Anyone use a Dutchman mainsail setup on a MAC?

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BOAT
Admiral
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Joined: Fri Oct 19, 2012 5:12 pm
Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
Location: Oceanside, CA MACMJ213 2013 ETEC60

Anyone use a Dutchman mainsail setup on a MAC?

Post by BOAT »

I have seen pictures of Dutchman mainsail setups on MAC (lordelsinore and others) but none have commented on how well they work. Do any of you use these systems:

1. Dutchman - with lines through grommets in the mainsail to the topping lift

2. Lazy Jacks - with bridals up the mast.

Which is better? Also, anyone running full battens on their MAC? I am considering a full batten laminate sail for heavy weather sailing but have no info on how well it handles on our little boats.

Thanks
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Wyb2
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Sailboat: MacGregor 25
Location: Northeast US

Re: Anyone use a Dutchman mainsail setup on a MAC?

Post by Wyb2 »

I can’t answer specific to a Mac or other smaller boat (still working on mine), but when we had the big boat it had lazy jacks and a full batten main. The lazy jacks were constantly snagging battens when raising the sail, and did a marginal at best job of keeping the sail together when dropping it. It’s possible ours were just poorly designed. We ended up installing a sail pack using the existing lazy jack lines, which improved the dropping process by about 1000%. Just pop the halyard and watch it fall. The snagged batten issue when raising never went away.

No experience with a Dutchman system.
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