Robert wrote:Stuart reckons his new battens for 1982 were worth getting but I didn't change mine and it still goes quite well. You could add them one at a time, if Erling will allow you to buy them off him... but that might be more expensive as you'd have to go to some TT's to collect them. Just a thought.
Corr, I have never replaced battens until they break (and often then I would repair them). The benefit of new ones is that they are made to tighter quality control and are less likekly to break. The performance difference (in my view) is very slight. It sounds like you have adequate battens so my recommendation is to move one of your old sets to the new sail. Once a sail has not got any battens in it you tend to not use it so you definitely need 2 sets for 2 sails.
Kevin - if you are a bit short of readies you could consider:
a) buying an all white sail (the blue is just cosmetic - though it does look nice).
b) why not sell off one of the old sails? There is a ready market for half decent sails and as explained above you are unlikely to to use 3. You might get £200 to help buy the new sail.
Regards
Bob
PS Buying a new sail give you a psychological boost - a feel good factor - as well as a little better performance - so good to do if the old sail is getting a little tired.
PPS If you buy a new sail the key thing to do before fitting the battens is to make sure that the battens are radiused on all their edges. Have a go at them with some sandpaper. The most important area is at the front end as sharp edged battens wear holes on the sail inside the plastic endstops. I always radius the batten end and then apply a couple of layers of duck tape around the end of each batten to provide a cushion and to reduce wear on the sail.