Submitted on September 23, 2002 by Bill Kellett

Question: If I order a North fully battened mainsail what options do you suggest for the track slides. I am concerned that the use of Harken Bat Car system will result in an excessively high stack up at the mast when the sail is down and furled. Regards, Bill

Answer: Hi Bill, There are a number of well sorted out luff track systems available for fully battened mainsails. The considerations when choosing between systems are stack height, overall weight, cost, and ease of sail installation and removal. If you compare the Harken system with other systems that use cars on an external track, you will find that they are close in stack height. The North Full Batten mainsails are carefully specified to require the minimum number of cars, while still having close enough spacing to keep the luff from scalloping or fluttering between slides. On some systems, you can choose smaller intermediate cars (the cars between the battens) to further reduce the stack height.

A North Sails Rep can help you determine which luff cars are required for your sail and let you know exactly how many of each size you will need. From that you can easily calculate the total stack height of any systems you are considering.

Regards,
Dan Neri

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