Vertical battens for 44DS in mast furling.

[garrymac]

Hi all

i have a 44ds with in-mast furling and a sparcraft mast. Current sails are the Jeanneau supplied laminate performance sails for main and 106% jib.
Being used mostly for club races I am keen to improve upwind performance, particularly in light winds.
I am contemplating a new main with vertical battens to provide a good roach, and also vertical battens on a new jib to give it a roach also as a means of increasing jib sail area.

My question - has any 44DS owner with sparcraft mast done this and how did it go?   I am looking to understand impact on  performance, boat balance, trouble free furling, full or partial length battens, type of fabric and battens deployed, etc.   I hear of Jeanneau owners of other boat types that seem to like the benefit of vertical battens, but not for a 44DS and with reference to the main only, not the jib.

[andreshs1]

Following

Cheers

[saltymetals]

Garry,
I have the 43ds (2004) and last year i dumped the original in-mast furling main and the 150% genoa. Neither of these had any battens at all and after 15 years had become rather useless, particularly going to windward.  I replaced them with a polyester+dyneema laminate by Banks Sails, Bari, Italy. Old main was 34sq m and new, vertically battened is +20% at 41 sq m. There are 5 full length battens with the lower ends being slightly staggered in length. In the leach there are 4 short battens between the longer full length ones. Can send you a pic if you like. The ends of the battens have a metal shoe on them to make a sail-friendly pressure at the end of each pocket in the sail. The 150% genoa is only a slight increase from 54 sq m to 55 sq m, with a slightly higher clew but not extreme yankee style, no battens and with a foam luff. Reason i asked for the higher clew was to improve forward visibility under the foot of the sail. As an alternative i suppose you could have a lower clew and see-through panels on the genoa but i preferred to avoid that.

While the Jeanneau manual has all the dimensions, Banks insisted on taking detailed measurements since they say that they often find differences between boats of the same model such that a supplier of sails as original equipment will usually make them a little smaller to be sure their set of sails will fit every boat of the same model.  So whoever you decide to use  you should insist they take measurements rather than accept the factory details. I don't know where your boat is located but i would personally strongly recommend Banks. They did a great job. 

I used to have jamming of the main in the mast slot about 50% of the time with the old main. With the new main it has never jammed. If you have problems there are three things to consider. 1) only just enough halyard tension to get the horizontal folds out of the luff, do not overdo it or you press the furled sail against the slot too much about halfway up the mast, while on this subject it is important you relax the halyard tension when you are closing up the boat, 2) do not bend the mast more than about 50% of the chord, 3) move the stopper on the boom back to at least halfway along the boom. These three things are about all the magic you need to stop any jamming.

Send me a PM with yr email addr if you would like any pics of my new sails. 

The Banks sail loft in Bari makes the laminate sails for all their European outlets as well as their more expensive competition sails which they call "Membrane". On my previous boat (Beneteau Oceanis 400 hull #1)  i had a genoa, spi & gennaker made by Banks/Hamble because the original Elvestrom sails were a disaster. I also changed the main to a new , larger one with vertical battens but that was mid 90's when very few people were supplying mains with vertical battens. So it was a pleasant coincidence when i was at Ranieri Marina/Bari to discover a much larger and more advanced loft of Banks in Bari. 

Andrew   

[andreshs1]

Hi Andrew

Sending you a PM

Cheers

[alenka]

Andrew,

Are you still in Croatia or back at Cleopatra?

If it had not been for Covid I would have ordered new sails from WayPoint but I see little point if they are going to sit folded in bags below decks for much of the summer.  I have felt for some time that my existing main has been cut a little on the small side and it would be interesting to compare.

Is yours a Sparcraft mast?  The opening seems much narrower then on Sparcraft than on other makes and I wondered how it might cope with battens.

[saltymetals]

Andreshs, i do not seem to hv rcd a PM from you but will try and send a few pics on this thread if i can work out how to do it.

Alenka, No, i was not in Cleopatra. In Croatia Jly to mid Sept 2020 then back to Ranieri marina/Bari, S Italy where my boat has now been for the last 3 winters. Excellent security, v professional boatyard, mooring costs reasonable, and only ten mins from the airport which has direct international flights from many places, including London. In extremis, I can take Alitalia via Rome. 

When Banks Sails was measuring my boat they also measured the slot in the mast for the main. I do not remember the make of my mast but suppose all the 43ds models are the same. If i remember correctly Banks said that they needed 12mm min and in fact i think my slot is 15-16mm but my memory could be wrong so best not to take this as gospel. Have never had any jamming problems with the new laminated main from Banks.
Andrew

[andreshs1]

Thanks for the pics Andrew
I have just replied to your email

I am keen on getting as much information as possible, very difficult to get a competent sailmaker here in HK

cheers

[alenka]

Yes indeed, thanks for pictures.  You are making me think twice about going with WayPoint for my new sails.

[Spritz]

almost same sails built by WSAIL in LAVAGNA (Italy), same result, increase speed, no jam .... till now....

mine is a 2011 42DS