What battens to use for my stackpack?

[BlueChip]

I've had a new replacement stack pack made and was rather surprised to find it didn't come with battens.
The original pack had 4.2m long 22mm dia. stainless steel tubes which are very heavy and do get bent, so I'm looking for something lighter and stiffer.

Carbon fibre tube or rod seems the way to go, but what diameter should I use to get adequate support?
I've also only found supplied who offer lengths up to 2.5m, can lengths be joined?

 

[Grumpybear]

I've had a new replacement stack pack made and was rather surprised to find it didn't come with battens.
The original pack had 4.2m long 22mm dia. stainless steel tubes which are very heavy and do get bent, so I'm looking for something lighter and stiffer.

Carbon fibre tube or rod seems the way to go, but what diameter should I use to get adequate support?
I've also only found supplied who offer lengths up to 2.5m, can lengths be joined?

Mine came with what looks like 15mm plastic plumbing pipe as stiffeners.

 

[Boo2]

Mine came with flat sectioned grp battens that look just like the battens in my main sail but slightly narrower and thinner. They're still a bit too flexible though and the stackpack does sag a little due to that.

Weight for weight, carbon fibre is the stiffest material you are likely to find and if 20mm o/d tube with a 3mm wall thickness will fit in the tubes I'd try that if I could find some.

Hth,

Boo2

 

[oldhunter]

Kayospruce have round solid fiberglass battens in five meter lengths

 

[GrahamM376]

Mine uses 30mm flat grp battens

 

[bedouin]

Mine also comes with what look like standard mainsail batten material - about 30mm x 5m - which is significantly heavier gauge than the battens in my mainsail itself.

They work well because they are stiff in the vertical direction while being reasonably flexible in the horizontal - I can't see any circular section working as well

 

[Tranona]

Flat battens are common in the past, but latest designs such as the one Kemps have just made for me have circular battens.

Suggest you send it back to the maker and ask them to fit battens. Clearly the pockets are different depending in the type of battens used.

 

[alahol2]

They work well because they are stiff in the vertical direction while being reasonably flexible in the horizontal - I can't see any circular section working as well

Having had flat and circular cross section battens I much prefer the circular ones. Flat battens seem to go into weird 'S' (or worse) shapes too easily. My current ones are about 10/12mm diameter GRP rod.
For 4+ metre battens you probably need to go up to 15/20mm rod or tube.

 

[vyv_cox]

Flat battens are common in the past, but latest designs such as the one Kemps have just made for me have circular battens.

My Kemps stackpack came (2014) with flat GRP battens. The battens were coiled into a circle about 2 ft in diameter when they arrived and I carried them to Greece like that, although as advised I released them to lie flat in the intervening period of a month or two to avoid a permanent curve. Perfectly OK in service, definitely rigid enough.

 

[[3889]]

My Jeanneau stack pack came with circular, 1/2" grp battens in three sections, joined by flexible rubber spigots. Carelessly, I lost one section and replaced it with sections from this , which work very well.

 

[srm]

When making a stackpack for my previous boat I used bamboo garden canes. Individually they were too short so I joined two by overlapping the thin ends and putting tight whippings round them using stretchy nylon twine used for commercial fishing nets. Zero cost as I already had the materials and worked better than the heavy flat grp ones that came with my current boat.