Based on what I have learned in the last few weeks, I would bet that in-mast furling for main sails will fall out of favor in the near future and the person/company that develops a retro-fit package for a traditional main will be able to retire nicely.

Some of the other Hunter owners in our club came by this past weekend to help me work through the issues with the main furling system. While my reading of the owner's manual gave me some insight on the system, there is no substitute for real experience. It turns out that the three owners all had, and continue to have similar problems even after 3-4 years of ownership. If the main halyard is too tight the furler will not work, if the halyard is too loose the furler will not work.....by too tight or too loose I mean and inch or two either way. If the main sheet is too tight, topping lift, boom angle, bearings are not lubed, outhaul track was not sprayed with dry-lube, etc and so forth. When furling the main you need to have tension on the outhaul or the sail will not be tight enough and will jam. Add to these what I already learned about mast bend affecting the system and it seems like this wonder of modern technology is finicky besides being a poor performer.

On paper this seems like the perfect answer for making main sail handling easy, in practice it seems like the system is much too sensitive to ever be dependable. It is possible that the technology will be improved and will hang around I suppose, or maybe it is just the system that Hunter chooses (US Spar) for their boats? Sail slugs and battens are looking mighty good these days.