Dutchman system or Lazy Jacks?

[tailwind]

Sailing on a friend's C-320 I found the Dutchman's system to be a PIA. This is compounded by insufficient clearance between the bimini and the boom as well as an oversized spring in the rigid boom vang that provides too much support for the boom. Like Rich's experience, it seems like the Dutchman's control line needs to be slacked off considerably to get reasonable sail shape, with the height of the bimini not helping at all.
On my Cal I designed a set of retractable lazyjacks that go up to blocks on the spreaders. The lines were positioned to line up within the ends of each of the four longest of the full battens. Before dousing the main I release the lazyjacks from the mast and tie them off at the boom, leaving enough slack to contain the sail as it is flaked without sagging off the boom. After releasing the halyard clutch I step up to the mast and even out the sail as it comes down. I can then put on the sail ties at my leisure and then bring the lazyjacks back to the mast before putting on the sail cover. It takes more time to explain than to actually do.

 

[johey]

I have the Dutchman on a 38" boat. On the mainsail that came with the boat, the system was working quite well even before exchanging the old guide lines with mono-filament ones. The Dutchman manufacturer recommended that I have the disks installed by a sail maker on the replacement mainsail rather than doing so myself. Sorry to say that the second line of disks are so far back on the sail that the system basically doesn't work anymore.
While it was working, the thing I liked about it over lazy jacks was the the sail was well contained on both reefs points.

 

[Benny17441]

Consider it a blessing that the mainsail of your h25.5 is not large or heavy enough to require the use of a Dutchman flaking system or lazy jacks. The Dutchman requires sail modifications, is susceptible to sail chaffing, sail soiling and not always work as intended. With lazy jacks it is a pain to raise the mainsail and when underway it requires frequent adjustments as the sail is trimmed. Heavy large mains require their use out of necessity rather than choice. If you have any personal needs or circumstances that require the assistance of a sail holding system then I would suggest the installation and use of lazy jacks with one caveat; make sure you install them with blocks so that they can be lowered and raised when not in use. Having them out of the way when hoisting the main and when underway will be of significant relief and then you can hoist them up when ready to drop the main.

 

[northptsailor]

I had a lazy jack system that was installed incorrectly by the dealer when I purchased my boat. The most aft of the lazy jack lines were further aft then the bottom batten on my full battened main. Most of the time the bottom batten would take the main with it to whichever side it dropped to, requiring much re-flaking. I now have the Dutchman System which I really like. The drawback for me is that I would prefer that my main be loose footed which can't be done with the Dutchman system and my topping lift is fixed at the mast head which means a trip up the mast to replace the monofilament lines which have about a two year life.

 

[Tom J]

I had a lazy jack system that was installed incorrectly by the dealer when I purchased my boat. The most aft of the lazy jack lines were further aft then the bottom batten on my full battened main. Most of the time the bottom batten would take the main with it to whichever side it dropped to, requiring much re-flaking. I now have the Dutchman System which I really like. The drawback for me is that I would prefer that my main be loose footed which can't be done with the Dutchman system and my topping lift is fixed at the mast head which means a trip up the mast to replace the monofilament lines which have about a two year life.

I've replaced the vertical lines on my Dutchman system by just dropping the topping lift onto the deck. The solid vang holds the boom up.