Dutchman Modification Question

[Homer Shannon]

I have an opportunity to upgrade my mainsail with a newer, better built mainsail at a reasonable cost. My boat is equipped with a Dutchman (Dutchmar) sail flaking system and my current sail has the Dutchman provided disk-like, plastic, "grommets". There are about twenty of these lined up in two rows parallel to the track slides and in lined with the two drop lines.

The new sail will not be equipped with these "grommets". The Dutchman-made grommets cost $15 each, which will add a lot of cost to the price of the new sail.

Having used this system for many years, and being very familiar with its operation, I see no reason why 1/2" stainless, plain grommets with some adhesive sail tape added for backing, wouldn't work as well (or even better) than the expensive plastic, Dutchman provided "grommets".

Is there something I am missing or is this a reasonable alternative for mainsail handling?

[S/V Illusion]

The sail tape will fail, steel will be abrasive and will rust (it’s stain-less, not stain-free). Our main is substantially larger than anything found on a 29 ft boat and requires only 11 grommets. Saving money is always a good thing but this isn’t the place to try that.

[sailorboy1]

I have a Dutchman and some of the plastic disks have been replaced with metal grommets because the others would catch on the spreaders. It's been 2 years and they work fine, but there are real patches sewn to the sail at the points.

[Tayana42]

My mainsail is also larger that the OP’s and I have a Dutchman system which I like. On my old sail I replaced some of the very old plastic grommets that failed with sewn in patches and stainless grommets. They worked fine for a number of years until I replaced the mainsail. I had the new sail made to incorporate the Dutchman system. 6 years so far on the new sail and plastic grommets with no problems.

[svHyLyte]

Sailorboy1's comments regarding sewn in patches is wise. One can also use Bronze Grommets if one is concerned about rust from Stainless and, having used a Dutchman system on our boat for the last 16 years, I'm reasonably sure they'd work just as well or better than the plastic provided they'd sprayed with a little SailKote from time to time.

FWIW...