Attaching Mainsail to Batten Cars

[KiwiBeanie]

Hi All

I have a new sail and just trying to work out the best method to attach the luff to the batten cars. The old sail had  the batten car swivels sewn into webbing the luff but the new sail just has eyelets and webbing so need to connect the swivels in some fashion (the batten ends are fine as it has the correct connection so just the connection without battens).

Ideal option would be to take the sail to a sailmaker and have the webbing removed and resown with the swivels but what other options would be suitable - dyneema soft shackle, stainless D shackle, binding with cord?

What's the best approach do you think?

Thanks

[Rampage]

I’d replicate the way the old sail was but used twisted shackles to minimise the twist imparted to the cars.

[Yngmar]

The best approach is what you already described, the empty webbing loops have to be cut and the stainless fittings of the cars sewn with new ones onto the sail. Anything else (shackles, soft-shackles, etc.) would not work well as it would create an extended gap between the sail and the car. Then that distance wouldn't match with the cars that have a batten fitting attached to them.

No reason you can't do it yourself though. Get some polyester webbing and thread/twine and start sewing

[KiwiBeanie]

"I’d replicate the way the old sail was but used twisted shackles to minimise the twist imparted to the cars."

The cars attachment swivels (spins) so will move to suit the direction of the shackle

"The best approach is what you already described, the empty webbing loops have to be cut and the stainless fittings of the cars sewn with new ones onto the sail. Anything else (shackles, soft-shackles, etc.) would not work well as it would create an extended gap between the sail and the car. Then that distance wouldn't match with the cars that have a batten fitting attached to them."

If I cut the webbing off and put a shackle through the eyelet I would get the same distance as the batten holders. As the bat car fittings swivel I am not sure why a soft webbing is necessary? Its the way it was done and I've seen it on other boats so must be a reason,.

[Yngmar]

Webbing is much preferable to metal shackles. Less wear (no metal on metal), quieter, lighter weight and won't damage anything when the sail is flogging.

Soft shackles would be very difficult to make short enough - they need a minimum length to be able to open/close.

[Mirror45184]

webbing is cheaper than shackles and does not come undone at the most inappropriate time!