Our New Venture 23

I

Igrant

New member
We pulled our Venture 23 out of the water this week and after pulling a bucket of mussels off the trim tabs, I will paint them for next season, power washing, flushing the motor and pulling gear off the boat I was reflecting back on our experience with our new boat.

We bought our boat new in April of this year through the Port Boat House in Port Alberni. We discovered C-Dory's after a friend pointed us to the C-Brats site and we saw a used 22 advertised at the Port Boat House. We were on the Island and made a special trip to go see it. It was a rather well used model without the dinette and we were underwhelmed. Dave Turner talked about a new Venture 23 they were bringing in, showed us the price and we put down a fully refundable deposit subject to final viewing of the boat. I phoned Triton Marine and we drove down to see the boat being built at the factory. Jeff Lindhout gave us a tour of the boat and even though there was a lot to complete we liked the looks of the boat.

We worked out a trade in on our previous boat with Dave and in April the new boat arrived. Dave Turner did a great job working through the rigging decisions with us including installing an Espar heater. Dave took us out on the water for a sea trial and walked us through all the features of the boat. We have been very happy with the dealer experience and the small issues we have had have been taken care of right away.

I had been a little worried after reading on this site about the deteriorating quality of some of the later built boats. I have been very happy with the quality of the work done by Triton. The battery switch and wiring is easy to get at in the cockpit behind a panel, the batteries sit in the lazerettes. The dinette arrangement with sliding seat and accessible lockers underneath was well thought out and executed. The lockers under the berths are roomy and easy to get at. The interior, even the lockers was sprayed with a flecked paint finish and the only condensation issues we have had have been in the locker where the plastic water tank sits.
The boat came with a full set of snap on covers for the windows and door, tilt wheel, captains chair, interior hand rails, trim tabs, swim ladder, AC shore power, raw water washdown and windlass.

We have taken two trips to Desolation Sound, one to Nanaimo and numerous trips out fishing and touring in our area. The boat works very well for us and we are very happy with the handling especially when we encountered 3 foot seas in Georgia Straight.

In summary we have had a very positive experience in buying a new boat. Our dealer has been very helpful and supportive and we are very happy with the quality of the boat built by Triton Marine.

I have posted pictures in our album.
 
Congratulations on both your boat and your enjoyment of that boat. The latter is probably the best measure of a good boat, because we all buy a boat to enjoy.

I've never noted a decline in quality in the boats. Certainly there were issues on Journey On which got fixed (leaks, primarily,) but the basic quality was there.

And the C-dory boats are well suited for the type of cruising you and I do. Those are wonderful trips.

Boris
 
Congrats on the new boat! It is heartening to see posts like this - great to know that new boats are being built and purchased.

I've seen the "newer boats aren't built as well" tossed around on here from time to time, and I think that is referenced to when the Reynolds ramped up production. I've not heard of any hull issues, but there were a lot of "lessons not learned" as far as production procedures... repeated dumb procedures like the misplaced drain tubes in the anchor locker and using screws that were too long on the brass bow strip, resulting in water getting under the v-berth. Or, using mis-matched plastic fittings on fresh water connections, resulting in more leaks. The BIG problem with those situations was the fact that, even though it was reported (over and over), the factory didn't do anything to correct the problems. The boats are fine, the quality of the hull build is the same schedule they've always used... just dumb little things that frustrated owners and made for some less than great PR.

To my knowledge, I've not heard of any of those issues with any Triton built boats.

That said, it would be GREAT to hear from more folks who have purchased NEW BOATS in the past two years... come out of lurking mode and let us know about your boats. :thup

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Beautiful boat you seem to have excellent taste. It seems like it was rigged by someone who really cared about the end result.
D.D.
 
After Dave made his post, I checked out the photo album - very nice! :thup Is that a factory stock helm seat? Looks very comfortable.
 
I have cape cruiser hull #3 boat ,which I purchased in April of 08. (used)I have been very pleased with its intended use . We sold a 22 cd cruiser to get the venture 23 .Great little camping boat . I've put on camper canvas and have enjoyed doing camping trips I just wish we could get out more

Good Luck with your new boat the new venture's cabin looks very nice inside compared to the early cape cruiser's there's a lot more storage area's .

