Only on a boat that I took lessons on once. First time I'd sailed anything larger than a dinghy. Out of about six trips on that boat, the furler jammed once with the sail deployed. (May have been my fault, pulling on the wrong line.) I didn't know enough about it at the time to figure it out - we just pulled down the sail and let the owner sort it out. IIRC, he said some part had to be replaced. The sail has to be made for the furler, with some odd vertical battens. Makes it hard or impossible to furl or flake conventionally. So, if ditching the furler, you'd probably have to replace the sail too.
(As an aside, that was a very strange boat to be giving lessons on. Lots and lots of lines led to the cockpit, with the traveller up on an arch over the bimini. You couldn't see where any of those lines went or directly see what any of them did.)