thinking of trying fancy Hobie 16 Jib Batten Adjusters

Has anyone messed around with the Rocket batten Adjusters or anything similar?

I have the velcro system on my Euro sails, and like it as far as not getting hung up on the mast in light air, but they really aren't all that easy to mess with if you want to be a perfectionist with batten tension.. ect.. and the standard Hobie stuff can get hung up..

So my urge to tinker is getting the best of me.

Anyone ever messed around with these or anything similar. It looks like I should be able to hide the adjuster fully within the pocket, and be really able to fine tune batten tension?

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They are the same type of adjuster that is used on virtually every modern windsurf sail. They definitely have an advantage in that neither the batten nor the adjuster needs to stick out of the back of the sail, so that should really help reduce hangups. They don't allow easy de-tensioning however, so if you like to relax your battens after every sail, it's going to be a PITA since you will need a tool and have to unscrew the tensioner each time. You will also have to have the jib modified by a sailmaker to add two small chord loops at the end of each batten pocket. The cord loops pass over those little "ears" and hold the tensioner in place.

It looks like this would be a class legal change as long as you are able to make the stock battens work with this adjuster, and the rules allow cutting and tapering the battens, so that shoild be doable.

The one potential issue that I think you could have is getting these adjusters to fit inside the pockets. These adjusters are somewhat bulky and there isn't a lot of extra room inside the pocket for the batten and adjuster. You would really have to just try it out to see if it will fit.

sm