Mainsail furling

[johnphilip]

Is there still a sailmaker in the UK selling the Dutchman mainsail furling/flaking system?. I have only found American sites on the web that still refer to it. It comprised vertical guide lines from topping lift to boom that are threaded through eyelets in the sail to alternate sides of the sail so that on lowering the sail drops to both sides of the boom. Has anybody used one and does it work as well as it sounds?

 

[ccscott49]

Dunno, have heard of it, but never seen it.

 

[TigaWave]

I've used it on one boat, a Santa Cruz 70. Huge sail and the owner was single handing most of the time

What I did notice was that the sail was getting damaged at the eyelet points and where the lines rubbed, from friction sliding up and down the lines, this also slowed the drop. Maybe it was good when new but I wasn't impressed. It does however stop the back of the sail flopping off the boom if it half drops and gets stuck (which kept happening) Maybe his system wasn't working well , but it looked to me that it might be good when new but too fidly and too prone to casuing wear and tear on the sail.

I've also use a simple stack pack type , with wide bag, roller cars on the mast and fully battened sail on a 40' and It was quicker and easier. You have to have a halyard that will run free and rope that isn't too stiff and salty and the whole main is in the bag in 2 seconds. The Dutch man didn't drop cleanly because of the friction in the eyelets in the sail.

 

[PhilipH]

We had one on a charter boat in the Bahamas - really glad to have the experience. Wouldn't touch one with a (Dutch) barge pole. Puts the sail at high risk and easily causes damage.