The tip of my #2 (from top) Fiberfoam batten went soft. All of the material is present, but the stiff white outside of the batten delaminated from the foam core at the tip. Is there a tricky way to repair this?
Geoff
The same thing happened to one of my battens when it got accidentally shut in the trailer lid. Fortunately the damage was only a couple of inches.
I decided that as the batten foam was so thin at this point, I could dispense with it altogether: filed out the damaged foam, packed the gap with chopped strand mat and epoxy. Clamped the tip between some polished plastic offcuts (make sure to retain the taper shape) and left overnight. Next morning I simply finished the tip off on my bench grinder. Fixed!
The old tapered Performance Catamaran battens (from the 80's) would do this. I repaired a bunch of them by lightly wedging open the delaminated tip, spooning in epoxy to the foam and the fiberglass skin, then with some strips of wood on each side, clamped firmly together. They held up just fine.
You can do this real easy with a bit of foam and some electrical tape. Find some flexible foam, and slice it slim enough to replace the original, the good (3m) electrical tape spiral from before the split to the end. No glue is necessary. The tape should be wound very tight.
Also, it is a good idea to tape the ends of those old battens before they do this.