Weighty decision.

[johnphilip]

Although the decision may be a year or two off I always intended that when the time comes to replace our mainsail I would like to have a fully battened job to reduce the clambering around and to get the sail to drop better between the lazyjacks and into the stack-pack.
Until - chatting to another owner - he warned of the extra weight and friction which means winching the sail for at least the top half whereas I now pull all but the last foot or two by hand.
We do have a huge main for the size of boat,33 square metres. Anyone any useful advice please?

 

[Pinnacle]

We have a fbm - its no trouble - it has ball bearing cars at the mast end of the battens running up a track fixed to the rear of the mast.

Go for it!

 

[Tranona]

Talk to your chosen sailmaker about the options. To make a large fully battened sail work smoothly to need high grade batten batten cars and there are choices of type and manufacturers - none "cheap". Without them, though you are likely to experience the problems that have been described.