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Submitted
on July 16, 2004 by Dan Bochniak
Question: I
have been told that full batten sails are difficult to raise. I am looking
to buy a Catalina 320 and they have the full Batten sails and a Dutchman
system. Do you have any opinion and advice as to the comments noted?
Thanks, Dan Bochniak
Answer:
Hi Dan,
The statement that "full batten sails are difficult to raise"
needs to be qualified. If the mast track accepts flat slides, or uses
a car system from Harken, Antal, Tides Marine, Fredrickson etc, then the
sail will go up and down without any trouble. On the other hand, if the
mast track is designed to accept barrel shaped slides (commonly referred
to as "slug slides") then full battens can be a problem.
A slug slide is designed to work under tension. When the slide is under
tension from the pressure of the sail trying to pull away from the mast,
the curved surface of the slide fits against the inside of the track and
slides with little friction. However, when the same slide is attached
to the luff end of a batten it is under compression. When the slide is
used in compression, there is nothing for it to bear against. The battens
end up pushing from one side of the mast or the other and the slides bind
on the sides of the mast track.
There are some slug slides designed with flanges (Allslip slides), wheels
(Rutgerson slides) or ball bearings (Fredrickson slides) which ride on
the outside of the mast and keep the slide from binding when it is under
compression. These slides go a long way towards solving the problem of
the batten end slides binding. In order to use any of these slides the
aft face of the mast must be free of feeders or track gates.
Regards,
Dan Neri
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