mainsail furling

[Jim Kloss]

Anyone have experience with a "Dutchman" style mainsail furling system on a 7.9? Hassle of putting the sail away is discouraging me from going out single-handed.

Jim Kloss
s/v Ambivalence
S2 7.9 #8

[SailingUphill]

Not sure why there have been no posts on this, but Dutchman "flaking" system you mean?

Well you'd need sail slugs on your mainsail for one... but beyond that it'd be a nice addition to your S2 cruising style boat. Assuming you are already running a headsail furler, the two systems combined would make single handing significantly easier.

I'd argue though a decent auto-pilot is a better place to put money first for solo excursions.

[alanhsails]

Not sure why there have been no posts on this, but Dutchman "flaking" system you mean?

Well you'd need sail slugs on your mainsail for one... but beyond that it'd be a nice addition to your S2 cruising style boat. Assuming you are already running a headsail furler, the two systems combined would make single handing significantly easier.

I'd argue though a decent auto-pilot is a better place to put money first for solo excursions.

I would agree with this. I singlehand a lot and have for years...International H Boat, Santana 30-30, Santa Cruz 27, and the single most important gizmo that helps with singlehanding is an autopilot. I would put a Dutchman system relatively far down the list. Not that it won't help, eh? Just that there are more important places to spend your boat bucks, first.