I just bought a 1973 MacGregor-Venture 17. It's in great shape for a 30 year old boat. I'm getting ready to start restoring it and need to find a few things. First: The rudder & tiller are gone and will need to be replaced. For this I need to know where I can either buy a replacement or find to specs to build one. Second: Sails....have none. Need to find where a guy with a budget buys good sails. Third: The mast has a small dent near the base. Should I automatically go for replacement? or I could get the dent out and it would be useable. Your thoughts? The rest is normal sanding, painting and cleaning. No big deal there and alot less work than my Coronado 32 was. Any positive input or advice will be greatly appreciated. Tom
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Spirit Air
great little boat
Looks great. What's the hull number? I have v-21 hull # 2347 (74), and am near the end of the restoration process. The mast seems like your biggest immediate concern. I definitely would not start out by looking to replace it. You aren't rigging the boat to be raced, right? Unless you're planning to race it, pull the dent out. You would be amazed how much compression that mast can tolerate, even with the dent. Can't help with the rudder. The rudder of my boat was made out of a 1.5 inch mahogony plank, cut so the bottom half could kick up if it hit something (or when launching the boat in shallow water), and the two halves held together with aluminum plates. Functional, but ugly. The leading and trailing edges were radiused, but no effort was made to give it an airfoil shape. Some early Ventures came with fiberglass rudders, but I heard the failure rate was high and they went to the wood. "Masthead" has a good selection of used sails, but they know how to charge for them, too. Your best bet would be a local yacht club that sails one-design boats. maybe a Thistle would be about the right size. Racing sailors always have old sails around that are fine for cruising and you can probably pick up a main and jib for under $200. You need to do the measuring before you look for sails. Like the other Ventures, V-17s came with either a masthead or a fractional rig, and either with spreaders or without. You'll need to have the 'luff lengths' on hand, (the hoist distance) and the 'LP', which tells you how far the foot of the jib will extend beyond the mast. LP is the length of an imaginary line drawn perpendicular to the headstay and passing through the jib sheet attachment point. Thus, a boat like the V-17 might have a 'J' of 5 feet (distance from the front of the mast to the headstay attachment point), and an 'LP' of 7.5 feet. This would be called a 150% genoa, and is about as big as you'd ever want. When does a jib become a genoa? When the LP reaches 100%. Another thing Macgregor liked to do was cut corners on the keels. They knew the owners probably wouldn't try to go upwind much, ao they did a sloppy job casting and finishing the keels. I took mine completely out of the boat. It was so rusted, I had to lift the boat in a sling to get it to come out. The keel alone was a two month project. Ah, but now, I've got a beautiful foil shape. If you take this project on, don't scrimp. Chip and scrape as much of the crud off as you can, then take the whole mess to a body shop and have them sandblast it. Important: use epoxy, not polyester resin, (polyester isn't waterproof), and get the first coat on within one hour after the body shop finishes blasting. Oxidation of bright metal starts the second it's exposed to air. Good luck with your project. Have fun.
Looks great. What's the hull number? I have v-21 hull # 2347 (74), and am near the end of the restoration process. The mast seems like your biggest immediate concern. I definitely would not start out by looking to replace it. You aren't rigging the boat to be raced, right? Unless you're planning to race it, pull the dent out. You would be amazed how much compression that mast can tolerate, even with the dent. Can't help with the rudder. The rudder of my boat was made out of a 1.5 inch mahogony plank, cut so the bottom half could kick up if it hit something (or when launching the boat in shallow water), and the two halves held together with aluminum plates. Functional, but ugly. The leading and trailing edges were radiused, but no effort was made to give it an airfoil shape. Some early Ventures came with fiberglass rudders, but I heard the failure rate was high and they went to the wood. "Masthead" has a good selection of used sails, but they know how to charge for them, too. Your best bet would be a local yacht club that sails one-design boats. maybe a Thistle would be about the right size. Racing sailors always have old sails around that are fine for cruising and you can probably pick up a main and jib for under $200. You need to do the measuring before you look for sails. Like the other Ventures, V-17s came with either a masthead or a fractional rig, and either with spreaders or without. You'll need to have the 'luff lengths' on hand, (the hoist distance) and the 'LP', which tells you how far the foot of the jib will extend beyond the mast. LP is the length of an imaginary line drawn perpendicular to the headstay and passing through the jib sheet attachment point. Thus, a boat like the V-17 might have a 'J' of 5 feet (distance from the front of the mast to the headstay attachment point), and an 'LP' of 7.5 feet. This would be called a 150% genoa, and is about as big as you'd ever want. When does a jib become a genoa? When the LP reaches 100%. Another thing Macgregor liked to do was cut corners on the keels. They knew the owners probably wouldn't try to go upwind much, ao they did a sloppy job casting and finishing the keels. I took mine completely out of the boat. It was so rusted, I had to lift the boat in a sling to get it to come out. The keel alone was a two month project. Ah, but now, I've got a beautiful foil shape. If you take this project on, don't scrimp. Chip and scrape as much of the crud off as you can, then take the whole mess to a body shop and have them sandblast it. Important: use epoxy, not polyester resin, (polyester isn't waterproof), and get the first coat on within one hour after the body shop finishes blasting. Oxidation of bright metal starts the second it's exposed to air. Good luck with your project. Have fun.
