Tartan Fantail 26 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Above the waterline the Fantail evokes another era, with a nearly plumb bow, fine entry, reverse transom, and slight sheer anchor. That nostalgic profile is balanced by a modern underbody featuring a high-aspect rudder and a deep keel carrying a 1,200-pound bulb anchor, a configuration that places lead ballast low for stability. True to its Tartan roots, the hull is vacuum infused with a balsa core anchor, while the resin-infused hulls and decks are built with epoxy anchor. Tartan builds its own carbon pocket booms for the Fantail, which saves weight up high and simplifies the mainsail takedown anchor. The builder backs its structures with a 15-year nonblistering warranty anchor. Studs installed near the boat's balance point accept a bracket that allows the Fantail to be hauled out with a yacht-club gin pole anchor.

Rig and Handling

The Fantail carries a large fractional rig with a pocket boom and integral mainsail cover, served by lazyjacks anchor. A carbon-fibre retractable sprit holds the furler for the asymmetrical spinnaker, and the traveler runs across the aft end for end-boom sheeting and better mainsail control anchor. All sail controls are led aft to the cockpit, several through turning blocks under the deck and coamings anchor, and every version is tiller-steered. The boat is optimized for shorthanded sailing anchor. The DS and WE come with a self-tacking jib on a double-ended sheet for upwind work, while the ST carries a traditional headsail anchor; the weekender and daysailer also get the retractable sprit for an asymmetric chute off the wind anchor. Performance options include a carbon-fibre single-spreader mast and laminate sails anchor.

Accommodations

All three share a nine-foot cockpit that leaves room for crew even with a tiller anchor. The Daysailer is a flush-deck cuddy-cabin boat with quite a bit of teak trim topsides, sitting headroom below, a portable marine head, a 40-quart cooler, a stereo, and plenty of varnished trim anchor. The Weekender adds a cabin house and foredeck that gains 10½ inches of headroom over the daysailer anchor, with an alcohol stove and sink, a real marine head with holding tank, and a 6' 5" V-berth suited to a weekend for two anchor. The more utilitarian ST drops the teak and some belowdecks comforts because it is intended for sailing-school use anchor. The club trainer likewise omits Tartan's brightwork for easy maintenance anchor.

Power and Systems

An opening well under the small aft deck houses a Torqeedo Cruise 2.0 electric outboard with remote controls in the cockpit anchor. Tartan standardized an electric propulsion package built around a 6-horsepower Torqeedo outboard and a single 24-volt lithium-ion battery anchor, with a separate 12-volt bank running the rest of the boat anchor. The Torqeedo controller panel has a built-in GPS that reads out battery discharge rate and speed anchor. A wind generator or solar panels are available as options anchor.

Refits and Ownership

Owners shopping the three flavors should note the shared hull and systems mean most upgrades cross variants: a carbon mast may soon be offered by the builder anchor, and laminate sails or the carbon spreader rig are listed options. The double-axle trailer option makes the street-legal 8-foot-5-inch beam boat easy to relocate anchor. The gin-pole haulout studs simplify club-yard handling. The 15-year structural warranty speaks to Tartan's confidence in the epoxy infusion.

The Verdict

The Fantail 26 is a clever reinterpretation of the daysailer: classic sheer and transom over a bulb-keeled, sprit-spinnaker modern hull, with a genuinely shorthanded-friendly deck and a quiet electric drivetrain. The three variants let a buyer choose between brightwork showpiece, weekending cabin, or bare sailing-school utility without sacrificing the shared performance platform.

Pros