New Mainsail

Hermit

Hermit

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Hello,
I am starting to look around for a new mainsail for next season and I am not sure whether the extra for fully battened would be justified. Hermit is a Feeling 346 (AWB) and we do mainly local cruising (at least until the kids are a bit older). Can anyone with a full-battened sail give me any pros and cons?

Thanks,

Rob
 
I get a great shape with no real effort..... Sail is easy to handle and goes into and out of its bag with no problem... Good shape even when reefed.........

I am sure there must be some disadvantages.... I suppose it may be the case that I have to be pretty much bang into the wind to take the sail up or down.... but the full length battens have rollers on the end at the mast.. and it seems to be that the most friction and problems are caused in my case by the regular plastic sliders in the mast track.... I suppose its also arguable that its more difficult to depower... but I have never felt that was a issue.

I love it. I wouldnt have anything else if I had a choice. Makes the boat go nice and fast.
 
Fully battened mainsail

I would not go back to a conventionally battened main, the advanteges of full battens are just too great.

Phil
 
I have a fully battened main on my cruiser (32ft)- just brilliant. It has lasted almost 20 years - just coming to the end of its life now. We do not have fancy batten cars - simply jumbo slides. These work well but you do need to be head to wind to raise and lower it.

The sail flogs less when motoring and, if desired, you can get increased sail area with a larger roach.

Would not return to conventional battens.
 
I have a fully battened main, but I also have lazyjacks and I think that fully battened mains are required for this system?
My main is getting tired, and I discussed this subject with my sailmaker. Setting aside the above he issue, he prefers standard battened mains because you have greater control over the sail shape, which I think is a valid point if you are racing..........
I only cruise in my yacht, so I will be renewing with a fully battened main....
 
dukes4monny said:
I have a fully battened main, but I also have lazyjacks and I think that fully battened mains are required for this system?
My main is getting tired, and I discussed this subject with my sailmaker. Setting aside the above he issue, he prefers standard battened mains because you have greater control over the sail shape, which I think is a valid point if you are racing..........
I only cruise in my yacht, so I will be renewing with a fully battened main....
Click to expand...

I agree. I have a soft sail at the moment but have a fully battened sail ready to use in the next week or so. Fully battened sails seem to be the easy way for a sail maker to achieve the desired shape where as with a soft sail the sail maker has to work harder to obtain that ideal shape. The only other down side of the fully battened sail is depowering when sailing back on or off a mooring. Even a soft sail can have too much power when you want to just creep forward to a mooring, I am a little concerned that when I use this new sail it wont want to go slow!
 
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