About The Venture 21 ????

[Mick]

I have a 01 26 ft sitting in the lake , that I love. Had a 26C that got tornadoed a few years back. We also have a houseboat that was in the tornado & I fixed it up. Came across a 1969 21 ft on Craiglist. Needs some paint. no problem there. Anyhow where are the weak point that I should look for.
Any problems with this model ???

PS If you live around a VA hospital , and really want to make some one elses day take out a couple of the Wounded warroiors for some sailing. Just to get them out of the Hospital.
I will bet that you will feel a lot richer at the days end.

 

[centerline]

the 21 is a great little boat. it sails well and is quick and easy to rig. it is a low setting boat so it doesnt catch a lot of wind with the hull, but the down side is a 6ft man cant sit upright inside the cabin without ducking a little..... the v berth has les headroom than the 25 or 26, but it is a bit longer and seems wider. and it does not have a poptop. the cockpit is about the same size as the 26.... no weak points that i could ever find, but the strong point is, it is a very forgiving boat for anyone who is learning to sail or gets caught out in conditions that is a bit more gusty than they like.... I had a great time learning to sail with mine and pushing the envelope while searching for the limits of my, and the boats, abilities...

 

[rgranger]

the 21 is a great little boat. it sails well and is quick and easy to rig. it is a low setting boat so it doesnt catch a lot of wind with the hull, but the down side is a 6ft man cant sit upright inside the cabin without ducking a little..... the v berth has les headroom than the 25 or 26, but it is a bit longer and seems wider. and it does not have a poptop. the cockpit is about the same size as the 26.... no weak points that i could ever find, but the strong point is, it is a very forgiving boat for anyone who is learning to sail or gets caught out in conditions that is a bit more gusty than they like.... I had a great time learning to sail with mine and pushing the envelope while searching for the limits of my, and the boats, abilities...

I've owned two and they are good little sailboats. Here are some things to look at....

Inspect the keel very carefully before you buy. On most of these V21's they encased a cast iron keel in fiberglass. The fiberglass gets breached and the iron swells and bust it up and then the keel gets stuck in the up position. Redoing the keel is a BIG job. Done it twice.

The v-birth is only useful for storing sailbags or for very small kids.

The boat is light and will move well in a light breeze BUT the wake from a jet ski as it passes in front of your hull (to admire you cute little boat) will cause the V21 to pivot on its keel and knock you 90 degrees off course (ask me how I know this). Only a problem in light air. She really moves well in stiffer wind.

 

[centerline]

I've owned two and they are good little sailboats. Here are some things to look at....

Inspect the keel very carefully before you buy. On most of these V21's they encased a cast iron keel in fiberglass. The fiberglass gets breached and the iron swells and bust it up and then the keel gets stuck in the up position. Redoing the keel is a BIG job. Done it twice.

The v-birth is only useful for storing sailbags or for very small kids.

The boat is light and will move well in a light breeze BUT the wake from a jet ski as it passes in front of your hull (to admire you cute little boat) will cause the V21 to pivot on its keel and knock you 90 degrees off course (ask me how I know this). Only a problem in light air. She really moves well in stiffer wind.

Respectfully, as for the v berth only being good for sail bags or small kids, the same could be said for the v berth on the 25 and 26ft models and most other boats of this size. it really depends on if you can suffer thru staying in a pup tent or if you are looking more for the family sized cabin tent......
we have spent EVERY weekend on my boat for the first three months that we had it and im a big guy. we were comfortable and enjoyed it, but like I posted earlier, it does have a little less headroom.
and although my boat had the full cast iron keel, some of the earlier ones did not. but i have heard the horror stories of some of the fiberglass encased keels.... and it has never been a good experience by any of the story tellers.

and if you purchase it, inspect the keel bolt for wear. you dont want it to break and deposit your keel on the bottom of the lake as some have done... (that falls under the category of basic maintenance)

I never had it round up due to boat wakes, I tuned the rigging to the best of my ability and it always seemed to be a very well balanced boat. (this is saying more about the forgiveness of the boat than it is about my ability to tune the rigging correctly)

and it does move well in light air and can also handle 15 knots fairly well on a lake.... im not sure what it would be like in open water with a longer fetch and bigger waves or swells..... its a nice little boat!