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Dan McGuire
Dent in Mast
I had a little luck removing a dent from a mast. It didn't completely remove the dent, but I got rid of most of it. Take a 2" X 4". Cut the 2X4 so that there is about a six inch section which remains 2X4. Cut the rest so that both dimensions are smaller than the inside width of the mast. The total length must be long enough to insert in the mast and go past the dent. Take the 2X4 part and shape it so that if the 2X4 part is inserted in the mast cross ways, it will fit snugly in an undamaged part of the mast. To take out the dent drive the 2X4 into the mast past the dent with a very heavy hammer. To remove the 2X4, turn the 2X4 ninety degrees and pull it out. This does not sound very clear. If you are interested, send me message at danmc@ozarkisp.net and I will try to help or I could send you a picture.
I had a little luck removing a dent from a mast. It didn't completely remove the dent, but I got rid of most of it. Take a 2" X 4". Cut the 2X4 so that there is about a six inch section which remains 2X4. Cut the rest so that both dimensions are smaller than the inside width of the mast. The total length must be long enough to insert in the mast and go past the dent. Take the 2X4 part and shape it so that if the 2X4 part is inserted in the mast cross ways, it will fit snugly in an undamaged part of the mast. To take out the dent drive the 2X4 into the mast past the dent with a very heavy hammer. To remove the 2X4, turn the 2X4 ninety degrees and pull it out. This does not sound very clear. If you are interested, send me message at danmc@ozarkisp.net and I will try to help or I could send you a picture.
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Tom
Clearing Dents
I was thinking alomg the same lines except using a ball shape to push out the dent the way they do on musical instruments. The 2x4 sounds like a great idea. The dent is just above the sail stop on the stbd side of the mast. It looks like where the mast might have been dropped across a hard corner. Thanks for the input! Tom
I was thinking alomg the same lines except using a ball shape to push out the dent the way they do on musical instruments. The 2x4 sounds like a great idea. The dent is just above the sail stop on the stbd side of the mast. It looks like where the mast might have been dropped across a hard corner. Thanks for the input! Tom
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Tom
RE: Great Little Boat
I don't have the hull number at this time, but the boat was built in '73. Very solid little craft too. The keel isn't in too bad of shape concidering it's 30 years old. Had already planned on taking it out and blasting it before repainting. I hadn't thought about checking the local yacht clubs for decent used sails. I'm trying to locat the original dimentions of the sails in case I have to have them made. Mine looks to be a fractional rig without spreaders on the mast. Charleston, SC has a number of clubs of small boats. I'll just have to go do some checking/calling around. The rudder/tiller is not so bad a problem if I can find a drawing to go by. I like the hinge idea to prevent damage in shallow waters too. The lakes here have spots where there are tree stumps not too far below the surface.So you have to be careful sailing there. Thanks for the input! Tom
I don't have the hull number at this time, but the boat was built in '73. Very solid little craft too. The keel isn't in too bad of shape concidering it's 30 years old. Had already planned on taking it out and blasting it before repainting. I hadn't thought about checking the local yacht clubs for decent used sails. I'm trying to locat the original dimentions of the sails in case I have to have them made. Mine looks to be a fractional rig without spreaders on the mast. Charleston, SC has a number of clubs of small boats. I'll just have to go do some checking/calling around. The rudder/tiller is not so bad a problem if I can find a drawing to go by. I like the hinge idea to prevent damage in shallow waters too. The lakes here have spots where there are tree stumps not too far below the surface.So you have to be careful sailing there. Thanks for the input! Tom
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