Dennis,
The hinges themselves were strong and sound, though I didn't like the "clickety clack" any more than I like cambered panels emptying and filling with a bang. Two after battens broke in Hawai'i, and I fixed them up with some douglas fir replacements, but other after battens are also bent, having yielded in the tropical sun, and would need replacement if I stayed with the single sail. There was also a problem with the battens rotating about their long axis under certain conditions, and this could only be cured by replacing the carbon battens, of rectangular cross section, with round battens and conical hinges.
That sail was a success on two counts: 1) I salvaged, out of the stalled wing sail project, a rig that was good enough to make the voyage from Canada down to NZ. 2) I discovered, quite by chance, a configuration that was easier to handle than any other rig that I've used, with hardly any attention being being needed to hauling parrels.
However, it seemed that the true CE is further forward than that of the wing sail, and so in light airs, there is unacceptable lee helm when on the wind (but no problem in moderate and strong breezes). I had always intended to make a wing sail ketch rig, but couldn't face the extra work of making the mizzen. Now, I just have to do it, to get myself a rig that I can continue to use as long as I keep sailing Tystie. The only other option to improve the helm balance would be to go back to a lower, wider, single sail, but with advancing years and decreasing strength and stamina, this is not an option that I can take. I haven't done any more than sketch the ketch rig so far, but now that I am a convert to high AR sails, being so much easier to handle, I will certainly be using the extra length of my extended mainmast to keep the chord of the mainsail down to 4 metres, and the mizzen will be of similar AR, 2.75.