 

[rgranger]

Respectfully, as for the v berth only being good for sail bags or small kids, the same could be said for the v berth on the 25 and 26ft models and most other boats of this size. it really depends on if you can suffer thru staying in a pup tent or if you are looking more for the family sized cabin tent......
we have spent EVERY weekend on my boat for the first three months that we had it and im a big guy. we were comfortable and enjoyed it, but like I posted earlier, it does have a little less headroom.
and although my boat had the full cast iron keel, some of the earlier ones did not. but i have heard the horror stories of some of the fiberglass encased keels.... and it has never been a good experience by any of the story tellers.

and if you purchase it, inspect the keel bolt for wear. you dont want it to break and deposit your keel on the bottom of the lake as some have done... (that falls under the category of basic maintenance)

I never had it round up due to boat wakes, I tuned the rigging to the best of my ability and it always seemed to be a very well balanced boat. (this is saying more about the forgiveness of the boat than it is about my ability to tune the rigging correctly)

and it does move well in light air and can also handle 15 knots fairly well on a lake.... im not sure what it would be like in open water with a longer fetch and bigger waves or swells..... its a nice little boat!

Centerline

Didn't mean to tick anyone off... and if I did, sorry.

But I stand by what I said about the v-birth....I'm a big chested guy and I found that I could not turn over in the V-birth of the 21, nor can I in my 22. My shoulders hit the top when rolling over. So I sleep on the galley birth and let the kids have the v-birth.

On my 21, it would round off (not up) when hit by boat wake but only when sailing in very light air (like one or two mph of wind). I think if it had a longer keel, that would not happen. She would pivot on her keel. But every design consideration is a trade-off. A fuller keel would have a lot of negatives like trailerability, the advantages of a shoal keel, and responsiveness. On the positive side, I could get my little boat to ghost along nicely in a light puff of air (I had mine rigged cutter). So long as the PWC crowd would stay clear. They would drive right up, wave with a big smile on their face wave, say something nice then cut in front of my bow.

With so little power in a light air I'd just get knocked to hell.

As far as bigger water goes.... I did sail mine in the Chesapeake a few times. She did great. My 22 has been out on quite a few bigger water adventures as well. Nice little boats.

 

[centerline]

Centerline

Didn't mean to tick anyone off... and if I did, sorry.

But I stand by what I said about the v-birth....I'm a big chested guy and I found that I could not turn over in the V-birth of the 21, nor can I in my 22. My shoulders hit the top when rolling over. So I sleep on the galley birth and let the kids have the v-birth.

On my 21, it would round off (not up) when hit by boat wake but only when sailing in very light air (like one or two mph of wind). I think if it had a longer keel, that would not happen. She would pivot on her keel. But every design consideration is a trade-off. A fuller keel would have a lot of negatives like trailerability, the advantages of a shoal keel, and responsiveness. On the positive side, I could get my little boat to ghost along nicely in a light puff of air (I had mine rigged cutter). So long as the PWC crowd would stay clear. They would drive right up, wave with a big smile on their face wave, say something nice then cut in front of my bow.

With so little power in a light air I'd just get knocked to hell.

As far as bigger water goes.... I did sail mine in the Chesapeake a few times. She did great. My 22 has been out on quite a few bigger water adventures as well. Nice little boats.

rgranger, no problems here.... I was just reminding the OP that its all perspective. I did not even experience one problem with my boat, even when I went looking for trouble by intentionally sailing in strong wind with too much sail on her just to see what would happen. all I found was fun and excitement while getting some more experience. and as for camping out on it, it is a small cabin with a low overhead so a slightly thicker chested fella would understandably have more of an issue in the v berth...

 

[Knuttle]

Under the cockpit berth

If you are having problems turning over in the V berth on a 21, you will find the berth that goes under the cockpit impossible.

I learned to sail on my new V-21 in the summer of 71, and spent many hours on the boat. I have thought about getting a bigger boat, but each time decided against it. One of the strong points not mentioned much about the 21 is the fact that it can be stored in a standard garage. At 21' and stored on a slight angle I have stored it in my garage for that last 40 years.

 

[Hollyweirdos]

Little boat little problems. Go for it! Theres something satisfying about doing more with less. Btw, dont get too crazy fixing it up unless you really love it.