New 23 Venture on order

J

jiml

New member
Hi folks,

Well for the last several months I have been searching for a new boat and I finally purchased a 23 Venture which I will be picking up in Florida in April at Wefing's Marine.

I really enjoy reading the informative information from this site, but have noticed there is not a lot of chat from people with the Venture boats. What's up?

Any comments about these boats from anybody would be great....good and bad!

Thanks,

Jim L
 
Hi Jim,

You are going to love your new boat. I have a 2008 Venture 23' made in the last year of the "old" factory. While there were some issues which I've solved and have been well documented in these threads, I could not be more satisfied with the hull design, features and construction of a solid hull which will give years of reliable service.

I visited the factory in 2007 to see the 25' foot features. There was a 23' Venture in the process of construction and I fell for the extra features like the (vinyl interior which would entice "the wife" to cruise with me) as well as the size which would fit in my barn (with 1/8 inch to spare). The extra feature of the 25' boat is the elimination of the porti-potti and addition of a toilet and a shower. In retrospect, I wish I had the bathroom, but you just learn to make do with the porti-potti. I don't even know that my boat, motor and trailer are behind me when I haul them. The MARCIA JANE can be launched by one person and is truly the smoothest launching traileriable boat I've ever had.

All in all, I love it!

P.S. I had a second steering station installed and it has proven to be invaluable.

Best wishes in your purchase!

Kent

MARCIA JANE
 
Congrats Jim We own the 23 cape cruiser hull number3(06) Great ride very economical and a great Boat witha f-115 Yamaha.
The difference in cape cruiser and venture is mostly cosmetic in nature The venture has more storage which I woud love and it has the vinyl interior which will cut down on the hull sweating (moisture)
with the cape cruiser its more like the22 cruiser very basic boat no vinyl interior and less storage but it does have the electronics shelf above the steering station
Mine had a sprint windlass400 , tundra fridge,lenco trim tabs,privacy curtains , hydraulic steering , rear livewell,60 gallons twin tanks , Wallas 800 stove,and Barber chair.
We have added a 498 GArmin chartplotter/DS,Full camper canvas , and a tandem axcel trailer with torsion suspension and disc brakes .Go look at my photos Jennykatz

I did own the c-22 cruiser witha 90 hp Suzuki with single axcel trailer Great boat only the cape cruiser/venture does everything a little better The ride is a lot better in a chop the economy is about the same 4-5mpg on both boats the cockpit area can sit 4 comfortably VS. 2 on c-22.I like the finished interior of the new c-dorys and cape cruiser all gell coated for a more solid ride less creaking . The only down side to the cc-23 VScd-22 is the weight of the cc23 its a 1000lb more so you might need a bigger tow vehicle I went from a Honda Pilot to a Toyota Sequoia If you have any Questions you can Pm me Jim
 
The Venture series are my personal favorites of the C-Dory line up, and the 23 is a great little boat.

We just sold our 26 Venture that we had in stock, and I got to do the sea trial on it Monday. A great riding boat.
 
Hello Jim
That is a good compliment to have a Newfie order one of these boats.
Have fun.
I was born in Corner Brook but have been on the mainland most of my life.
In Alberta they call our C-Dory the Newfie boat. Fine by me. :xlol
Ed
 
JIM:

congratulations on ordering one great boat, the venture 23. We bought our venture 23 from Sportscraft Marina in Oregon in october,2009. We spent two months installing electronics and canvas. Our motor is a Honda 90 efi and we have a honda 9.9 kicker motor. We made two one week trips to San Francisco and the Californa delta. Last summer we had a great trip to the San Juan Islands and the Northern gulf lslands for 3 weeks. With a light load our boat will do about 31 mph and with a heavy load it will do about 28-29 mph. On our trips, we run heavy. Our gas mileage is all over the place, 3-5 mpg. Normal cruise speed is 18 mph. We are very with our Venture 23!
 
Thanks folks for the replies...

For those who have the 23 Venture do you find that there is enough room to sit four people in the cockpit area. One of reasons why I went with the 23 rather than the 22 was the extra room in the aft and also because of the deeper V.

The conditions can get nasty up here on the east coast of Newfoundland and I think the deeper V will give me a bit more stability in the open.

I went with twin 60 Yamaha's for power. Also, just wondering what else do you think I should get installed at the factory before she is shipped. Beside the standard equipment listed on the site I went with a diesel heater/stove and windlass.

In reference to the stove/heater I believe it is going to be the Wallas- will this unit provide sufficent cooking ability as well as heat for inside the cabin?


Thanks,

Jim L
 
I would order a swim step and ladder and second bilge pump. Is 2 batteries sufficient for your needs? or add another one? What props will you select?
 
Jim,

I think you will find the cockpit in the Venture 23 will meet your needs very nicely. The cockpit is approximately the size of the cockpit on the C-Dory 25, and the increased space from a CD22 is noticeable.

As for the deeper "V" of the hull, it has more dead rise than the CD22 but it's still pretty shallow. As in all things nautical - it's a tradeoff. Personally I think the Venture 23 (mine is actually a CC23 "Venture," but they come from the same mold) is very well engineered. I find that if it's too rough for the CC23 (or my previous CD22); I don't want to be out Anyway!

I certainly agree with your choice of twin engines - nothing like having the built-in redundancy for the areas where you'll be boating. I would be curious about the cost and weight difference between the 60hp and the 75hp engine(s). At what power level are counter-rotating engines an option?

You will have a ball fine-tuning various aspects of your new vessel. If you'll want it mainly for cruising or fishing it may cause you to make some choices (but the boat is great for either/both activities). Being in Newfoundland, I'm sure you will want the best possible camper canvas arrangement.

