Venture 15 Catamarran

[Terry]

Anyone see these around anymore? My younger brother and I had one of these for several years, it was lots of fun and lots of wet rides, our first sailboat. I think we bought it at the 1977, 1978 or 1979 Vancouver boat show, so long ago I can't quite remember the exact year but I do remember towing it behind my 1978 F150 so it had to be around that time. Just curious if there are any of these cats still sailing, we had many a good time on one.

[billdaves]

Anyone see these around anymore? My younger brother and I had one of these for several years, it was lots of fun and lots of wet rides, our first sailboat. I think we bought it at the 1977, 1978 or 1979 Vancouver boat show, so long ago I can't quite remember the exact year but I do remember towing it behind my 1978 F150 so it had to be around that time. Just curious if there are any of these cats still sailing, we had many a good time on one.

My family still has one. I always dream to get it out but never have the time. Its been store inside it's whole life so it great shape. I thought ours measured 17ft nose to rudder though it has a full and I think 180 genny.
Bill

[Zavala]

Funny, I just notied this one on eBay last night...

[Terry]

Yep, that one on e-bay, that's the one alright, almost forgot what it looked like. Couldn't mistake that little round cover for the storage hold, I think we stored canned beer in it, the lace up tramploine also provided good ID as did the rest of it. For $200 bucks it is a good deal if it still floats, I think we paid around $1500. for it, so long ago it escapes me. We had to wear wet suits to sail in the winter but it was so much fun we didn't mind. I didn't think there would be any around but it seems someone (billdaves) still has a new one in their basement!! Man are you ever missin out, time to stop dreamin and start doin. If I was a few years younger I might bid on one, but I'm a bit old for that now, although it would really make a nice toy for the cabin & kids, if I had either. Being in the Pacific Northwest makes the e-bay one too far to ship, cost more than the boat to ship it, still a temptation though. Just seeing it brings back a lot of memories, we stored it mast up at a waterfront dinghy sailing club for $200.00 a year and used a club dolly to wheel it into the water, took all of 5 minutes to be in the water, just drive down and sail. The sailing location was perfect, you could sail right off the beach and into the bay which at that point along the shore was a considerable distance out, about as far out as the tankers & container ships were anchored, we were right out there in the middle of the bay on that little thing, something I wouldn't do today. If I still had one in my basement it is not likely I would sell it, so if I were you billdaves I'd get out there with it. ENJOY!

[Chip Hindes]

A aquaintance has one, but I haven't seen him in a year or so; last time I talked to him about it he hadn't had it out in several years.

[billdaves]

Just looked at ours again, It's a venturecat by macgregor. I think a bit longer with thinner hulls and more curve in then. The trampoline sits up a little bit higher on bumps off the hulls. It was a fast little cat. In heavy wind the whole mast would start vibrating and you would blow by the 9.9 outboards on the lake.

[Terry]

Billdaves:
The placement of that little round storage hold on the e-bay model seems to be further aft on the pontoon than I recall but other than that and well the rudders don't look the same, perhaps I have blurred memory but I am sure we had white fiberglass rudders, but then it could be the influence of my Mac M with the white rudders, who knows. I do remember there were many Hobie 16's in the storage yard around us so the curved banana hobie hulls had a tendency to make the Venture look quite straight, much like the Tornado class that was next to us. For the few years it was in production the VentureCat was likely tweaked a few times. If your trampoline was attached higher on the humps of the pontoon, where were the aluminum cross members attached on the hulls, as this is where the front and back of the trampoline would be attached, it seems logical that the cross members would also have to be attached to the humps on the pontoon to keep the trampoline the same height all around. You may want to measure the lenght to get an accurate measurement, I do recall it was called a Venture 15 and it was slightly shorter than a Hobie16, slower too, but still faster than a Laser, more like the Hobie 15 that lacked a jib, but we were faster than that.

[Derek Wenn]

I have a 1971 Venture 15 that I picked up from a friend a few years ago. It must be the oldest one still afloat! I had a replacement tramp made by a friend that manufactures trampolines and have put about $100 into new hardware and sheets over the years. It rides a little low in the water but my kids love it.