Furling mainsail-vertical battens

[Divevac]

A search identifies 2011 as the most recent post on this subject. With the proliferation of furling mains, surely there must be much more recent experience with vertically battening a furling main.

We are looking to replace the factory furling mainsail on our 99 Catalina 42 MkII with a modern sail with vertical battens.

Our questions relate to fitting a battened sail into the existing Selden spar:

-full vertical battens are likely a no go for reasons of internal mast volume and jamming. full battens are also problematic if you need to remove the main in adverse conditions
-overlapping vertical battens (Pryde Sails) pose the same problem-potential internal mast volume
-non-overlapping vertical battens appear to be the best compromise (Isn't everything?) but we wonder how effective they are
-I have seen reference by one manufacturer to 'air battens'-presumably some sort of inflatable system

Any comments and recommendations (including specific sailmakers to approach) by those with direct knowledge or experience on the topic of vertical battens for a furling mainsail are most welcome.

cheers
Dave & Dawn Elise
'99 Catalina 42 Mk II #677

[Kestrahl]

We've made sails with full length vertical and non overlapping vertical, but most commonly no battens. The most unusual had 4 full length vertical batten and 4 short vertical battens for a English easy reef system. The easy reef system rivets onto the back of a regular mast and had very little space, but it worked. So I don't think space would be a issue if the sail was designed correctly for the space available. The batten pockets get a lot of wear and tear going in and out of the mast so often need repairing when the sail is old.
It really depends what you are doing, if your racing as well as cruising, local sailing or long distance. I don't really think the full battens are that justified for cruising, short non overlapping battens work fine to increase the sail area and give the sail a small amount of roach.