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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935
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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:38 am Post subject: |
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Waterat Pat wrote: | Another way to lighten the rig would be to add carbon fiber battens. Why doesn't anyone make these? You should be able to shed at least a pound over the epoxy/glass battens used now.
Also Isobars made a good point earlier about the soft feel of a sail being important for comfort and I couldn't agree more. I have a Northwave Featherlite 5.2m that is supposed to take a 430cm mast but I rig it on a 400 with about 20cm of extension. The feel of the sail is so much softer due to the shorter flexy mast it really transforms the sail with no loss of power I can detect. |
My sails are all custom Featherlites. The body and window materials, the extra seam shaping for more low end power, the cutout length, the TRIM around the cutout (for easier mast insertion), the carbon battens, the colors, the color patterns ... all either total custom (some by my own design and/or request) or options too subtle to list in their literature. Based on extensive field testing, some of these alternatives are becoming mainstream Northwave offerings or features.
Sounds expensive, doesn't it? In fact, the cost differences depend on selected materials and labor costs, and I get no deals not offered to the general public. Aramid and carbon and X-ply cost more, Dacron and fiberglass and PVC cost less, compared to "standard". I loved my first Featherlites, but have improved upon them considerably, FOR MY OBJECTIVES, by fine tuning each new quiver to suit MY needs, just as you do when using softer masts (I go stiffer from 4.7 up because I sail overpowered so often and -- used to -- weigh above average). |
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Waterat Pat
Joined: 10 Apr 2000 Posts: 192
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 8:47 am Post subject: |
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Where do you get carbon battens? These could be a big help especially on my 6.2m light wind wave sail. Northwave makes nice sails but the rap on their older models was too much of a hard on/off feel. I had a set of Hotsails Slides same thing led to wrist and elbow strain. Once I switched to the shorter/softer mast problem gone. I bet you could get similar qualities with softer sail materials dacron as opposed to kevlar and less battens 3 as opposed to 4.
The new sail trends are really exciting for wave sailors lighter and more controllable with nearly the same power. |
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U2U2U2
Joined: 06 Jul 2001 Posts: 5467 Location: Shipsterns Bluff, Tasmania. Colorado
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 9:27 am Post subject: |
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http://www.rbsbattens.com/
They supply for Northwave and Ezzy .. probably others.
The weight issue is interesting, I would rather have a lighter mast, that is still strong, swing weight which includes all the components will reflect how the entire rig feels weight wise, having the lightest sail on a 65% carbon mast doesnt make sense to me.
The primary IMO purpose of carbon booms is the additional stiffness
over weight savings, the weight really depends on the particular boom.
Maui Sails allloy.. 5.75lb
Chinook Carbon ..5.5lb
AL360 carbon.. 5.8lb The Chinook is a older , but longer ext than the other 2.
I have done weights on too many things, footstraps , wet or dry, a harness would have a lot more significances , but I think most repel H20.
agree with Kevin.. dont eat the extra helping of chow, and get rid of it in the morning _________________ K4 fins
4Boards....May the fours be with you
http://www.k4fins.com/fins.html
http://4boards.co.uk/ |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 10:46 am Post subject: |
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Waterat Pat wrote: | Where do you get carbon battens? These could be a big help especially on my 6.2m light wind wave sail. Northwave makes nice sails but the rap on their older models was too much of a hard on/off feel. .... I bet you could get similar qualities with softer sail materials dacron as opposed to kevlar and less battens 3 as opposed to 4. |
*I* don't get carbon battens myself; they've simply been an option from Northwave for over a decade. I doubt I'd want to expose them to tumbling in ocean impact zones, though.
I've never heard, seen in magazine testers' handwritten writeups, or written in those magazines any comments about a "hard on/off feel rap" with older NWs, and I began testing them > 20 years ago. They were always among the very top sails among hundreds of makes/models we tested, largely because of their smooth power, handling, and light feel whether wave or race models. The subsequent advents of Technora/Aramid/kevlar panels allows the option of greater "responsiveness" -- some say "harshness" -- while dacron/PVC provides the option of lower responsiveness -- aka a softer, more user-friendly, feel. Until I had my newest full nuke Featherlite built with dacron and PVC, the softest, most forgiving (of HUGE, SHARP gusts), most comfortable for hours and hours on end, yet still powerful and not the least bit twitchy, was my 12-years-old NW Surflite with ... Ta Daaaa ... dacron and PVC.
A 6.2 is far too big to use a PVC window (it would feel more like bungee jumping), but my 6.2's huge, light, durable dacron leech takes the edge off those abrupt gusts while still taking advantage of the power available behind the square leading edge of those gusts.
I prefer 4 or more battens for greater foil stability when overpowered by choice or extreme gusts. My 6.2 is often my first ride of the day because, as my biggest sail, it gets me on the water sooner as the wind rises. Once out there, Idonwanna stop playing to go in and rig down. That often leaves me out there until the guys are on shore rigging down to their 4.7s, so stability matters to me than the weight of one batten ... especially a hardware-free Autobatten. I've tested and was very impressed by NW's Nano, but preferred the Featherlite for my purposes. |
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