Sail repair advice?

GaAs

New Member
We had a windy Sunday on the Willamette River Sunday and while folding up the main at the end of the day I found the middle batten poking out through a tear in the batten sleeve, a photo of which I think I've attached. What's the right way to repair this hole?

Thanks,

Geoff
IMAG0173.jpg
 
We had a windy Sunday on the Willamette River Sunday and while folding up the main at the end of the day I found the middle batten poking out through a tear in the batten sleeve, a photo of which I think I've attached. What's the right way to repair this hole?

Thanks,

Geoff
View attachment 10134
I have done a repair just like this recently. It came with the boat when i bought it. First, i tacked it together with needle and thread to hold the seam together. I then applied sail repair tape-two layers deep. The repair is almost impossible to see and has not shown any problem, so far. One thing that i see from the photo is that it appears that the batten is not long enough to seat in the bottom of the batten pocket where the elastic piece holds it tight. I had a batten slip out recently while raising the sail. I luckily saw it and quickly dropped the main and corrected the problem. On a previous boat i numbered the battens 1-4 to make sure they installed correctly. Or, you can have a sail shop do the repair which means time not sailing. This is our best time of the year for sailing so you have a choice to make. Also, you might try sailing without any battens. Charley
 
Charley, thanks for the reply. You're right, the batten was too short. I cut a new piece to fit, and this has taken the stress off the hole, but I think I'm still gonig to do some stitching. I think this is the original sail sold with the boat, would anyone happen to know the material and weight if I wanted to get some similar material to cover the hole?
 

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