I had a new vertical battened sail built for my SM 243 and am very happy with it's shape and performance.  As long as you keep the boom perpendicular to the mast when furling and unfurling there isn't any problem.
 
Kent
Kristy
SM243

Re battened main- sm349 had movable battens from Doyle. Do not do this. I took them out and put in long thin vertical battens in Ft. Lauderdale. The ends at the leech tore out on trip from Ft Lauderdale to Wilmington NC. I had Paul Lockwood , Omar Sails in Beaufort. The real answer to the problem is to (1) widen the groove in the back of the mast to fit a slightly bigger batten and to stop the sail jamming in it or (2) use the boom roller furling systems. What do all of you think of (1). Would 3/8 inch on each side weaken the mast? Or ¼ off each side and replace the edge guard of course. Murray Seidel.



From: amelyachtowners@... [mailto:amelyachtowners@...] On Behalf Of Kent Robertson
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 5:56 PM
To: amelyachtowners@...
Subject: Re: [Amel] Replacement Main Sail





I had a new vertical battened sail built for my SM 243 and am very happy with it's shape and performance. As long as you keep the boom perpendicular to the mast when furling and unfurling there isn't any problem.

Kent
Kristy
SM243

--- On Wed, 1/20/10, paraic44 <paraic44@... <mailto:paraic44%40yahoo.com> > wrote:

From: paraic44 <paraic44@... <mailto:paraic44%40yahoo.com> >
Subject: [Amel] Replacement Main Sail
To: amelyachtowners@... <mailto:amelyachtowners%40yahoogroups.com>
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 1:34 PM



We requested a quote for a replacement Gateff main sail for our 1998 SM from Doyle Sails. One option offered was a quote for a battened sail. We would be pleased to accept advice from whosoever has experience of vertical battens on inmast furling sails

Myra & Paraic
SV Saol Eile
SM 228

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Murray,

You asked for an opinion. Like most, I have several.

We have experienced chaffing near the leech in two places on #387. Each spot is where the tri-radial sections are joined horizontally. At these two spots the thickness of the furled mainsail is greater. I assume that chaffing may be occurring because the groove on the main mast is not quite wide enough. I had considered replacing our sails with battened sails from Demi Voiles in France, but have decided that adding battens to the equation is not really in the cards when it is a little tight without them.

Secondly, I would urge you not to take action on a mast modification based on any opinions. I believe what you suggest is an engineering study and I am not sure if you could find all of the specifications needed to perform a proper analysis.

Lastly, most of the Amel modifications I have seen tend to devalue the boat.

I hope this helps, but it is just opinions!

Best,

Bill
s/v BeBe, SM2, #387
halfway around - currently Malaysia