The Venture 23 is available with single burner Wallas whereas the CD22/25 uses the two burner model. I believe the limitation is largely due to the size of the available-counter space. I have the single burner model on "Katmai" and although it works fine (at present), the amount of heat generated seems significantly less than I experienced on "Naknek" with the two burner Wallas. (...but there is also the possibility that my current Wallas isn't performing to spec's.) Wallas' are great units when they work. They are very pricey, rather finicky ... and Expensive to repair. (Knock on wood) I've had good luck with both of my Wallas's but I make a point of carrying some kind of backup stove/heater when on long cruises.

At this point, if I was outfitting a new vessel I would seriously investigate other heater/stove options. Many of the C-Brat's in the pacific northwest seem to like units called an ESPAR or Dickinson stoves. I am not familiar with them, but there is a lot of info on C-Brat's about them. From what I read they are no more costly than a Wallas and significantly more reliable. ...might be worth checking-out at this early stage of design and construction of your vessel.

Last item. The Canadian import taxes will likely be a major item. Could you save any tax money by planning your delivery trip ALONG WITH A VACATION, and take home a vessel with enough hours on it so you could be importing a "used" vessel? You might save yourself a bundle by boating for a week or two down here, and importing a "used" vessel back to Canada.

Best,
Casey
 
Jim, the owners of this particular boat all seem VERY satisfied with it, and if it is a new build out of Ferndale (Triton), you are indeed a lucky dude - not saying the old factories (musical chair ownership) did not make fine boats, they did, but Scott Boysen and the crew at Triton used to build Sea Sports, and also make Ospreys and Skagit Orcas as well as C-Dorys. The Triton crew are back to making a relatively small number of boats with a focus on build quality. They are meticulous craftsmen, and Scott is always looking for little ways to improve the boats. Can you tell I am a fan?

You did not mention GPS, radar or VHF - what are you doing along those line? Cockpit canvas? That is really a big addition. Tell us your thoughts along those lines!

And you will really enjoy dealing with Marc, he is great. But make him throw in some custom cured meat or his home roasted coffee to sweeten the deal!
 
We had a lot of rain again last night but today is sunny off the coast of Vancouver Island so I took Chimo out for a spin. There's a wind warning out for Haro Strait so a bit of a chop. Coming back around the BC ferry Terminal at Swartz Bay there was good spray on the port bow and the wiper was doing its job but at 15 mph I was getting 3.5 mph our of the twin 60 Yamahas and the ride was good enough that I was happy with an open can of coke sitting on the table without spilling. The Wallas had warmed things up nicely and I had the starboard window open to enjoy the fresh air and the view. Spectacular! :D

You are going to love this boat! What would I change or add? We got the low radar arch and I think that mades the dinghy stowing more difficult than the tall one but I manage. You need the boarding ladder for sure. The hatches leak at the stern but you can see a solution in our photo album. That works well. VHF and other electronics....of course. We need our toys. A fresh water shower in the cockpit would be nice. I will get round to that in the spring. Otherwise, she's great.
 
On our cc-23(06)we have the rear cockpit water spigot so we can use this as a shower . I thought the new ventures had this fresh water washdown (spigot)on all the 23 's You might want to call Wefings and find out if yours has it .If not put it in . I would do a camper canvas maybe radar for up in New Foundland Maybe a combo package GPS, d/s and radar . I would check the threads for combo packages .We went with a Garmin 498 gps /d/s combo and a 250 garmin d/s . Check out Katmai ,Will-C and my camper canvas then decide what you want .

Also Casey had some words of wisdom about bringing in a used boat vs a new one . Good choice on the boat and dealer choice Jim on jennykatz
 
On page 6 or 7 of General Chat is a thread relating to water under the cockpit and cabin decks. Most of us have added access hatches to these areas. What is Triton doing with regard to this?

Tim and Dave Kinghorn
 
Hi,
I would also recommend a swim platform along with an extra hand rail to hold on to while reboarding. If you are a cruiser I would try to to make a deal on a porta potty with five gallons of holding capacity rather than the standard supplied which only does about two and a half gallons. We found a Dometic that fits under the bunk and has a five gallon holding tank. I would at least go with an option for LED all around light. They draw a lot less from your batteries while at anchor and should last forever See if they will give you a option for all LED lights for the interior and nav lights. I opted for a the standard butane stove (no charge std. with the boat) for cooking. I removed the standard refrigerator and am in the process of installing an Espar Airtronic D-2 heater with muffler where the refrigerator used to be under the helm seat. Some like the Webasto 2000 ST heaters which are similar. The butane stove cooks faster and in the summer does not heat up the cabin as some Wallas owners suggest. I wanted a separate heater and cooking device. Some like the Wallas some don't, the Espar /butane stove combo should save you at least a thousand dollars. The factory has installed the Webasco heaters. So it is a option to consider. We use a cooler for keeping things cold while cruising. The refrigerator just was not big enough and for simplicity's sake is one less battery draw to have to worry about. If you like cruising at slow speed I would consider an auto pilot they are nice to have and while we only use them at slow speeds. A good compass, gps, sonar for water depth, a hard wired VHF radio with a hand held VHF for back up. The idea of tapping off the output of the fresh water pump and having a water spigot in the cockpit along with raw water washdown are great to have for showers rinsing off anchor chains, salt deposits, trqailer brakes etc. and scum lines after a week long cruise. Plus it's easy to do and should be a standard feature for the factory to supply. It's probably better to bargain for the better factory supplied items upfront than to make changes later and having to buy new items and toss out items that have been up graded. Good luck it really is a great boat. The new Yamaha 70's would be my choice but that's just me.
D.D.
 
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