Reefing Setups: Lets Hear it !

[Wand]

Originally Posted by wolfenzee

The additional weight of battens causes slides to jam, my boat was designed without battens 75 years ago and has not had battens since it was launched close to 40 years ago, aside from that I have been advised against having battens for blue water cruising.

The leach end of battens can get caught in the sidestays when bringing the main down off the wind...and if you haul down too hard in a blow without noticing it has snagged, an old wood spreader can be easily parted from an old wood mast. Not pretty, but you only make that mistake once. Also, you lose some roach of course with the battenless but that's really only a concern for racing craft.

[wolfenzee]

I just took a close look at my mast when it came out this winter, each spreader is 1 1/8" x 4"x 3' spruce (1" x 2" at the tip) bolted to two 3/8" stainless studs that run through the mast to the opposing spreader (where it connects to the spreader it allows the spreader to pivot for and aft in case a sail catches on it), there are brass plates to stand on at the base of each spreader....they are alot more substantial than what you might fin on an aluminum mast .Tthe mast is 2 piece laminated Sitka spruce, basically solid also alot more substantial than n aluminum mast ( and about 40 years old)