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It seems that some of the battens have shaken loose and are missing. Made some replacements out of oak but they end up breaking. Anyone out there in Macland know a mod on keeping battens in their pockets and also where to get replacements? WM doesnt have the exact size that it calls for. Thanks much guys

You can probably get them at most any chandlery, they just cut them to size and throw some tape on the ends to avoid chafing. Seems weird that they come out of the pockets. Did they wear their way through the leech of your sail? You may need to re-sew them, or if you never take them out just sew some tacks in to keep them in and if you ever need to remove them you can easily cut the tacks and re-do them when you put the battens back in.

I have 2 missing right now. Now sure how they come loose.

Even with the battens stitched in, they have a way of working loose and falling out. I replaced a top batten in July and stitched it in by sewing some waxed thread through the hole. In no time it had disappeared along with one more.
Buying individual battens is costly. You can buy a coil of batten rod of the right size and cut off pieces as needed. Most coils are 15 feet and it works out to be about $1.50 - $2.00 a foot. When you cut the length from the coil, round off the ends and drill a 3/16 hole about 1" in from the end. You can buy end pieces to slip over if you want, but if you round off the corners they are ok

I sewed the ends of the pockets for my REPLACEMENT battens. I believe allowing the sail to flap in high winds will throw the battens out. I saw one hit the water once while doing just that.

My Harpoon uses two velcro strips to hold'em in - one sewn on either side, and they cross over the outside and velcro to each other... works great.

I use small pieces of sail-repair tape on the batten pockets to hold them in.

I had one split on my 2002X, and just ordered some batten stock and end caps from Sailrite. Enough material for 2-30" battens is about $18 delivered.

http://sailrite.com/site/files/site-map.htm

Now would be a good time to consider tapered battens....better sail shape.

What is the length of the lowest batten, and the next lowest batten on the 26X sail?

Ditto on ordering a roll of FG battenstock...Did so a couple years ago and have not lost a batten since. Also ditto on sewing batten flap closed or sew thru sail and small hole drilled in outer end portion of batten ....probbly why no battens lost the originals flew away.
Ron

An update on the batten stock from Sailrite. Placed the order, and had 1- 30 inch and 1- 29 inch batten in Ohio in 2 working days. Price was about $16 (shipping was reduced due to shorter lengths) and that included 6 batten end caps which extend slightly and are square on the end and fit really well in the batten pocket.

Ivan Awfulitch wrote:An update on the batten stock from Sailrite. Placed the order, and had 1- 30 inch and 1- 29 inch batten in Ohio in 2 working days. Price was about $16 (shipping was reduced due to shorter lengths) and that included 6 batten end caps which extend slightly and are square on the end and fit really well in the batten pocket.

Ivan,

Which battens are you replacing? I need to replace the lower 2 on my stock 26X sail and I need to know the length of each one. The sail is currently stored so I don't want to pull it out to measure it.

It would be nice to know the length of all 4 battens in the sail.
Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

Pete

PeteC wrote:Ivan,
Which battens are you replacing? I need to replace the lower 2 on my stock 26X sail and I need to know the length of each one. The sail is currently stored so I don't want to pull it out to measure it.

It would be nice to know the length of all 4 battens in the sail.
Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

These are the 2 middle ones. I don't have the sail or the battens here as they're about 2 hours away. The 2 lowest I believe are about the same at 30 inches or so, and the 3rd measured 29. I measured the batten pockets as these were replaced by the previous owner and were not quite right in length or width and had duct tape for caps. Sailrite sells this stock by the foot so I bought 5 foot and had them cut it in 30" strips for my needs. The caps are hard plastic and 1 inch by 1 inch square. They look like the pair combined will add about 1/2 inch or so to the total length, but they can be cut with a hacksaw easily. I'd think that 6 foot would easily cover your needs and that could be shipped as a single piece I'd think. The stock itself (item 27115) is only $1 per foot, and the batten end caps for the 5/8" (Item 27201) are $0.40 each. These large square caps look like they'll prevent battens from falling out.