sail batten slide

[ifoxwell]

Hopefully the pic will come out.



This slide is off the top, full length batten from a little used 1 year old, North sail and its worn so much that it twists vertically when hoisting and jam's in the mast track and makes pulling the sail up a real pain.

I havent contacted Norths yet as no doubt they could sell me a new one but this seems to have worn out so quickly that I'm looking for ideas... do I have other options?

Thanks

Ian

 

[xeitosaphil]

As the S/S fittings are removable, couldn't you make a replacement out of say Delrin, nylon, aluminium or stainless steel?

What's the existing one made of?

Philip

 

[BabaYaga]

Hopefully the pic will come out.

View attachment 59793

This slide is off the top, full length batten from a little used 1 year old, North sail and its worn so much that it twists vertically when hoisting and jam's in the mast track and makes pulling the sail up a real pain.

I havent contacted Norths yet as no doubt they could sell me a new one but this seems to have worn out so quickly that I'm looking for ideas... do I have other options?

Thanks

Ian

On my 17 sq m full length batten North main, which is only a few years old, all four battens are taken to slides with rollers, so more like cars. Surprised to see that you do not have these. Might depend on your mast profile, though.

 

[ifoxwell]

As the S/S fittings are removable, couldn't you make a replacement out of say Delrin, nylon, aluminium or stainless steel?

What's the existing one made of?

Philip

Yup and I probably will try something If I dont get any better ideas. Material looks and feels like nylon

 

[ifoxwell]

On my 17 sq m full length batten North main, which is only a few years old, all four battens are taken to slides with rollers, so more like cars. Surprised to see that you do not have these. Might depend on your mast profile, though.

It is only this one batten that needs it but yes a roller type car would solve the problem. I'll give it some thought next time in stood next to the mast and see what might be involved

 

[xeitosaphil]

I have the same sort of arrangement on 5 batten " Crusader " Main 14.5sq m

http://www.rutgerson.se/default.asp?id=10&ShowProduct=774&childto=&Group=104

 

[xeitosaphil]

Yup and I probably will try something If I dont get any better ideas. Material looks and feels like nylon

If you do try to make one, it might be better not to use Nylon - bit soft probably better with Delrin or better still Tufnell.

 

[PlankWalker]

Could there be something wrong with the position of the halyard attachment to the Head board, too far aft perhaps, or maybe not enough halyard tension.

Plank

 

[ifoxwell]

Could there be something wrong with the position of the halyard attachment to the Head board, too far aft perhaps, or maybe not enough halyard tension.

Plank

Both fair questions but I dont believe so. I suspect its just down to a sloppy fit from standard and the fact that the sail has a fair bit of roach, so the batten is under some tension as the sail is hoisted/dropped which speeds up the wear process

 

[dunedin]

Definitely sounds like you want a roller batten car if possible.

Though a sailmaker will often advise about suitable batten cars, these are normally related to the spar type, rather than sail type, so not something I would tend to contact North Sails about (and our North sails have very differnt Ronstan batten cars). So identify spar type and Google or ask local chandlery/rigger perhaps