[Rhodes22-list] Round batten and wrinkles in new main?

[ROGER PIHLAJA]

Hi Mike,

To my eye, although the overall sail shape at the draft stripe looks pretty good, the vertical wrinkles in the aft 2/3 of the sail suggest insufficient horizontal tension.  On my fully battened mainsail, the batten pockets have a couple of overlapping Velcro straps.  These straps are used to compress the battens and pre stretch the fabric.  If I don’t get the tension correct, the result is vertical wrinkles similar to your sail.  What does the sail look like with the Doyle supplied round batten installed?  Because it fits inside the batten pocket, I’m thinking it might provide the horizontal tension the sail needs.

Alsi, it looks like you might have your leech cord a little too tight because the leech has some curl.  But, less leech tension probably won’t cure the vertical wrinkles.

Another experiment you can try, grab the leech up as high as you can reach and pull aft.  If the vertical wrinkles go away; then, this is pretty definitive that you need more horizontal tension.  You may need to cut your old batten until it just fits inside the batten pocket .

As far as wrinkles from shipping, I’m skeptical. it’s true the resin used to seal the porosity in the sailcloth makes it much stiffer and the resin will soften with use.  But, it’s been my experience that a new sail fits the best and has the best sail shape on the day you get it from the sailmaker.  After that, it’s a challenge to maintain that new shape as it slowly degrades.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 21, 2022, at 11:42 PM, Graham Stewart <gstewart.gm at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Personally, I would be very skeptical of that explanation.
> 
> 
>> On Wed, Dec 21, 2022 at 10:58 PM Michael McKay <mm.bizlist1 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> 
>> Happy Holiday Fellow Rhodies!
>> 
>> I just installed a new IMF mainsail I ordered from Doyle Barbados.  It
>> came with a round batten which was way too short for the batten pocket.  I
>> installed my old batten which is flat and fit well, although it protrudes
>> about 1/2” out of the pocket.
>> 
>> Doyle claims that round battens became standard for R22 mainsails about
>> 8-10 years ago. Can anyone confirm that?
>> 
>> In addition, the sail has prominent wrinkles behind and below the draft
>> stripe (see attached photo).  Doyle gave me the following explanation—does
>> this sound credible to you?
>> 
>>> The wrinkles you are seeing in the cloth are from shipping creases and
>> impacts from shipping with the sail while being folded. (For example, a
>> package gets dropped on end when in transit and the sail hits the edge of
>> the box with a bit of force on a crease and therefore creates a pinch).
>> This will smooth and flatten out with some use.  I can say that with
>> absolute confidence as you can see from the picture that the wrinkles are
>> not emanating from any  panel seams but instead are coming out of the fold
>> lines. Woven Dacron is sealed with a resin which makes a porous weave
>> closed and therefore efficient for use as a sail. That resin is initially
>> quite hard but softens with use and time, as the sail gets used it will
>> smooth out quite a bit.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Michael McKay
>> s/v Liber, 2006/2108
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Graham Stewart
> Agile 76
> 
> 
> -- 
> Graham Stewart
> Agile 76