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Velcro closure for batten pockets?


wkisting

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Hi all,

 

The lower seam on a couple of my batten pockets on my CS20 sails has let go. I'll need to repair the stitching so I don't eventually lose a batten, but as I get ready to do the repairs, I've been thinking about eliminating the laces that are normally used to tie the flap shut to retain the batten after it's inserted into the pocket.

 

I'm thinking about sewing a small square of velcro onto the pocket flap, with a corresponding piece of (adhesive) velcro on the end of the batten. Any reason that wouldn't work? Somewhere I've heard someone mention having velcro battens/pockets, but I've never actually seen it done that way. If you have any advice/suggestions, let me know! I'm thinking the velcro will shave a minute or two off the rigging time, which would be nice.

 

Wes

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I've had Velcro batten pocket attachments on a few boats and they work well. The loop is there to make them easy to remove. You need a batten poker to tension them...essentially a stick with a handle so you can put one end of the stick in a small pocket on the Velcro strap so you can poke it over the back of the batten and in firmly, adjacent to the Velcro sewn on the inside of the pocket.

post-425-0-91901700-1378089075_thumb.jpgpost-425-0-11441400-1378089101_thumb.jpg

 

Cheers

Peter HK

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Thanks for the input--especially the pictures. That's the idea I had in mind, but I'm envisioning something slightly simpler.

 

I have batten pockets sewn to my sails. There is a short flap that closes over the trailing end of each batten to retain it. You insert the batten, then lace the flap closed with a reef knot. In my experience, however, the lacing simply holds the flap down... the flap doesn't actually seem to do much "work" to retain the batten because the batten is already under tension. (There is a loop of elastic deep inside the pocket. The elastic puts tension on the leading end of the batten, and the trailing end jams snugly against the underside of the flap.) In fact, if you did not tie the flap down, the battens will stay in--at least until the sails start flogging, which is usually enough force to shake them loose. When they shake loose, the trailing end slips above or below the flap, and then the batten is free to slide out all the way.

 

So I'm thinking I could affix a small piece of velcro to the end of each batten, plus a matching piece to the underside of the flap. That way, I could just slide in the batten, then press the flap shut (or lift it again to remove them after sailing). Basically, the velcro would merely be holding the flap shut and preventing the batten end from sliding above or below the side of the flap to escape. Any reason that wouldn't work? It's less elaborate than what Peter depicted, and I would think it would be easier/quicker to use with no need for a batten poker/stick. But I'm wondering if I'm overlooking some obvious problem... otherwise, why wouldn't sailmakers just normally do it that way?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just reporting back on the results...

 

I tried sewing some velcro onto my batten pockets. I put a short strip of adhesive velcro on the end of each batten, then a sewed a matching strip onto the underside of the flap that closes each batten pocket. I'm fairly certain the velcro isn't strong enough to keep the flap shut if the sails flog vigorously (such as when turning across the wind or caught "in irons"). However, the velcro does prevent the batten from shifting upward or downward to work its way out from under the batten flap. So I still consider it an improvement because, although I still have to lace the batten flaps closed, I don't have to lace them so tightly as I did before. It didn't turn out like I was expecting, but I like it enough that, although I only did the mainsail so far, I'm going to do the mizzen the same way.

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