getting t he wrong angle on the boom. Reefs nicely by using the batterns as a guide for the reef points. works really well even in light breezes, because you can get a really nice shape with the sail. My main recommendation would be to make sure that you have a small winch available to use for tyhe inhaul/outhaul - makes controlled changes of the sail shape a real breeze, and if you do get a slight jam on the outhaul, it is very easy to clear.

I tend to do a lot of singlehanded and this makes things so much easier!

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[Oldhand]

Re: \'Maxi Roach / Vertical Batten M/sail

That must be fun Ken, need quite a bend in the battens if the boom is low.

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