Excited to hit the water...

[Ezrick]

Hey all,

After a few afternoons playing around in the local lake on my brothers O'day 14', I bought a boat. A 1972 Venture 222 that is in functional condition, I think. It definitely needs work but the price was right with any comparison I could find at $1000, including trailer (I realistically may have overpaid, I really don't know).

I have been reading as much as I can find on rigging and setups but still feel a bit lost and asking for some guidance. My main problem is that none of the lines are colored or currently in place, so I just have some thick line and some thinner line of varying lengths.

I will take some time tomorrow to poke at it after work and take some pictures. For now I just have the one.

Future Thanks,
-Ezrick

[Jimmyt]

Looks like a nice boat. Looking forward to seeing some more pics. I don't think you overpaid. There are always folks that have a boat given to them, or run into someone that has to get rid of a boat... But when you're looking to buy, and right now everyone is buying, $1,000 for a functional sailboat isn't bad.

Welcome to the group.

[Russ]

Congrats!!

Nice looking boat. That is the boat that got my dad hooked on sailing and then me.

The trailer looks a bit rusty. The tongue on these often rust from the inside out. I'd inspect that closely. Also, tires have an age limit. Check them as well.

[Ezrick]

Thanks for the welcome!

The tongue looks okay for now and the tires are almost new so all good there. I am worried why there is so much duct tape on some things, like the extender bar thingies (forgive me) that hold the side shrouds.

More pics!

[Wayward2021]

That's a killer boat compared to what i dropped $1k on lol. Most of my rigging and lines were in place but if you google about and search this forum you'll find images of what's what and what goes where. Pretty safe bet the thickest lines are halyards and usually have some kind of pin type attachment for the sails on one end. My boat had a cheap rope holding the mast down for transport that turned out to be my main sheet. Its best to just kinda get it all out and either set it up or just lay it out in a large area and take stock of what you see. Then just reference images and search accordingly, we can help you sort it out.

[Russ]

I am worried why there is so much duct tape on some things, like the extender bar thingies (forgive me) that hold the side shrouds.

That's a nice looking boat. Pretty clean. The bottom needs some cleaning, but overall very good condition.

The "extender bar thingies" are called....wait for it..."spreaders". Yea, you were expecting some nautical-sounding term.
The duct tape is holding the rubber boots on the ends which are there to keep the spreaders from rubbing/poking the sail.

Check out the resources page here and see if this manual will apply to your boat.
https://www.macgregorsailors.com/resources.html

[Wayward2021]

Check out the resources page here and see if this manual will apply to your boat.
https://www.macgregorsailors.com/resources.html

This is great, its a better manual for my boat than i've found and the brochures are awesome

[Ezrick]

So I did try to sail it Saturday and learned a lot really quick. 25 lbs thrust is not enough for 10-15 mph winds. Almost blew into the rocks. My brother and I jumped ship and walked the boat back to the launch. Fun times! Picked up a 50 lbs thrust Minn Kota for next time.

Good news is that with an hour or so in the water there wasn't any leaks I can find.

I might jump to the repairs and modifications to start making a renovation plan for the winter months. It looks to me like the gel kote has some significant cracks and I don't know where to start on it. There seems to be a general consensus that re-gel-koting is not the best choice.

This sounds crazy to me but let me know; There is a cement base in the head, I assume for a small potty. Is this normal? The idea of pouring cement into the boat just seems... bad. I'm thinking of ripping that out and extending the v-berth that extra foot or two so I can actually fit in it.

The duct tape is holding the rubber boots on the ends which are there to keep the spreaders from rubbing/poking the sail.

I assume that the rubber boots just need to be replaced then? I would rather not have the tape there.

Thanks for the manual links. I am only the third owner of this boat and was handed a folder with some original magazine articles and such bout the boat. Cool stuff.

I think I am going to try and sail her as is for the few weekends I have left to play with it. It will probably be out of the water for the year by mid October and ready for work.

Thanks all for the help!
Ezrick

[Russ]

I assume that the rubber boots just need to be replaced then? I would rather not have the tape there.

You can replace the boots if they are worn out. Typically, I would not use duct tape. I'd use some better quality white tape that doesn't looks so janky.

https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Dog-Line-Spr ... 00DH3NT4Q/

[kmclemore]

I assume that the rubber boots just need to be replaced then? I would rather not have the tape there.

You can replace the boots if they are worn out. Typically, I would not use duct tape. I'd use some better quality white tape that doesn't looks so janky.

Use white 3M electrical tape to tape your spreader boots. Use real 3M tape - yeah, I know it's expensive, but there's a reason it is - it's the best. Don't get the cheap stuff or you'll be replacing a gummy mess in just a few short years.