Tattoo 26 with Sail Warehouse 26M Winter Cover

[Tenacious]

Hey all,

A few months back, I was looking at options for a winter cover for the new Tattoo 26. I looked for information here on the board and saw several pictures of 26M's with the Sail Warehouse Cover. Since the shape of the Tattoo 26 and the Macgregor 26M are almost identical, I took a chance and ordered the 26M cover for my Tattoo 26. I think the pictures speak for themselves, it's a great fit.






Waiting impatiently for spring!

-Robert
Tattoo 26

[dlandersson]

Would this work for the as well?

[Obelix]

This is a good cover, mine was without any problem after 2800 miles at highway speed. I have one tip for you, get a couple of tennis balls, cut a slit in them on one side and put them over your stanchions.

Obelix

[Tenacious]

Would this work for the as well?

They list a seperate cover for the 26x that I assume is different due to them differentiating between the 26M and 26x. The cover for the 26x is the same price ($795) as the cover for the M.

To find the covers on their website, click "canvas products" on their home page and scroll to the bottom.

[Tenacious]

This is a good cover, mine was without any problem after 2800 miles at highway speed. I have one tip for you, get a couple of tennis balls, cut a slit in them on one side and put them over your stanchions.

Obelix

Obelix, that is a great idea. I was standing by the side of the boat after I put the cover on wondering about canvas stress and potential water weight over winter. I'm glad you added your comment because I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do. My leading option was Duct taping some old rags to the stanchions but your idea is much better!

Thanks!

[Norca]

Looks like a good cover, just be careful if you get a lot of snow on it.
I had a cheap tarp over the boat the first winter, and it filled with snow in the cocpit area, bent the aft stanchions on my brand new boat

[Tenacious]

Looks like a good cover, just be careful if you get a lot of snow on it.
I had a cheap tarp over the boat the first winter, and it filled with snow in the cocpit area, bent the aft stanchions on my brand new boat

Snow and heavy ice are my two major concerns with the cover. The weakest spot in the cover IMO is either side of the mast near the cabin entryway. There are large areas of canvas with no support. If ice and snow pile up, I have to remove ASAP.

The other option I considered was adding a 'support' to that area to give the weight something to transfer for to and distribute to the boat vs the canvas.

[Russ]

Looks like a good cover, just be careful if you get a lot of snow on it.
I had a cheap tarp over the boat the first winter, and it filled with snow in the cocpit area, bent the aft stanchions on my brand new boat

Snow and heavy ice are my two major concerns with the cover. The weakest spot in the cover IMO is either side of the mast near the cabin entryway. There are large areas of canvas with no support. If ice and snow pile up, I have to remove ASAP.

The other option I considered was adding a 'support' to that area to give the weight something to transfer for to and distribute to the boat vs the canvas.

That's a beautiful cover. It's easy to add extra support with 1 or 2 PVC pipes bent in a upside down U shape.

My poor man's cover has worked for 7 years now made out of PVC pipe and a tarp. Lot's of snow and ice here.

[Steve K]

I have this cover for my boat (26D version).
This is the best investment one can make for any of these boats.

After the summer sun here on the desert. The cover has held up great for the year I've had it. It looks brand new and hasn't faded. The boat itself looks better than ever, particularly the decks and I will no longer have to clean and treat them all the time to keep them looking good.

Access to the cockpit and boat interior is good, without removing the cover. I think a zipper at the back would be better than the grommets and lace-up method, but it does work.

Rain water/ snow will gather on each side of the mast, between the stanchions. This really puts some stress on that part of the cover AND the mast itself. Agree the tennis balls on stanchion ends are a must and also a center support for the mast, at the mast step. I've thought about installing a couple tarp drains in the cover, with hoses leading to the cockpit floor/drain. This would solve the rain water issue, but not the snow build up issue. It doesn't rain or snow that often here on the desert, so for now, I've just been going out and sweeping the water/snow out of the low spots, when it does

Anyway LOVE this cover. It's pricey, but worth every penny

Best Breezes,
Steve K.

[jimbo]

I do a similar thing for winter layup with a large tarp and conduit. I have short lengths of plastic pipes cable tied to the four cabin stanchions. These are sized so that conduit fits inside them. Rain is the issue here and not snow. As noted by Steve, the tarp forms a water catchment each side of the mast between the stanchions. So now I will try two per stanchion. I will then have conduit from side to side but also diagonal from stanchion to stanchion to create a peak over the mast higher than the side to side conduit bows. Anyway, next winters experiment.

[Steve K]

I was thinking of just taking the life lines loose and see if the rain water would now run off the sides, instead of puddling in the cover.

BB,
SK

[Tenacious]

Here's the cover after Winter Storm Juno! Boat Location is currently Toms River, NJ.





The cover did great in blizzard conditions against 50+ MPH wind gusts and 10 inches of snow.

[Baha]

What are you using for tied owns. Lots nicer than what I am using!

[Steve K]

Here's a pic of mine.

BB,
SK

[Tenacious]

What are you using for tied owns. Lots nicer than what I am using!

The tie down line is actually cheap Nylon from The Home Depot that I picked up. I measured, cut the nylon to length, cut a bowline in one end (end of the boat i don't walk past), pass the line through the loop on the bowline and through the cover, then pass the line under the boat and tie on the other side (leaving extra line in case I need to loosen/adjust).

Thanks,
-Robert