New Venture 23 owner with a couple of questions

[teredo]

Hi all. I, somewhat to my surprise, became the proud own of very nice condition '76 Venture 23 yesterday. I'm sure I'll have all sorts of questions at some point but will start with these two. (I did look through the forum for the answers since they seemed pretty likely to have been asked, but didn't see them. Sorry if I missed them.)

First, is there a site that has a scan or transcription of the original manual? I managed to locate the manual for the 22, which has a couple interesting tidbits, but would love to read through the original.

My second question is more of a, "What would you do if you were me?" The cast iron keel is there, goes up and down, and seems solid in so much as one can tell from looking at it on the trailer. Obviously, I'd like to keep it that way. I know the boat has spent the last few of her years in fresh water but what came before that is anyone's guess. I, however, will be putting her in the cold and salty waters of Puget Sound at a seasonal mooring. (Figure 7 or 8 months in the water and 4 or 5 months on its trailer.) Right now the boat has been sitting next to her previous owner house for a year and so everything is nice and dry. As such, my dilemma is this: Should I have the local boat yard hoist her up and drop the keel out while everything is dry? I could then have it stripped and sandblasted, brush on a few coats of two part epoxy, maybe fair it a bit, prime it, paint it and have the boat yard reinstall it. Or should I not worry it, plop it in the water, sail for the summer and then decide what to do in the fall?

(If I do have the keel removed, one thing I want to do is trace it on ply wood and as much as I am able, create a drawing set for it in the event I should ever have to create a new one.)

Thanks much!

[Sumner]

Congrats on the new boat. Besides an outline of the keel shape and the hole locations I would try and make some cross-sections of it every 4 inches or so top to bottom.

Hold a piece of card board on one side perpendicular to the top/bottom center-line and parallel to the front'/back center-line. Then take a compass with a pencil in it and set it to say 2 inches and trace an outline of the keel cross section at that point with one end of the compass on the keel and the pencil end making a tracing on the cardboard. You can then cut along the line and have a nice cross-section for one side.

With this if you ever had to make a new keel you could get the foil shape correct which is very important.

For other info on the boat go to my "Links Page" below and I'll bet you find some at least.

c ya,

Sum


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[argonaut]

Congrats! I sailed a V17 quite a bit and they handle pretty well.
My prime concern would be the condition of the keel related hardware after 35 years of service.
In iron keel boats you could conceivably loose the keel, and in the process end up with a holed hull.
Not sure if V23s had positive floatation but I wouldn't want to test that anyway.
The protective coating idea sounds good for where you are. In lake water I guess I wouldn't worry too much but salt water is rough on metal things, especially if parked in the water. Mine had a keel cable and I had to replace it and the original winch once... the original was a real wrist-buster. I remember you had to have your wits about you or you'd get smacked on the top of the wrist by the crank if the paw didn't catch.

[JoeVacs]

congrats on the V23. I wish I could find a good one. Whatever you do, don't forget to sail her all you can and have fun

[Doug91mac26s]

Here ya go;

http://trusting-1.com/

Look toward the end and you'll see where you can download the original brochure and owners manual.

If it's a 23' Venture, it's a Venture of Newport cutter rig, very nice, I really like those?

Can you post some pic's?

[teredo]

Thanks for the replies so far. I can tell already I'm going to enjoy this community.

The yard quoted me $800 for:
1) Use of lift on day one
2) 4 Hours to remove keel (He thinks it will be less but doesn't want surprises)
3) Set in truck with fork lift
And a week or so later:
4) Hang the keel and spray with nasty anti-fouling paint.
5) Lift the boat
6) Replace the keel

On paper, none of the costs are extreme but they add up. I'm thinking about it. I've a family and the Puget Sound waters can be dangerously cold. The value of knowing everything is a good as I can make is high and using the yard means I do get the job done.

Now, once I get the boat here and look at the trailer, it might turn out that I can unbolt the rack the supports the keel and simply raise the boat up off of it. I still have a bit of pause with the 600 lbs though...

And yes, I'll post pics when I have some worth posting. Right now she is still sitting 163 miles away.

[Sumner]

Thanks for the replies so far. I can tell already I'm going to enjoy this community.

The yard quoted me $800 for:
1) Use of lift on day one
2) 4 Hours to remove keel (He thinks it will be less but doesn't want surprises)
3) Set in truck with fork lift
And a week or so later:
4) Hang the keel and spray with nasty anti-fouling paint.
5) Lift the boat
6) Replace the keel

On paper, none of the costs are extreme but they add up. I'm thinking about it. I've a family and the Puget Sound waters can be dangerously cold. The value of knowing everything is a good as I can make is high and using the yard means I do get the job done.

Now, once I get the boat here and look at the trailer, it might turn out that I can unbolt the rack the supports the keel and simply raise the boat up off of it. I still have a bit of pause with the 600 lbs though...

And yes, I'll post pics when I have some worth posting. Right now she is still sitting 163 miles away.

Removing the keel has been discussed quite a few times here.....

http://forums.macgregor.sailboatowners. ... y.php?f=68

...Good luck,

Sum


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[mikelinmon]

Hi,

Most Venture.Mac's will be OK just to keep using and not worry about keel. But, if you have a lot os deep rust/corrosion, maybe remove keel and protect keel with epoxy and bottom paint. Trust your boat yard but look at each step. A bottom job could cost 800 to1200 including primer for keel, no need to remove same. I have and race a V23, kicking butt in Newprot Beach,CA.
Mike Inmon

[teredo]

Can you post some pic's?

Got her at my house now. Here she is.

[JoeVacs]

Rob, I'm jealous. That's a purty boat.

[Pete]

That boat looks to be in great shape.

As for the keel I have removed mine and have some words of advice.

First congrats on the cast iron keel. These are far superior to the steel/fiberglass keels some boats had. Second your boat looks so well cared for I would inspect the keel and if all is well, let a sleeping dog lie.

I removed my keel by backing the boat into my garage and hoisting the boat up off the trailer by strapping it to the rafters, leaving the keel on the trailer. Worked quite well. I then used an engine hoist to move it off the trailer. If you do decide to remove the keel all I would do is wire brush it with a grinder and paint it with POR-15. Great stuff if you have not used it before. You may want to bottom paint it too. Reinstalling the keel is the more difficult procedure. Mask a line from the pivot hole to the trailing edge of the keel. Use two different color paints to paint on each side of the mask. When you install the keel that will tell you which way to move it to find the hole, Green move aft, red move forward for example. I had access to a forklift for installation. It will take some cleaver rigging to do it without one. If the bolt is worn replace it but its probably fine. If you replace the cable you will have to have a loop made on the end with a crimp type clamp. Cable clamps will not work. If you need to replace the winch just go to a discount tool store or online and get a brake winch. I was able to find a exact match for $14.00. Make sure you reinstall the 6" rubber hose with a new clamp where the cable come into the boat. Without the clamp it is possible to wind the hose up onto the winch and begin taking on water.

Finally, there has been much discussion about the keel lock down bolt. First make sure you know where this is and understand how it is supposed to work, as a lot of new owners don't even know about it. The skinny of it IMO, is remove the bolt and seal the holes.

Pete