Reduce slack in the tack of in-mast furling main?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by David B

. . . Some say vertical battens are the answer - some say they are a problem. If/when the time comes for us to replace the main, I would want to do a lot more research before choosing that way.

Thread drift, but I have vertical battens and straight leech in my carbon-technora laminate mainsail for the past 5 years and zero problems.


I also struggled with this question but chose to trust my sailmaker, who strongly recommended them, and I'm glad I did.


The performance is incompably better than the old hollow leech sail, the shape of the sail is beautiful, and it's altogether a great leap forward.


Only problem I have had is the battens falling out of the pockets. I ended up sewing them in. That makes taking the sail down a PITA but I don't do that often so it's not too bad.

[SaltyMetals]

One of the guys may be correct in saying that the head of the sail is up against the stop so even if you tension the main halyard it will make no difference to the sail. Temporarily you might be able to shorten the strop at the tack but a more permanent solution is to take the sail to a sailmaker and have him reduce the head a bit.

The other thing that i think is happening is that in a strong wind, going to windward the higher tension in the foot is pulling the bolt rope out of the slot at the bottom. I always add multiple turns of stitching through the webbing at the tack and around the foil. That stops this sort of thing happening.
best of luck
Andrew

[George_SD]

it ended up being as simple as tensioning the halyard. I'm new to owning a sailboat, so still learning it all from scratch.


Thanks everyone!

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Thread drift, but I have vertical battens and straight leech in my carbon-technora laminate mainsail for the past 5 years and zero problems.


I also struggled with this question but chose to trust my sailmaker, who strongly recommended them, and I'm glad I did.


The performance is incompably better than the old hollow leech sail, the shape of the sail is beautiful, and it's altogether a great leap forward.


Only problem I have had is the battens falling out of the pockets. I ended up sewing them in. That makes taking the sail down a PITA but I don't do that often so it's not too bad.

I added vertical batterns to my leach this year, I've had zero problems furling with them and unfortunately I've furled it forcefully a couple of times in very non perfect circumstances.