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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Some help with batten size?

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Keith D.
Navigator

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USA
233 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/25/2008 : 16:15:51

I just picked up one of those new Catalina sails and was comparing it to my old main.
One major difference I noticed was the batten pockets. On my old sail the batten pockets are 2” wide and have 1 ¼” battens in them, which are quiet, flat and thin. The batten pockets on the new sail are right at 1 ¼’’ and my old battens will fit but they are a very tight fit. My guess is that they went to a smaller (not as wide) but maybe a thicker batten. Does anyone have access to their battens for the main I do not need length just thickness and width. Also I took the third from the top batten (about 90”) and held the end of it parallel to the floor with one hand and I needed to pick it up about 4 feet before the other end came off of the floor. This would give me an indication of how stiff the battens are.

Keith
Southern California
250wb Hull #8

Edited by - on

frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2008 : 21:42:12

Battens on my 04 main are 7/8" wide and 3/32" thick. The pocket is 2" wide. Hope that helps.

Edited by - on

JohnMD
Navigator

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USA
207 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2008 : 07:40:27

Keith, I also bought one of the Ebay sails (it hasn't arrived yet). I measured the battens on my '95 250WB and it also has battens 1.25 inches wide. I looked on Catalina Direct's website and they have some battens that are 5/8 wide x .120 thick. They list for 19.95 + shipping. I think that's probably what I'm going to do.

Edited by - on

AADIVER
Admiral

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USA
966 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2008 : 15:37:31

How much did you guys pay for yours, including shipping? I just picked up the last one they had at their warehouse in Compton, CA: $433.00 including CA state tax. I guess 20 or so bucks more to get the battens. If it wasn't for these deals, how much would a replacement main cost and from where? Catalina Direct doesn't have them.

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John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2008 : 16:05:05

$680 on the [url="http://nationalsail.com/mcart/index.cgi?code=3&cat=15"]National Sail[/url] website. I bought my 135%from them. They are Rolley Tasker Sails made in Thailand.

They only list prices for the C25 but I found that the prices for the C250 135% headsail to be the same.

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JohnMD
Navigator

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USA
207 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2008 : 16:25:43

I have seen main sails on different sites for around 900+ bucks. Some of the cheaper sails are a lighter oz fabric which, of course, won't hold up as well. A friend of mine bought an 'econo' sail and it lasted about a year before a good blow came along and just shredded it. Hard to compare prices unless you know both sails are made of the same weight fabric.

I ended up paying 400 + 39 bucks UPS. If the sail's in good shape, I think it's a great deal.

Edited by - JohnMD on 10/27/2008 16:29:34

AADIVER
Admiral

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USA
966 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2008 : 17:49:08

John, how did you avoid paying sales tax? My '01 main is still in good shape; I bought the 400 buck one as a backup. Know how we can buy numbers for less than 5 bucks each? My number is 558. 30 bucks for six letters seems rather high. Also, best place to buy battens?

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JohnMD
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USA
207 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2008 : 19:37:13

When you buy over the internet, you don't pay taxes unless the vendor has retail outlets in your state. I live in Texas and the merchant has no retail outlets here. Sometimes tax is the difference between a good deal and a really good deal.

Look back a couple of lines and you can see what I'm going to do about battens. (19.95 + shipping at Catalina Direct)

I'm not going to put numbers on mine. If I were to, I'd call a couple of sail lofts in the local area and ask them what you should do.

Edited by - on

bill bosworth
Navigator

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USA
172 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2008 : 22:21:06

Keith;
I also got one of the $400 main sails, it came today and is really beautiful, but as you say the batten pockets are different. I'm wondering if the batten is the same material as the batten instilation tool that came with the sail which measures about 5/8 x 1/8". I looked at the Catalina direct site, the batten set that I saw for $19.95 is for a catalina 25 with much shorter battens.
I did a rough measurement and found that the sail will use about 28feet of batten material.
In the Sailrite catalog they show a 5/8" batten for $1.25/ft and a 1" catamaran batten, stiffer, with a larger rib section, for $2.50/ft. West marine shows 5/8" batten stock at $1.99 / ft. I couldn't find any batten stock that measured 7/8" x 3/32"
I'll try my battens tomorrow and see how they fit.
My old main is in fairly good condition, but couldn't pass up the deal, sure like the looks of the new sail. I had already ordered a new 110 jib from Catalina as I blew out the Leach on the old one and figured it was time for a new one, I'm still wating for the jib. It sure will be nice to have a new suit of sails on the old boat.

Has anyone got a source for battens?? Is the 5/8 or 7/8" size correct??

Bill
C250wb #134 Serendipity
on beautiful Kerr Lake, NC

Edited by - on

frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2008 : 22:55:10

I don't know about the 3/8" ones. That is about the size of my C-15 battens. The three battens from my 250 main are 7/8" x 3/32" and are 63 3/8", 90 1/8", 111 7/8" long.

