A friend ordered a set of jib battens for his Mystere 17, and in error, they shipped him a set of (after-market) Hobie 16 jib battens. Then they shipped him the correct battens, so he gave me the after-market battens.
Before I mount them in my spare jib, I have questions.
To start, I measured the 'new' and the 'old'. The lengths are perfect, no problem there.
The new ones are 15 mm top to bottom, the old ones are 15.5 mm. No big deal. Both are 3 mm thick. The new ones are rectangular in shape, the old ones look like they have been sanded down as the 'belly' is fatter. So some sanding may be required. Just a change of mask.....
However, it looks like the batten caps have been glued on the old battens. Is this common? The 'new' battens have 1/2" piece of plastic fixed to the ends, and a 1/8" hole drilled through. Looks like it was glued or shrunk on before the drilling.
I prefer Hobie style of battens, which makes it easier to tighten/release the tension.
Am I better off to order new batten caps and luff caps before I go ahead on this project?
This will become more important to me when we can buy a new set of sails......there is currently a world-wide shortage of sail cloth.
_________________ 2015 H16, with spin, SOLD 1989 Hobie SX18 Sail # 1947 "In Theory..." 'Only two things are infinite, the universe, and human stupidity. But I'm not sure about the former.'
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