How to keep water from trickling down Dutchman lines

[Roc]

What kinds of things have you done to keep water from trickling down the filament lines and going through the holes cutout on the top of the mainsail cover?  I notice my mainsail gets dirty from the water.  Would appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks!
Roc

[jrupinsk]

Hi Roc,

I just had my sail cover altered so I wouldn't have to take the Dutchman down after every sail.  I had the canvas lady install the two zippers, then along the top edge of the cover she installed velcro flaps that will close against the monafilament.  I got the idea from the C36 site, so we'll see how it does.  

Happy Sailing,
Jan
C34 #1311 La Vie Dansante
Cape May, NJ

PS:  The Autopilot installation is done, thank goodness.

[Captain Bob]

I have a standard mainsail cover with no cutouts or zippers. You need to add some slack to the Dutchman lines and then they come out of the bottom of the Mainsail cover and curl over the Port side of the cover. That way no rain follows the lines around and back up to the sail. I believe that the zippers for the Dutchman system are not really needed and can cause more problems than they solve. Try keeping the zippers closed and slacken the Dutchman Lines to run outside the sail cover. That should keep the rain out.

[Roc]

The side slits on my mainsail cover are kept closed with velcro.  On top is a wide open hole of about 2 inches.  The hole can be pinched closed around the filament because there is enough material.  I could try sewing velcro to that area and pinching it closed.  I had the dealer give me the cover with the cutouts because I didn't want to slacken the lines everytime I put the cover on.  Was wondering what others have done to keep the tops covered.
Thanks,
Roc