We are very blessed we get to use our c-dory's almost every day down here in Naples fl . 78-82 degrees sunny jim
 
Congrats on the great boat! I had similar experiences. Kerri On is the first 22 done for 2011 by Triton, and I bought her from Dave at the Port Boathouse and to this date I have had zero issues with the dealer and the boat. Kerri On has 550 miles and 80 hours mostly this season and there has been no failures or leaks or issues at all. In a new boat one can expect a few issues but there has been none. A testament to the design and care that the crew at Triton and Port Boathouse took initially. My feeling is I could not have found a better group of folks to deal with including my C Brat family. Great folks all around. I have been aboard and on the road for 2 months now and Kerri On is a fantastic home on the road and water. I just added a 1 1/2 inch memory foam to the bunk as it was feeling a bit firm and really comfy now. All systems are 100% and what an easy care boat. Just wash it. Careful about low overheads! George
 
Ian, I noticed in your photos that you have a vent for the espar running up to the windows, but I cant see any photos of the outlet. How well does it work clearing the fog off the windows? Can it be pointed at any window?
 
Hi Tom,

There are two Espar heater outlets, one at floor level in the cabin and one below the forward windows. The window vent can be opened, closed and aimed wherever you want it to blow. We have used it to clear all three forward windows. We just have to keep adjusting the direction as a window fogs up.

I have added a couple of pictures to our album.
 
Great looking boat!

Could you post pictures of the galley area showing the storage, my wife was wondering if the two drawers aft of the galley cabinet doors are part of the Triton CD 23? Also, what is the towed weight of your boat and trailer?

Thanks, Jerry
 
The galley has a fridge under the captains chair and then two cabinet doors. There are no drawers. Everything except the rigging is as it came from the factory. I just bought some starboard this weekend to build shelving in the cabinet area. With the price of the starboard I will be making some models first before I cut it. I have not decided yet wether to include some drawers or use plastic bins.

I do not know the actual weight of the boat and trailer. I estimate the boat at between 4 and 5,000 pounds loaded. We have a Roadrunner 6,500 lb trailer which weighs 1,500 lbs so combined between 5,500 and 6,500 lbs.

We leave the boat in the water over the season and have a friend who pulls it out with his F350 for us.
 
My IRA":29w1aaqk said:
Great looking boat!

Could you post pictures of the galley area showing the storage, my wife was wondering if the two drawers aft of the galley cabinet doors are part of the Triton CD 23? Also, what is the towed weight of your boat and trailer?

Thanks, Jerry
Click to expand...

None of the Triton 23 Ventures have had the drawers of the Fluid built Venture series. That may change as they build their "loaded" version for Sportcraft Marina, but I'm not sure.

I also notice the batteries have been moved from the transom mid section area to the lazarettes. I preffered having the lazarettes for storage or fish boxes.

IMHO the 23 venture has taken a step backwards and lost some of the innovations that it had previously. My opinion, of course, and worth what you paid for it.
 
The towed weight of my cape cruiser was 5100lb on a alum tandem axcel trailer 2450 continental trailer with a f-115 yamaha engine 401lb

The boat weighs about 3000lb
trailer about 1100lb
engine f-115 401lb
assorted boat stuff 600lb
windlass,electronics
anchor ,rode, batteries(2)
no water (20galtank)
little gas (60gallon tanks )

This was weighed at a truck stop 5100lb we tow this with a 07 toyota Sequoia witha 4.7 litre engine v-8 (6500tow rating )
 
It's a shame that the factory does not jump in here and explain about the interior changes,drawers,no drawers etc.from previous Venture 23 offerings.Makes me wonder what the 23' Ventures are actually coming with these days. Since I hand out cards and literature for the factory it's the least they could do to keep us in the loop about current offerings. I guess you have to buy 5 boats to find that out. Our batteries are in transom area and we like them there as we use the one lazarette as a storage/ dirty clothes area when we are cruising.The other is equipped to be a live well with a separate thru hull for the livewell over flow via screw in stand pipe which when removed acts as a drain. Fishing odds and ends live in there also as we only use the live well when fishing for stripers with live eels. Our boat which is on a aluminium Float On trailer weighs in a 5500 to 6000 pounds when we are loaded for cruising for a week or more. We carry a Bombard Air MAX 2 (60 pounds) dinghy, 2.5 hp Yamaha dinghy motor,Honda EU2000 generator about,full camper top, a couple coolers,barbecue grill, a couple anchors,windless, tools, spare tire 2 batteries, Espar Heater,food,water fuel and 150 hp Yamaha. We tow with a 2009 Chevy 4x4 2500 series extended cab long bed 3/4 ton pickup with a Duramax diesel effortlessly while getting anywhere from 11 to 17mpg depending on terain and speed. 75 mph = 11mpg. We got the boat at Walmart from a Chinese guy. :P
D.D.
 
Very nice boat!

I'm still wondering, along with "jamesTXSD", about that helm seat. I'm looking for an upgrade and that looks like it would fit the bill. Any info for us? Thanks. :D
 
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