My 6.5 Gators bottom batten stays bent/curved in one direction for some reason after being stored for a month. When there is no/little pressure it bends in opposite direction compared to other battens. No problem when cruising but it gets back winded when waterstarting in light wind (only starboard tack), which is very annoying and tiring.

- Why does it bend, how to avoid?
- Any way to correct it?

It looks like it took a set. Makes one wonder whether the composite was completely cured. Or it is starting to delaminate on one side. Or, if it is a tube batten, the joint between the tube and the rod is starting to crack or weaken. Over the years I have had to replace many tube battens due to this joint failure.

The easy solution is to just replace the batten. Not expensive. Do it before it damages the batten sleeve.

I feel it is a slight defect, some tuning issued,not enough downhaul.
try to apply carefully a little at a time.
place the batten under the mast, then crank or dh.
next if it remains bent when sailing , could then have a issue.
the top batters, not that , are nearly impossible to overtighten, not so lower.

How much tension is on it, does it stay bent when you remove it from the sail.

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cammd said..
How much tension is on it, does it stay bent when you remove it from the sail.

^^^this

sometimes when a battens wound up too tight it takes on a life of its own and sets backwards. The only way to know if it its a defective batten is to take it out and see how it sits by itself.

If its sitting straight, then re-tension the batten only to the point where all the little vertical wrinkles along the pocket disappear. Thats all the tension it needs, generally speaking.

Yes, most sails have the batten sleeve sown to one side of the sail. this "wants" to be the outside of the curve, high batten tension will default the sail to this position. Some sails have the pocket on overlapping seam joins, this centres the batten in the sail, so it has no predisposition which way to set.

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decrepit said..
Yes, most sails have the batten sleeve sown to one side of the sail. this "wants" to be the outside of the curve, high batten tension will default the sail to this position. Some sails have the pocket on overlapping seam joins, this centres the batten in the sail, so it has no predisposition which way to set.

That sounds like a much more factual explanation than "the batten takes on a life of its own"

Thanks guys, i will take it out and check, if its not damaged maybe try some heat process? its hard to find a suitable batten here so i need to find another way.

I have had this before and it was wrong mast or too much battem tension.

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Sea Lotus said..
Thanks guys, i will take it out and check, if its not damaged maybe try some heat process? its hard to find a suitable batten here so i need to find another way.

If it is not damaged, leave it alone
100% sure its too much tension

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Mark _australia said..
If it is not damaged, leave it alone
100% sure its too much tension

Agreed, unless the batten is damaged, it's a rigging problem not a batten problem.

could be a cracked ferrule, will know when you take it out.

Yes, cracked ferrules are the number one problem with my tube battens. The tube weakens and cracks over time, and the ferrule buries into it. Whenever I retire a sail, I always keep the battens so I can fab replacements from the good tubes.

Hey, i got new sails but one of them has a problem imo, probably neglectable effect but do you think i can get a replacement? Since they don't have in stocks i may get a 2022 one after using this for a while :)

2021 3.7 blade came with bottom batten bent in one way slightly and has one huge wrinkle(?). I know i should put more tension on it to reduce the monofilm wrinkles, i did but then there is too much arc and stays in one way, and it doesn't effect the huge wrinkle at all, ao i didn't want to risk it and keep it as it is.

Can you feel the batten smooth when you place your hand over that area? It does look like a broken batten. Press on both sides should feel a sharp edge.

nowhere near enough tension, could easily be a broken batten. does it tension up?

Needs a bit more downhaul say 2cm, looks a bit over outhauled by about 2cmalso. Then tension battens - to get rid of that little winkle near the window but NOT the big on near the mast.
A new sail will not have tensioned battens.

Give us a pic then.

BTW the newer Blades do have some luff wrinkle like the S1's

I heard that due to covid protocols at shipping yards, the shipping containers filled with sails sit for a month or longer down in Miami Florida, and since Ezzy sail battens are pretensioned at the factory the sail is under tension while exposed to high temperatures in the shipping containers sitting in the sun all day for several months sometimes, that warps the sails. Saw a brand new Ezzy sail get setup and the leech looked really loose all the way down even though the downhaul was correct. But battens were fine.

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Sandman1221 said..
I heard that due to covid protocols at shipping yards, the shipping containers filled with sails sit for a month or longer down in Miami Florida, and since Ezzy sail battens are pretensioned at the factory the sail is under tension while exposed to high temperatures in the shipping containers sitting in the sun all day for several months sometimes, that warps the sails. Saw a brand new Ezzy sail get setup and the leech looked really loose all the way down even though the downhaul was correct. But battens were fine.

That sucks. Probably impacts sail longevity as well.

Ok i put more downhaul and less outhaul, tensioned bottom batten to the max to get rid of wrinkles, again, it seems to have too much arc and slightly wants to bend in one way(4th pic).
After looking closely there is an extra layer of fabric starting around at that bump point (on both sides for 3.7, only one side for 4.2), maybe glue problem caused it to slide, then it probably got stitched that way to the sail which olso causes the sail to have that extra wrinkle.







2021 4.2, has the same fabric bump (this side only) but very suttle and stitching is normal.




2020 4.7, doesn't have it.




Do you think they would agree for replacement?

Looks to me like you need more batten tension on the bottom batten on all those sails. Keep tensioning until the creases perpendicular to the batten pocket go away. Then go sail it.

I'd say you have gone too far the other way now.

