Hello, we've owned our C36mkII TR for 3 summers now and still cannot get our Dutchman system to work right. The continuous line topping lift keeps twisting, (which is baffling) and our adjustments on the lines are never quite right, so the sail never flakes nicely onto the boom as I see others do with the same system. (I am so envious!) I suppose there is some step by step instructions on how to adjust and use the system, but we don't have it in our manuals. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
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s/v White Wings, 95 C36MkII
Hull # 1398
Duncan Bay Boat Club,
Cheyboygan, MI
Read a few other posts on the forums here, then googled the Dutchman system, and lo and behold, found a PDF manual from the manufacturer! For all of you with "Dutchman Frustration", here's the link:
[url]http://www.mvbinfo.com/images/sf_om_a.pdf[/url]
I will read every word, follow the directions and get back with you all as soon as I can test out the adjustments!:D
s/v White Wings, 95 C36MkII
Hull # 1398
Duncan Bay Boat Club,
Cheyboygan, MI
You may have an opportunity for simplifying your topping lift.
If you have a rigid vang, the only job that the topping lift does it to hold up the Dutchman lines. The topping lift doesn't need to be a continuous line to do that.
Imagine this (the way my boat is now rigged):
1) A 'topping lift' line running from the end of the boom, to top of mast, to base of mast where it is tied off.
2) Two Dutchman line holders affixed to the topping lift at the correct spots, vertically aligned above the Dutchman holes in the sail.
3) A small line (3/8ths?) running from the end of the topping lift to the boom end with a cam cleat, that let's you tighten and loosen the topping lift simply by reaching up to the boom end.
That's it.
Reach up, tighten the topping lift, cam cleat it off. Raise the sail. When the sail is up, loosen it at the cam cleat.
Reach up, tighten the topping lift, cam cleat it off. Lower the sail. When the sail is down, loosen it at the cam, cleat.
And thanks for asking, and also for answering your question!
Larry Brandt
S/V High Flight #2109
Pacific Northwest, PDX-based
2002 C-36 mkII SR/FK M35B
I have the same problem -- the P.O. on my boat clearly never calibrated the Dutchman system.
When the weekend weather gets a bit less awesome for sailing here in the PNW, I plan on spending a half a day trying to fix it. Do let me know if you learn anything worth sharing in the course of your adjustment! I will do the same.
David
s/v Portmanteau
Hull #2133 -- 2003 MKII
Seattle, WA
Our Dutchman system works fine. When there's a problem it seems to be with tension, specifically lack thereof, on the mono lines. You don't want them too tight or slack and having it on a continuous topping lift lets you fine tune line tension on the fly. I've found the lines need to be tighter when lowering the sail but you want them a little less tight when sailing. You also want the blocks on the topping lift carrying the top of the mono lines to be in line with or above the mono lines, not below.
The blocks that the mono lines go into let the continuous line slip on one side but capture the line on the other side. Therefore they move up and down when you pull the continuous line. You can pull the blocks up and tighten the mono lines and then let it come back down to slack them. Our continuous line occasionally twists but it doesn't interfere with the movement of the blocks.
I have found once you get the tension right you rarely need to touch it again, until you change your lines every 3 years as the manufacturer suggests and as I found out this year is important to do. They give pretty specific instructions on setting the initial length of the lines and if you follow those instructions and use the continuous topping lift line to fine tune it things should work OK.