Screw up?

[southchinasea]

First sail on new vessel. Fully battened main (pole type), Harken battcar system.
Hoist main (10-12kts) and within 5 minutes 2 battens come of of leech receptacles.
Unbolted receptacle and refitted pole. Within 5 mins it's out again!
Mind flashes back to yard foreman during commissioning. Mainsail being attached to cars and battens on side deck. Foreman starts to cut battens with hacksaw.
'Surely, they would have been supplied to the correct length' Say I, 'not always' says he. New battens required?
Cheers

 

[LORDNELSON]

If by pole type you mean battens of a circular cross section then you have the same type of batten as I have in my mainsail. This was supplied to me by the sailmaker with the battens already fitted and they only needed slight adjustment from the fittings on the leach - say half a turn of the screw. My sail relies on the Facnor system (i.e. ball bearing cars running on a track up the mast). Presumably your battens are held in pockets or patches across the sail and come free at the end/s? Have you laid the battens along the sail and checked if there is some compression applied to them when they are in the receptacles at the luff and leach. If there is no compression at all I think you may well need a new batten/s. Is it possible for you to ask a local sailmaker to provide an opinion? Good luck

 

[southchinasea]

Thanks. The original sailmaker has confirmed the battens were indeed the
correct length. The guy putting it together simply hadn't a clue! New battens
en route!
Regards