Choosing the Right Mainsail Handling System: Retrofit, Rollaway, or Rollboom?

Doyle’s patented StackPack® mainsail is the original trouble free mainsail furling system for the cruising sailor. It is the simplest and easiest way to handle your mainsail. It is a self-flaking system with a built-in sail cover and integral lazy jacks. Minimal crew work is needed to press the flaked main down into its cover before zipping the cover shut. When the main is up the cover lies flat on the sail, minimizing aerodynamic drag. Because of the ease of use and the ultraviolet protection it provides, the StackPack®

Dutchman

The Dutchman system automatically and neatly flakes the mainsail by means of small filament lines dead ended on a topping lift and threaded through the sail down to the boom. The Dutchman system is entirely self-contained, works without lazy jacks and needs no modifications to the rig. The Dutchman is available as a retrofit for your existing sail.

Rollaway Mainsails - Standard Rollaway and Zenith

While easy to use, the standard rollaway (in-mast furling) mainsail compromises sailing performance as it must be cut with leech hollow, which sacrifices sail area and reduces aerodynamic efficiency. 

Cruisers who want roach on a sail that rolls into the mast without any moving parts can get it in Doyle’s Zenith Mainsail, which features three long vertical battens. The vertical battens maintain a 10% roach normally sacrificed with a conventional rollaway mainsail. This added area is critical to performance by adding crucial girth back into the top 1/3 of the sail.

Rollboom Mainsails

Rollboom sails can carry full-length battens and therefore positive leech profile (roach) that maximizes sail area and drive. These sails perform as well as standard mainsails. They are reefed by partially rolling the sail.