J-24 Travel Cover Installation

J-24 Travel Cover – How do I put it on the boat???

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Scott and Christine installed this in 17 minutes on their 2nd try!  Having a step ladder is a must.

Step one – Unroll the cover under the boat forward of the keel and starting at the bow, put the front of the cover on.  Buckle the strap at the front, but don’t make it too tight.  The cover must not be pulled up higher than the edge of the deck or you will not have enough room when you get to the transom. 

The shock cords in the edges go around the forward legs of the bow pulpit and hook to the webbing loop on the opposite side of the boat.  The shock cords should make an “X” across the deck.

Step two – Hook the shock cords around the aft legs of the bow pulpit and loosely buckle the forward two cross straps that go over the deck.  We’ll tighten them later. 

Step 3 – Lower one of the forward pads.  We are always careful to count the number of turns that you are taking off.  Slide the cover over the pad, pull aft and up, and attach the shock cord hook around the stanchion base.  Do not lower both of the front pads at the same time!  You can see here that Christine is able to reach the stanchion while she is standing on the trailer, but she is nearly 6 feet tall.  A step ladder makes this go a little quicker….

Step 4 – This takes two people and is important to get this right.  Raise the pad back up into place while holding the cover aft and pulling down to take the wrinkles out.  You want to make sure that the “seam” edge is lined up with the edge of the deck.  If the cover is pulled too high, or not far enough aft, you won’t be able to zip the transom zipper.  Here, Scott is holding the cover down and aft and Christine is tightening the jack stand. 

Once you get the first forward pad back in place, go to the other side of the boat, lower the front pad, and put the cover on the opposite side.

Step 5 – Lower both of the center jack stands.  Slide both sides of the cover over the jack stand pads and fasten the shock cord around the stanchion base.  Once you have this done on both sides, pull the cover aft to remove the slack and raise the pad on one side.  At this point you should be able to start the zipper behind the keel.  Just zip it about 6-10″.  Then raise the other pad while pulling the slack aft out of the cover.

Step 6 – If your motor mount is on the Port side, lower the port aft jack stand pad and slide the cover over the pad.  Attach the shock cords around the forward leg of the pushpit, then bring the cover up over the transom and zip the cover around the motor mount.  This will help keep the cover in place.  Then raise the port pad. 

Lower the starboard aft pad, attach the shock cord around the stanchion leg and start zipping the cover.  Don’t raise this pad back up until you have the cover fully zipped along the center of the hull.

Zip the transom zipper up the starboard side of the transom, then raise the starboard pad. 

Finally, make sure all the cross straps are buckled and fully tensioned. 

Your boat is guaranteed to be spotless when you get to your regatta!!!