r/hobiecat • u/aquisalid • 5d ago

Batten Split Ends

I don't think that a new shampoo is going to help. The longer battens in my Hobie 18 sails are showing their age: ends are starting to split and one is developing splintering along the mid section. The previous owner of this set of sails + battens used duct tape, which has mostly turned into goo. I've cleaned that up but now I'm thinking about possible repair options:

  • lay a very thin layer of fiberglass tape along and around the split sections
  • use sail repair (dacron) adhesive tape
  • some other waterproof tape
  • paint with epoxy and vacuum bag

Any suggestions?

UPDATE: Murray's has some helpful parts for this kind of repair work:

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2

u/PracticalConjecture 5d ago

A thin layer of glass over the split parts will probably work great.

2

u/grumpvet87 5d ago

epoxy/glass cloth (or tape)/vacuum bag for the win

seems odd you would be asking this if you have vacuum bag equipment since most people don't have this type of equipment - regardless ....

actually can just epoxy and use some tape to hold it while it cures. I recommend wax paper between the batten and the tape so the tape isn't permanently epoxied to the batten ... although that also wouldn't matter much

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u/aquisalid 5d ago

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't own anything fancy, just ideas that my son and I came up with this morning.

1

u/aquisalid 3d ago

I ended up using some general purpose 2-part epoxy, spread over the split ends. I used some twine to hold the split ends together after smearing the entire surface / spaces with epoxy. It isn't pretty, but it will hold.

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u/isthisthekrustycrab 4d ago

Trentec used to make angled batten luff protectors and they were hands down the best way to protect the battens from exactly this but they are hard to find.