[C320-list] Dutchman versus stack pack?

[Jeff Smith]

I will confirm Mark and Troy's experience,

I had a Dutchman and at least two times when I dropped the sail it worked as advertised. For those two times, it was beautiful. But the system is hard to adjust. My system was not set and forget, so I had to loosen it to raise the main and then tighten it to drop. After I changed the monofilament lines, I could never get it adjusted properly. I am sure there are some videos on Youtube of me riding our foredeck like a bucking bronco because my wife could not hold the boat in the wind (different story) and I was trying to drop and tie up the sail.

I changed to a stack pack and it works great. I do not single hand much, though I have on occasion, and it is nice to have it drop in the stack. The two cons, and they are slight, are: 1. Windage can be a problem, though I tend to think the broad side of the boat provides more surface area, so I may be exaggerating that a bit. 2. When raising the sail, I often have to bring the bow through the wind to keep the main from snagging on the lazy jacks. That, however, is a lazy jack issue and not a stack pack issue. 

Removing the main is easy, though that is because it is loose footed. When I bought new sails, though, I simply unzipped the stack pack at the mast, removed the slugs from the mast, and then pulled the entire main straight forward. This was in 15 knots of wind (my sailmaker was coming to install the new sails that day, so I did not have a choice to wait, either for him or the wind to die down).

I would not own a boat without one. Ullman sails in Deltaville did ours, though we have our boat in Hampton (they have a satellite office here).

Jeff
#121, '94, Sailmates 

On 6/24/19, 7:48 PM, "C320-list on behalf of Rod Boer" <c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com on behalf of rod.boer1 at verizon.net> wrote:

    All,
    
     
    
    I have been sailing my C320, Odyssey for about 20 years. I originally took
    delivery with the Dutchman installed and have basically been happy with it
    but now I sail single handed probably 95% of the time.  This year between
    setup and sailing the Dutchman has been a pain in the butt. The boat in the
    slip next to mine is a Beneteau 393 which I race on with the owner and a
    couple of other guys. The owner had a stack pack put on it before delivery
    and is very happy with it. 
    
     
    
    During the spring launch it is much easier putting the sail on that boat
    than it is on the C320.  I am considering a stack pack and am interested
    others experiences with this sail approach.
    
     
    
    Odyssey, 688
    
    Chesapeak Bay