With the blades, downhaul until that third batten from the top pulls away from the mast and is nearly flat, then outhaul until the bottom two battens are just less than half way rotated around the mast, then tension all the battens until the vertical wrinkles just disappear. The top batten I usually over tension slightly. Its only a matter of 1cm here and there to get it just right.
I have put a dot with a tester pen on the leech about 16 inches in from the first mini batten in the head, this is the point where it goes loose to.
I find that with Severne sails that once set, they have a natural wind range and then adjust the outhaul to suit the conditions rather that cranking on the downhaul.
The red sail only needs a little more tension but the smaller sail needs quite a bit more batten tension.

Also, when you tie off the outhaul, adjust your boom length so theres not much sticking out, that will make the clew side bounce around a lot from side to side.

Did you feel the batten there? Especially before tensioning.

What are you specs, looks like you could use more downhaul. You like sailing underpowered baggy soft conditions?

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sheddweller said..
Looks to me like you need more batten tension on the bottom batten on all those sails. Keep tensioning until the creases perpendicular to the batten pocket go away. Then go sail it.

Bottom batten of 3.7 is tensioned to max, it has a bigger belly than all my other blades, maybe its hard to tell from photos, i tensioned all 15 battens. All creases except the big ones near the luff (top battens have small ones too) are gone, big ones are from the sail design i guess, as Mark mentioned, but still big difference between sails, for example 4.2 has less.

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Manuel7 said..
Did you feel the batten there? Especially before tensioning.

What are you specs, looks like you could use more downhaul. You like sailing underpowered baggy soft conditions?

Yes, batten is not broken, smooth, bump is caused by sail material.
3.7 has an adjustable mast head, even after i thighten it to lowest setting, it stretches about 3-4cm away from tip of the sail, specs say 372, i use 376, last time i rigged was 375 because wind was a little light for 3.7 but i wanted to try it :) i normally like a lot of downhaul, normal outhaul and be slightly overpowered.

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Madge said..
I'd say you have gone too far the other way now.

With the blades, downhaul until that third batten from the top pulls away from the mast and is nearly flat, then outhaul until the bottom two battens are just less than half way rotated around the mast, then tension all the battens until the vertical wrinkles just disappear. The top batten I usually over tension slightly. Its only a matter of 1cm here and there to get it just right.
I have put a dot with a tester pen on the leech about 16 inches in from the first mini batten in the head, this is the point where it goes loose to.
I find that with Severne sails that once set, they have a natural wind range and then adjust the outhaul to suit the conditions rather that cranking on the downhaul.
The red sail only needs a little more tension but the smaller sail needs quite a bit more batten tension.

Also, when you tie off the outhaul, adjust your boom length so theres not much sticking out, that will make the clew side bounce around a lot from side to side.

There is only 1cm downhaul difference between first rigging, but it was after a session so mast head bands might have stretched more after absorbing water, i would say last time was min, this time is max.
Boom is at smallest setting so there has to be about 4cm gap between clew, but it's not worth buying another boom for that alone.
Why do you put extra tension to top battens?
Do you mean the ones at very top or second from bottom?

Yeah because the sail is loose up there so it's supposed to provide a bit more support to the top panels.

Longer boom means that when your sail transitions, it'll feel a little wobbly and less crisp. The line may wear faster from the constant sliding.

The fold does look like a defect. What does severne say?

A bit difficult to get the top cap in tight, so long as the extension of within specs, all good.

1cm stretch from brand new makes sense.

There is not enough tension on the lower battens. You need to tension them more.

Oh yeah... forgot to ask, what do you mean you tensioned them to the max?

Correct tension is basically achieved as soon as wrinkles are gone. If the batten starts to S around and want to stay bent one way then it's too much.

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Manuel7 said..
Oh yeah... forgot to ask, what do you mean you tensioned them to the max?

Correct tension is basically achieved as soon as wrinkles are gone. If the batten starts to S around and want to stay bent one way then it's too much.

Yes, batten making "S", as seen in pic 4, and wants to stay like that. There was olso a lot of resistance to twist the batten screw for last rotations, which made me think it was the limit and i didn't want to force more before getting advice.
I tensioned 1st and 2nd battens (from bottom) till small wrinkles on monofilm are gone but the big wrinkles near luff stayed same, just twisted the top ones several times until i feel some resistance, not much visual clue.

I asked Severne now, i will share their thoughts here once they reply.
Olso learned that new blades rig flatter, according to severneshop.uk video on youtube.

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sheddweller said..
There is not enough tension on the lower battens. You need to tension them more.

Still not sure about that, i explained the reasons.

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Sea Lotus said.. Still not sure about that, i explained the reasons.

I suspect sheddweller hasn't read the whole thread. I'm wondering if you can unpick the stitches that have "caught' loose cloth into a tuck. You'd have to stop adjoining stitches from unraveling. But if it's under warranty you shouldn't have to

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Sandman1221 said..
I heard that due to covid protocols at shipping yards, the shipping containers filled with sails sit for a month or longer down in Miami Florida, and since Ezzy sail battens are pretensioned at the factory the sail is under tension while exposed to high temperatures in the shipping containers sitting in the sun all day for several months sometimes, that warps the sails. Saw a brand new Ezzy sail get setup and the leech looked really loose all the way down even though the downhaul was correct. But battens were fine.

According to Ezzy sails they have been shipping sails by plane the last year, so if sails baking in shipping containers at ports was a problem before that, it is not a problem anymore for Ezzy sails.