Was hoping for a bit of help from the brains trust here. All help appreciated
So i never had bigger than a 5.5 wave until recently got a new 6.0 crossover sail.
Was shocked after watching 2feet of whitewater strike me gear, that one of me battens had broken and ripped half the batten sleeve off and that it was a hollow tube
To be sure this will happen again and being 400km from sail repairer......
So how strong are these tubular battens?
Or was it just a freak of nature?
Has anyone ever swapped out these battens for others?
Cheers
Yes tubular glass battens are fragile and not suitable for wave sailing. A crossover sail should have rods.
I did a bend test comparing standard pultruded glass tube battens (~12mm) and standard glass rod battens (~10mm) and found that the tube was only marginally stiffer than the rod and somewhat lighter. I would think that you may not notice the difference if you substituted rods for tubes, but they would certainly be stronger. I haven't tried that substitution though.
Well I've had the same thing happen with rod battens too. Maybe from 3 feet of white water though.
Thankyou. Bit fragile ay
Was thinking back and yes it has taken one 6 footer on it and a few little ones and thats all but
Broken a few flat battens(rarely) in bigger surf with maybe a hole in batten sleeve
Was hoping id be ok seeing how boujma treats his
Maybe only tubes in large size sails?
Dont think theres an easy way to convert to flat ones either?
Might have to get some rods
