Many sailors praise the advantages of using battcar over slides. These battcar limit the pressure of the battens on the mast and allow the mainsail to be hoisted, reefed, or lowered from the cockpit instantly. Very practical for single-handed or short-handed sailing.
The system is designed with battcar car and webbing car. You alternate between them depending on the presence of a batten or a strap. The disadvantage is that the strap cars must be sewn. This is the technically ideal solution for the sailor who does not want any problems.
A version using the battcar intermediate allows the straps to be removed from those intermediate cars with an Allen key for more flexibility. The cost is expensive but for competition teams who may use many sails onboard, only the sail change is required. You do not lose the cars.
However, many complain about the cost of these solutions.
For this economical reason, many opt for an hybrid solution using sail slides on straps and battcar for battens. A compromise that sometimes results in a manoeuvre recalling that of a sail on sail slides only. It is the slides that hinder the glide, not the battcars.
One of the solutions you can ask your sailmaker to manufacture your sail using Rutgerson's new proposal (item #1529). The use of cheaper pressure absorbing slides combined with the new slide connector. They came up with this simple and clever product to be used as a linkage between our batten receptacles and pressure absorbing slides. It effectively transfers the pressure from the batten onto the slide and works as a cost-efficient alternative to standard battcars on boats up to 35 feet.
The system is to use full luff length pressure absorbing cars. Where there is a batten receptacle, the threaded end connector is added.
When we add up the costs of this solution versus the other ones, we realize a saving nearing 20%. The disadvantage is that this solution requires the straps to be sewn to the pressure absorbing slides during the construction of the sail as for the sail slides.
- if you need to manoeuvre the mainsail often, either to reef, lower or reef,
- if you are short-handed and need to rely on a perfect glide of our sail along the mast track without having to leave the cockpit.
- If you are carrying with you a set of sails that you want to change without having to pay for new cars and to struggle sewing the straps.
Note: The Slide Connector is developed exclusively for Rutgerson’s Pressure Absorbing Slides and recommended to be used with batten receptacle #1580 or #1587.