Repairs....

A quick trip up the mast today to remove the broken whip batten. I had brought a replacement, but after inspecting the broken one I think I'll have to find a smaller one.

The one mounted from the beginning was a bit too wide for the 310, so it was tapered a few mm on each side as shown on the first picture here:

The tapered end was fastened on the mast top.

This is not really a good solution, as the tapering cannot be anything but perfectly done or it will cause the point of maximum tension (exactly where the tapering begins) to be weakened.

As you can see on the second picture this is exactly what has happened.

The fibreglass has shattered at the point of max tension.

I think I'll have to see if I can find a batten which has the correct width all the way so there are no weak spots...