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Keith D.
Navigator

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USA
233 Posts

Response Posted - 10/28/2008 : 00:00:38

I picked mine up at the warehouse and paid with pay-pal. Pay-pal had a 10% off coupon on any purchase which gave me $40.00 off. These are factory original sails that could not get delivered to Catalina because they moved and the shipper did not have the new address. As for the sail numbers you can get them at Annapolis Performance Sailing on the web at APSLTD.com. They have them in any color and size, precut or digital for 1.75 to 3.35 each. The size for a 250 sail is 12” It looks like I will get some 7/8” X 3/32 battens . I have the fourth top batten at 34” Thanks for the information from everyone.

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JohnMD
Navigator

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USA
207 Posts

Response Posted - 10/28/2008 : 07:24:56

Keith, please let us know where you end up getting your battens and the length we need. Thanks

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bill bosworth
Navigator

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USA
172 Posts

Response Posted - 10/28/2008 : 10:00:52

I pulled one of the battens out of my old sail to try it in the new, my old batten seems to measure about .01 in. x .93 in. which is close to 3/32 x 15/16. I tried it in the new sail and it fits well, if not a little long. The Sailrite catalog lists 1" battens at $1.75/ft but doesn't give the thickness, they also sell the endcaps for .65 ea. It's to cold today to try the new sail out, but should warm up by the weekend, new toys are great fun!

Bill
Serendipity c250wb #134 on Kerr lake N.C.

Edited by - on

Navy1
Navigator

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USA
126 Posts

Response Posted - 10/28/2008 : 19:49:51

Talking about battens, the battens with my 2004 give me irritating slivers when I handle them, even carefully. I went over the battens with a fine steel wool, to try to smooth them over, but it didn't help. Any ideas? Roger

Edited by - on

jlannutti
Navigator

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USA
102 Posts

Response Posted - 10/29/2008 : 06:59:16

I bought the second of the sails that they sold. I called about the first and spoke to them; I was afraid that they may be "factory seconds" or something less than perfect. When they assured me that this was not the case I intended to place my order the next morning. Then my computer started acting up. By the time I was back up and running...two days the original sail had been sold for 350 and they were asking 400 for the next one. I called them and the gentleman remembered me and sold to me for the original price of 350 plus 32 for shipping...it came to Philadelphia in two days.
As for Catalina Direct I had called them to compare price and although they don't list it on the web they do have Catalina 250 sails. She didn't know who made them but they are loose footed (a huge plus in my opinion) and are in the 900 range.

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jlannutti
Navigator

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USA
102 Posts

Response Posted - 10/29/2008 : 07:05:52

Navy 1,
An old timer who was a P/O of my first boat, a Columbia Contender '1965 gave me this tip. Paint those battens with a thin coat of clear nail polish to reduce those invisible splinters. I did and it worked well. Years later on another boat I was fresh out of nail polish (I guess I must have been letting myself go) so I used spray on polyurethane and got satisfactory results.

Joe

Edited by - on

JohnMD
Navigator

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USA
207 Posts

Response Posted - 10/30/2008 : 06:35:05

Has anyone contacted Catalina about getting battens for these sails? If anyone has a good phone number or email address I'll be glad to see how much they want for a set of battens.

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bill bosworth
Navigator

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USA
172 Posts

Response Posted - 10/30/2008 : 21:20:46

I put the new main on our boat today, I was able to use my old battens, had to shorten #2 by about 3/4". The sail looks great, a couple of differences between old and new; less draft,it's a much flatter sail, a very large second reef, much larger than my origional, more headroom under the boom, seems to be 1 to 2 inches higher at outhaul end of the boom, different batten pockets, bottem sail slug attached with a line for reefing. It's been a very long time since I had a new mainsail, sure is dirrerent trying to flake it, seems like trying to fold up sheet metal compared to my old sail. I'm looking forward to trying it out, hope there's some wind tomorrow.

Bill c250 wb #134 Serendipity
on Kerr Lake, NC

Edited by - on

Keith D.
Navigator

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USA
233 Posts

Response Posted - 10/31/2008 : 19:36:00

Picked up some battens for my new sail. I found some at Minney’s Yacht surplus. A little high tech for a Catalina 250 but they should do. They are carbon fiber, foam core, tapered battens. $16 for the set and they even came with a batten bag with a Velcro closure which looks like a batten pocket. They are just short of 1” wide and should fit in the 1 ¼” pocket in the new sail. They are super light and the tapered battens are suppose to give you a better control of the shape of the sail.

Edited by - on

JohnMD
Navigator

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USA
207 Posts

Response Posted - 11/08/2008 : 17:26:35

The bottom slug on my new sail has a piece of rope that attaches it to the sail. Is everyone else's sail set up that way? My original sail has all the slugs sewn on with a piece of material. I can take one off the original sail and use that, not my first choice.

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