Wood Battens Failed Idea
This was hard to write...but I said from the beginning that this is The Catalina 22 Experiment and...not all experiments work out. This is one of my failed ideas. See Fiberglass Battens - A New Fangled Idea as well.
On older Catalina 22's the Main Sail Battens were made of wood and will eventually rot. I had 2 wood battens left and 2 replacement fiberglass battens.
Which is better? It's up to you to decide. There is quite a bit of flexing that goes on up there in the brunt of the wind. Being an old fashion kind of guy, I rebuilt all my Battens out of wood.
It's simple and a good GYFW (Get Your Feet Wet) kind of project. Here you can try some basic woodworking skills and do a little epoxy work. And when you do your own hand work on your sailboat you feel more intimate with all its workings. Somehow it makes you more in tune with your journey.
Building your own Battens is easy. I made mine out of luan which is readily available at most lumber centers.
1. Remove and number each of the old battens. I number from the top down.
2. Use one of the old battens as a guide to set the width of the fence on your table saw.
3. Cut 4 battens making sure that the outer grain runs lengthwise and there are no voids in the inner plys.
4. Round off all edges and corners by sanding. 5. Number each batten.
6. Bore a hole in the numbered end of the batten and be sure to use a counter-sink to round off both sides of the holes.
7. You will need a small piece of stiff wire mounted in a vice such that you can hang each new batten from it after coating with epoxy.
8. Mixing small batches of epoxy, liberally coat all surfaces of the battens and hand from the wire.
9. Attach pull lines to each batten.
10. Put batten guards on the battens opposite the pull lines.
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