Sealing fibreglass boom bag batons

[rajcruiser]

I want to seal / paint the fibreglass batons that run through the boom main sail bag. Whenever I reef or furl I seem to be some irritating fibre fragments that are too fine to see. I suspect it is the batons that I think are fibreglass. These batons are also the securing point for the lazy jacks. Any hints on inexpensive yet effective remedies appreciated. I am thinking an acrylic undercoat with a gloss topcoat or two of some remnant exterior house paint or similar. These batons for the most part are in the fabric sleeves so don't get to much exposure.

[Jim Cate]

When we had to replace a broken mainsail batten a few year ago, the vendor had to grind a taper into the one that he had in stock. To avoid glass fibers getting everywhere afterward, he simply ran a length of clear packaging tape along each side of the batten and trimmed the excess off with a sharp knife. It not only prevented the dread itchies, it was slippery and made inserting the batten easier... and to my surprise, was still intact several years later when I removed the batten prior to replacing the sail.

I see no reason this method would not work for your application... easy, quick and cheap -- how's that for a recommendation?

Jim

[rajcruiser]

Originally Posted by rajcruiser

I want to seal / paint the fibreglass batons that run through the boom main sail bag. Whenever I reef or furl I seem to be some irritating fibre fragments that are too fine to see. I suspect it is the batons that I think are fibreglass. These batons are also the securing point for the lazy jacks. Any hints on inexpensive yet effective remedies appreciated. I am thinking an acrylic undercoat with a gloss topcoat or two of some remnant exterior house paint or similar. These batons for the most part are in the fabric sleeves so don't get to much exposure.

That sounds like a great easy fix. Saved me a few hours, I love this forum. Thanks
Roger

[Cheechako]

Yeah... old fiberglass can often slough off glass fibers... if no gel or paint coating it. I imagine anything that wont wear off might work. Of some gel coat would be great!

[bsurvey]

idon't think sealing them will work as and kind of paint or frp coating will just wear.
i would take them out wrong the area up so it has a tooth then coat it with 3m 52oo it will seal them as its an adhesive and pretty tuff and the areas will be like rubber

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by bsurvey

idon't think sealing them will work as and kind of paint or frp coating will just wear.
i would take them out wrong the area up so it has a tooth then coat it with 3m 52oo it will seal them as its an adhesive and pretty tuff and the areas will be like rubber

Bad advice IMO! It would be extremely difficult to insert such a coated batten, likely over ten feet long, into a snug batten pocket. A slippery coating is what is needed here, and wear isn't a big issue.

Jim

[svJasmine]

just paint with rustoleum after cleaning and sanding lightly.

easy. 2 coats will last years in the sun.