Quote:
Originally Posted by wolfenzee
The additional weight of battens causes slides to jam, my boat was designed without battens 75 years ago and has not had battens since it was launched close to 40 years ago, aside from that I have been advised against having battens for blue water cruising.
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The leach end of battens can get caught in the sidestays when bringing the main down off the
wind...and if you haul down too hard in a blow without noticing it has snagged, an old
wood spreader can be easily parted from an old
wood mast. Not pretty, but you only make that mistake once.

Also, you lose some roach of course with the battenless but that's really only a concern for
racing craft.