UNDER COVER
It’s a carnival of cover options for winter storage with Jack’s XO but at least the haul out is easier
Retrieving our old Jeanneau
625 onto its trailer for the winter was always a day that we approached with trepidation. The tide and wind had to be just right to use the slipway and the trailer had no rollers, so getting her on to it in anything apart from A1 tidal height was like a challenge better suited to those competing in World’s Strongest Man. Not this year, however.
The XO is both longer and heavier than the Jeanneau so we could no longer keep it on the private mooring we had used previously and decided to switch to a swing mooring at Sandbanks Yacht Company just around the corner. I will do a more in-depth update on the yard, its facilities and how it works but the upshot is the skilled boat handlers at SYC put the XO on to the trailer for us and then nipped it around to the hard standing using their tractor, so all we had to do was give her a clean, remove the battery and put the covers on. Simple enough you might think, but for a small boat the XO 250 doesn’t half have a lot of different cover options. The standard ones that you could order with the boat as new were a tonneau cover for the road, a harbour cover that protects the boat from bow to stern, and a full set of covers for use out on the water. This final set, though a bit of a pain to erect, allow you to fully insulate the cockpit or detach panels to leave a fully enclosed windscreen or just a bimini overhead. In addition to these, the previous owner had commissioned a bespoke bimini with longer poles to give more headroom, as I gather the original was set a little too low to comfortably stand underneath. They used to tow the boat to Spain and use it there, so good sun protection for the middle of the day was, no doubt, an absolute must.
The upshot is that Dad and I laid all the various covers out on the ground and scratched our heads as to which combo would be best to use to protect her over the winter. Should we put the full on-water covers on so we can pop on board easily to check on her and do some maintenance jobs in the winter? One glance at the mass of poles, canvas and securing pins and our eyes met with the same unspoken conclusion, which was to combine the tonneau and harbour cover and leave any jobs that required us to stand on board to the spring, when the weather would be better. Cleaning is always better with the sun on your back and all that – the usual justification.
This actually proved to be a good call as these two covers are a doddle to fit and between them offer excellent protection of the entire boat. There was no wrestling the canvas over the hooks, or thumb-breaking poppers to contend with; the tonneau fits snugly but is not hideously tight and the harbour cover over it is a dream to fit and the one we use in the summer when she is on the mooring buoy. According to the lads at SYC, who know a thing or two about these things, white covers seem to attract less seagull poo than dark ones. An added benefit – who knew?