I tie the aft end of my batten parrels to the battens with something called a constrictor knot.  It is illustrated on page 21 of JRA magazine #77 - June 2018.  It is attached just aft of the batten fendering, which in itself will hinder the knot sliding forwards, but the knot is also very good at holding on its own.  I use 50mm black seatbelt webbing and have no issues with friction.  I did try rope with black rubber hose over, but not only did they bind, the hose left black marks on the mast.  I find the seatbelt webbing quite slippery.

Gary wrote:

Okay a saddle but a loop around the batten. I’ve been using 50mm webbing parcels but I feel these have caused a bit too much friction. So I’m thinking 6mm braid inside 12mm low pressure black poly pipe.

Gary, I used 25mm webbing that was quite flexible and found that worked well.  I don't recommend the lengths of pipe: they will snag together in ways that defy comprehension!

Hi Gary,

Paul is right, just burn a hole with a hot knife or soldering iron. Regarding the parrell itself I always take the line around the back of the batten from below, come out above and loop it back behind the batten from above to below. Then I splice the end to the standing part if laid rope , or knot it to the standing part with a bowline. I then put a stop in front of the rear loop to stop it sliding along the batten. This can be just by a screw or one of the saddles that you already have. My advice is do not rely on the saddle alone to hold the parrell, make sure the parrell is wrapped around the batten.

All the best, David.

Hi David, I had webbing loops for the battens before but really wasn't very happy with them visually and how they affected the sail. The last pocket being towards the middle of the sail was hard work as the sail had to be rolled to fit through the throat of the sewing machine. I had real trouble with the thread either tangling and jambing or the thread chaffing in the needle. Mostly caused by friction as I tried to feed the sail through the machine. These are samples of the webbing loops compared to the batten pocket.

Regarding the saddle the rub is that it would not fit though the pocket, at least I don't think it would. It would have to be removed first for the batten to be slid out. The reason I'm thinking of saddles is I have not allowed a gap in the pockets and I'm not sure how I would seal the cloth edges if I cut holes.

Finally finished the batten pockets on the sail. The last one was the hardest. I think the big problem was trying to feed the sail through the machine. Friction and weight made it very frustrating.

I am almost convinced it was harder to fit the batten pockets than it was to make the sail.

I've been thinking about how to attach the batten parrels aft of the mast and I'm thinking of using stainless steel saddles. Any opinions on that?

Now for the new sail cover which should be an absolute doddle after that job.