1973 Venture 242

[Marc]

Okay gus, the more I work on my boat the I get to thinking,  will she be able to handle "blue water?"  Areind on here told me what to do to beef her up which I have done.  (added ribs every 18")  during restoration process I always had the ocean in my mind, never really done this before.  Maybe getting nevous.  Unless a freind here comes through with a promise to use his heated shop this winter to paint her, and bed all my fittings,  I should be on the water by May, April if I get  that shop.  It  will sure look funny pullinf a sailboat through town in the dead of winter.  Thanks, Marc

[AdriftAtSea]

A couple other things to consider.  Does the boat have a full bridgedeck?  If not, why not add one.  It would go a long way to making her far more seaworthy.  It would reduce the risk of the cabin downflooding if the cockpit gets pooped, and if you design it properly, it could also reduce the amount and weight of water that would sit in the cockpit in the case of being pooped.  I added a bridgedeck to my boat for just this reason. As a bonus, it gave me about 4.5 cubic feet of stowage, where none had existed before.

[Daphnis]

My previous boat was a Venture 224. I worked on it a lot and she was seaworthy, and was  well built to begin with. But blue water I'm not sure. I trailered a lot, spent 10 days around San Carlos in the Sea of Cortez, that was my only salt water experience with that boat. I sold her and got a Pearson Triton because I do have blue water in mind and I thought the Venture was too tender for that purpose. And that enormous cockpit is nice in calm waters but what if you get pooped. That's a lot of water in there that you can't get rid of very fast. If you really want to go far offshore I think you should install a couple of big cockpit drains, or find a way to make the cockpit smaller. Maybe we're not even talking about the same boat, but I assumed Venture 242 was a typo for 224.

Jean-Luc

[Joe Pyrat]

I would definitely think about adding a bridge deck and putting in some large cockpit drains.  The following pictures show a water locker added to James Baldwin's Triton Atom.  The original bridge deck is forward of the opening.  Something like this either sealed or opened (note the drain openings on the after bulkhead, bottom) would reduce the amount of water you would ship if pooped.  I'd also be tempted to raise the after seating area in the cockpit to deck level to further reduce cockpit volume while still leaving enough room to stretch out.  The added benefit of these modifications would be additional storage.





Ventures came with a lot of foam flotation (had a V-21), are you leaving it in or removing it?

Links you may find interesting including a couple of books I found helpful...

http://www.myplanet.net/shanes/vmyc/

www.atomvoyages.com

http://www.amazon.com/Upgrading-Your-Small-Sailboat-Cruising/dp/0071567496/ref=sr_1_71?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230200623&sr=1-71

http://www.amazon.com/Spurrs-Boatbook-Daniel-Spurr/dp/0070605548

[Marc]

Thanks for the tips,  I have a lot of work to do but it's gonna have to wait till spring,  I wish I would have built my garage bigger because I have a woodburner in there.  I have been doing a lot of research and have some ideas, will just have to see what I come up with.  I do have 3 more gallons of resin and 50'X6" of fiberglass on it's way here.  And am slowly stocking up on parts to install once it gets warmer.  It is 4 degrees here now and I'm going to get started on the turkey.  Merry Christmas!  Marc

[jknight]

Hi Marc
Years ago I owned and really enjoyed a 24 Venture, I sailed all along the gulf coast some time as far as 10 miles offshore on good days.  The swing keel (in my estimation) eliminates the boat for blue water crossings.  It a lot of weight swung from a single pivot.  The advantages of the swing keel are many.  Great way to balance the sail plan eliminated weather helm, and a dandy depth finder!  Also my compression post had a design flaw, it did not terminate on the keel spline of the boat.  It terminated on the sole, and was raised 3-4 inches.  I replaced my wooden compression post with a welded aluminum post and set the lower end on a epoxy slurry to make it absolutely "O" clearance.  I added some cord forward of the pivot line.  Don't add much, maybe 15% of the total rudder area but the boat sailed much better after.  The occasional shower fro m the keel pennant is a bonus!  I is a cool boat, and I sailed mine for 8 years or so but didn't in any manner consider it a blue water boat.

Jay

[Bill Reichert]

Marc, I would like to invite you to post your progress on a NEW site specifically for the V24 and V224 boats.  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Venture24/?yguid=309287625

I just started it after several years of frustration trying to find info on these boats.  Sailfar will be definitely be in the links for it's valuable info.

I hope it will become a gathering place of info and good friends over time.

The invite also goes to former owners that wish to contribute their mods in and pics.

I'm also curious if the sole mounted post was on a wood interior or the glassed interior?

[Marc]

Bill, Already been there still trying to figure out how to navigate around it.  I'm not used to yahoo.  Marc