I originally had a working Dutchman system when we got the boat in 2004 and then broke both of the heavy monofilament control lines after about a year. I elected to stand on the cabin top to manually flake the sail and that worked fine until a few times when I really wanted to get the main down fast without leaving the cockpit, AND not wind up with sail spilling everywhere.

That's when I decided to repair the Dutchman system and I have been happy ever since. I can douse the main and it flakes itself well enough that I can ignore it until we reach the dock or anchorage.

The only real pain is that the sail cover has to be split to fit around the two control lines and therefore takes an extra 20 seconds or so to fit it.

I have the Dutchman system, which I installed when I purchased a new mainsail from Doyle two years ago. It works very well, and I am pleased. I installed an external track on the mast (using the existing sail track) and had special cars attached to the luff of the main. This reduces friction and makes it easier to raise the sail, and allows it to drop neatly to the boom. The mainsail is full-battened, which is ideal for the Dutchman.

My only complaint is that reefing is not as good as I would like. With the Dutchman, the sail material below the reef points lies furled on the boom. You can't dump the extra sail cloth over the side as you can with a conventional mainsail. The extra sail fabric (which is relatively stiff because the sail is new) below the reef points makes it harder to get the reef cringles firmly down on the boom, and therefore, harder to get a good, taut foot on the reefed main.

Overall, I love being able to put the boat into the wind, let the halyard go, and have a neatly furled sail on the boom without having to leave the cockpit.

--Nelson

Pat:

I used the Strong System by Tides Marine. It was quite a bit less expensive than some of the other ball bearing systems. The sail loft installed it when they put on the new main and Dutchman system, but they said it was quite simple. It has worked fine and I would recommend it. Yes, it does increase the stack height at the mast somewhat. As I was installing a new sail and a Dutchman system, I had a new sailcover made to fit.

--Nelson

Took the dutchman out . Did not like the way it chafed and beat the sail up. That said it makes a nice flake. Now have , home made lazy jacks that retract to the mast. No top lift or dutchman line. Better for sailing but at a cost of my effort.

I have a Doyle Stack Pack. Release the halyard and it falls right in the bag. Zip it up and you are done.

When the time comes for a new mainsail (2011?) I will look at a Mack pack or Doyle stack pack. I like my Dutchman, but I think I'll like the others better (depending on price).