Sail Tape

Do you have plastic pocket protectors on the sail? If you do and just poked your batten through a little back of the protector it should work (just wrap the batten ends in tape to prevent it from happening again). If you don't then get some and rivet them on. Otherwise probably need a stiched patch.

D.

sail tape is not a permanent solution here.

i would suggest you replace your batten pocket ends. If it happened to 1 its very possible it will happen to the others.

constant loading and unloading, sun and age all work against those plastic batten ends.

i recently had all mine replaced when i had a new bolt rope/luff put on my sail.

Well I plan on purchasing a new main this winter ( got to get one as sharp as that Canadian Canine (Wolfman) I just want to get through the week. Then have it patched. and yes I have pocket protectors.

I use these

Put them on the luff end of the batten and slide them into the batten pocket. http://www.murrays.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=50-11322011&Category_Code=C-B-A&Store_Code=MS

Steve do you have fiberglass or foam battens? Would it work for either?

Here is a photo of a batten end cap and a pocket protector. With the thickness of the sail cloth it will be a tight fit. The pocket protector will bow out.
I have a combination of foam and fiberglass battens. As the foam ones break they get replaced with hand tapered fiberglass.

I fill my port covers with spray foam. Once it drys cut it flush with the threads with a hacksaw blade. Now they wont sink if they are dropped over the side
.

edited by: skarr1, Jul 15, 2010 - 10:01 PM

Why didn't I think of that.

skarr1 wrote:
I fill my port covers with spray foam. Once it drys cut it flush with the threads with a hacksaw blade. Now they wont sink if they are dropped over the side
. edited by: skarr1, Jul 15, 2010 - 10:01 PM

Genius.. I lost one last weekend getting a beer out -- it just spun right off into the drink.

Genius.. I lost one last weekend getting a beer out -- it just spun right off into the drink.

Thats why you should have the KEG on the tramp 🙂

a few years ago, while rigging i had a few cute girls come by and ask me a about my cat. i was distracted and forgot to put my drain plugs in.

After i launched off the beach and started my first tack.. i quickly realized something was very wrong... and it dawned on me that i may not have put my plugs in.

so i opened my rear 6" port to see if there was water in the hull.... that was a mistake. as i unscrewed it... all the pressure in my hulls (from being 1/4 full) made the port lid fly about 4' in the air. (i wasn't able to catch it)

luckily it landed flat and was floating.. but i had to tack again to get it..

i couldn't have been more than a few 100 feet of the beach but by the time i made it back... i was "sittin mighty low".

it took a few of us 20 minutes of draining / pulling up the beach .... draining more and pulling it up the beach to drain both hulls.

PS i like the foam idea... wonder if it would get water logged or mildew?

edited by: andrewscott, Jul 19, 2010 - 11:24 AM

i replaced my old lids with clear lids so i could see if i was sinking without opening the port under sail. the new ones have a spot to screw a stainless "I" hook in them for tieing off. i tied them off with paracord to the jib block wires in the hull and re-siliconed them. now the lids can't leave the boat. the new ones were 12$ each at west(lid and port).

Alot of good ideas. Here's what I do. Attach a small line to the back side of the lid on one end, and string it through a sponge on the other. The sponge is larger than the opening, preventing the lid from being lost, and provides the tool to remove the last bit of water.

mummp wrote: Alot of good ideas. Here's what I do. Attach a small line to the back side of the lid on one end, and string it through a sponge on the other. The sponge is larger than the opening, preventing the lid from being lost, and provides the tool to remove the last bit of water.

This also sounds like a great idea but I've got cat bags in my only 2 inspection ports, so no go for me.

SPONGE BOB!!

You could also super glue them shut, I am going with the sponge

Andrew, you must always remember that although you have two heads, you do not have enough blood for both to function at the same time.
When cute girls come along, drop all other tasks, the end result of multitasking is proving you can screw up several things at once!
I laugh with you,not at you, because I did a similar dumb thing two weeks ago, & there were no girls, cute or mud fences to impair my judgment.
In the excitement to put my cat in the water & dump it,(so we could try to right it) I forgot to tighten the drain plugs that i had loosened in order to let pressure equalize. Ya i know, dumb idea, the pressure will equalize through the few rivets in the jib tracks that I didn't seal. Anyway, we couldn't dump the thing. Me hiked out, & my buddy hiked out on my shoulders finally, just barely got it to tip, then of course we needed 3 people to right it.
Pretty stable boat my buddy says, then it dawned on me...DUH