Batton length in sail NEED HELP

I just recently purchased a Hobie 16 and the battons seem to long for the sails. The sail is older it may have shrank a little. Should I cut them shorter? I need advice. Boat has not been used in years.

How much too long do you think they are? They have to stick out a little or you can't tie that little line that keeps the sail taut. On my 18 they stick out about an inch or 2.

The 16 has battens in the jib as well and I understand these hang up on the mast sometimes but I believe that behavior is considered "normal".

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The ox is slow but the earth is patient

Yeah I would say that the battons stick out about 2 to 3 inches. And that is the problem with the jib too. Whenever I try to switch the jib over to the other side of the boat the battons seem to get stuck on the mast.

General statement -
As long as you can tie the battens on the mainsail then in theory it doesn't matter how long they are, from a too long standpoint. "In theory" You don't want them so long that they interfere when you take the sail down and haul it around, but the length shouldn't affect much functionally.

The jib is a different story, the battens do catch up on the mast in light wind, other than using non class legal battens there isn't much that you can do, other than trimming them to the minimum length to allows you to get the batten tension that you need. Mine stick out about 1.5" I may trim the upper battens just a little, but I only have catch ups in pretty light stuff, sub 5 knots probably. and it is easily correctable by man handling the jib over to the other side.

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Cesar (Cez) S.
H16 - "He gone!"