You will notice that in the picture above the sail is wound loosely. This is partly because the battens are not installed in the sail at right angles to the luff. If the battens were removed, or the batten pockets made perpendicular to the luff, the roll would be nice and tight. Albeit at some slight loss of sail performance (a travesty!
). My sail cover is roomy in any case, so it doesn't make any difference to me. It might even be a benefit by allowing a sail that was put away in the rain to dry out quicker (sail covers usually have an open seam along the bottom for free air movement).Mastreb - Thanks for the Spinlock endorsement. Hard to tell how well those things work without knowing someone who has used them in our (Mac M) situation.
I found the drawing for the part at work today, so now I don't need access to my boat to measure to make another one. Since I made the original from mild steel on hand, I'll have to get some stainless, and a stainless screw, to make the part. I'm presently making another product specifically to fit in a thing called a USPS small flat rate box, this will also fit it, so I can easily run it across the border and the shipping cost would be low, known, and fixed. If you haven't found an alternative, and still want the part made, PM me and I'll take care of it that way to conform to forum rules. Or anyone else want one?
There is another simple part that I have in mind but not proved out yet that goes in the mast/boom area that should further ease luff handling, if there are difficulties that still remain. But it might not be necessary so I will keep that under my hat for now until I get to the boat and have a chance to debug it, if needed, in the spring. (Not done yet!
)-B.
