I have been looking for some old used full length battens for a 16ft catamaran. The cat looks very similar to a Venture. WOuld anyone have any full length battens that i could buy or have for cheap. I was going to cut them down to size. The width of my sail is 84 inches and decreasing. I know I sound new to cat sailing, its because I am. My grandfather wetted my tastes to sail and now I'm hooked. I've peiced togther this old boat for next to nothin, you all would be proud.

Most cat battens are fiberglass however they used to be wood you can make a bunch by cutting a 3/4" board on a table saw a little more than 1/4" thick. Depending on the wood you will have hard or soft battens. I have several in my cat-box just incase I break one of the expensive ($50 Ea) ones.

I really apreciate that advice. In your opinion, what would be a some good and bad woods to use? I'd be really interested in making my own.

I would go for ash, if you can find it. Take care when you pick your materials, avoid knots and faults in the wood. You want clear, straight pieces.
If you can't find ash, I would have looked for good quality fir. You can find that at anywhere.

Sitka spruce is said to be good wood for battens as well. The best grade is available at Aircraft Spruce and Specialty. It's not as stiff as ash or other hardwoods, but it has the best stiffness/weight ratio. So you will need to make the battens slightly thicker. The batten pockets and hardware can easily accomodate this, though.

Jimbo

You can make them out of anything you like, try some Pine(coat them with lacquer) or oak or anything you find localy the difference will be the stiffness. If you have the talent you can taper them on a table saw so they are thinner at the leading edge. I have some teak battens but only because I had some teak laying around. The wood is real cheap compared to buying fiberglass ones. some experimentation should give you good enough results.