Official 370 Venture thread

Escape Cay II said:
The last picture is a little skewed, but looking to starboard and that cabin window (port) is directly below. The crew was coming from inside the area where the cockpit refrigerator is located (2nd posted picture) that hole had the screw in it that just penetrated the fiberglass the crew wasn't removed in the last picture.

I will check for more leak potential points before I go rebuild the ceiling panels. I have seen some of the screws holding down the bar and grill in the cockpit were caulked. One of the ducts for the cockpit ac was literally full of water. (the one inside the wet bar) The two ceiling panels I have pulled off were so covered with mold, I'm concerned that the others will be too. It's obvious that this has been going on a long time? It seems that hurricane Michael rains did a lot of wetting the inside. Or max winds here in Destin were only 47 mph according to my weather station.
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yea you would be surprised how quickly mold can grow. In some cases with the right humidity and temp within the week of intrusion. Did you say you have AC in the cockpit? Didn't even know what was an option on the vetnure.
 
Whatta Life said:
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Here it is . One hour boat ride home , went well . Wife and kids love it so that's good . The Venture is actually smaller than my center console behind it but it looks so much bigger . Moving the cc to another lift in the next few days so the Venture will go on this lift . Realized my first problem , it has a hard bottom paint .
When out of the water for an extended period it will loose it's effectiveness . Have to figure this one out .
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Looks great, always loved the white hull ventures..the black windows just make it look so unique. Looks like you do have those speaker pods on the sunpad rails? I could never get mine to work.
 
Been working my hard all week on the Venture . It has the upgraded stereo but it sounded terible . I have an audio background so got into it immediately . 2 speakers and sub not working . Dan told me were to find the amp . They didn't use a marine grade amp or rca cables so the connections had some oxidation on them . cleaned them and put on antioxidation grease , stereo sounds much better , but still no sub . Found that they didn't have one of the switches set properly on amp . Changed it and sub starts working . I guess it wasn't right from factory and the original owner never noticed ? Started tuning the system and thought the sub was weak . Pulled the sub and it is a dual voice coil sub but they only had one coil connected from the factory . Hooked up both coils and boom .this thing sounds great .

Next was lighting . Started replacing all the interior lights bulbs with led's . For the fun off it i tested the temperature of the regular lights vs the led's . Attached it a picture of both . The led's 107 degrees , the halogens 295 degrees ! ouch . There is 20 lights on the inside . 10 watts each . So that is like a 200 watt heater running all the time . The white light on the left is led , the yellow right one , halogen .

Went Thru the battery system to get info for designing the Lithium battery packs . The boats have a dedicated 31m agm for each motor and 2 agm's in parallel for the house bank and it runs the bow thruster . The house voltage was low even after charging . Split the 2 paralleled batteries and tested . One was bad and holding down the other . They are set up with acr's on both engines . So about 60 seconds after you start either motor it connects the starting motor to the house battery and starts charging it . If you start both motors it will connect all 3 banks and both motors will charge the house bank . Nicely designed and great over kill wiring , Searay deserves an A for this . But one big F is there is no covers on any of the positive battery terminals . Coast guard will fail the boat it a second when they see this . This is dangerous and should be corrected . Hope it is just my boat and the others are done correctly.

Pulling the the little front speakers . I think they look stupid and the regular stereo sounds so good i want to listen to it .
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Wanted to clean the filter on the ac . Of course one of the back, hard to get to screws, head was stripped . Decided to put the piece back on with velcro instead of screws to make it easier in the future . Afterwards decided to look in the other two compartments , both had stripped screws , ugh . The port one has a ac hose going thru it but still plenty of unused space . So added velcro to the top and this is where tools and spare parts will go . The starboard side is empty . Just unused space . So this will be additional storage , attached is a picture of it .

Space is much bigger than the picture looks . This is a lot of additional storage for 10 minutes work .
 
Whatta Life said:
View attachment 65033 Wanted to clean the filter on the ac . Of course one of the back, hard to get to screws, head was stripped . Decided to put the piece back on with velcro instead of screws to make it easier in the future . Afterwards decided to look in the other two compartments , both had stripped screws , ugh . The port one has a ac hose going thru it but still plenty of unused space . So added velcro to the top and this is where tools and spare parts will go . The starboard side is empty . Just unused space . So this will be additional storage , attached is a picture of it .

Space is much bigger than the picture looks . This is a lot of additional storage for 10 minutes work .
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Great info! Thanks. I’m very interested in replacing lights in the cabin as you did. What we’re replacement bulbs?
 
i will get the part #'s and contact for you . The boat has about 20 interior lights . That is equivilent to a 200 watt electric heater running inside your boat when the lights are on .

Does the Gen have an alternator and charge the house battery without the charger turned on ?
 
I have 5kw generator. I don’t think it has a separate 12v output, just 110v AC. So I think you must leave the battery charger on whether on shore or generator power.

Would appreciate parts number for led lighting. Did you replace all the interior lights?
 
I ordered the wrong size bulbs for some of the lights . replacements will be here in a few days . Once i confirm fit i will post part numbers . Also ran a test on gen . It does have an alternator in it . It will charge the house battery when running without turning on the battery charger . The voltage was in the 13.2v range so not a full saturation charge voltage but it would charge to maybe 90% .
 
Hi, I'm new to the thread. Also have a Venture. If you could share the LED replacement bulb info that would be great. Did you also change the topside deck lights?

One other thing, I noticed an air conditioning vent within the bathroom on the photo of the different lights. Was that added? my 2014 does not have that.
 
the new lights didn't fit either . I had a few left over from previous conversion and am using those but they are not made any longer so trying to find the right ones . Did find good led's for the 5 spot lights inside and for the bilge lights . as soon as i get it all down i will list the part numbers .

The bathroom vent was original .

Taking the family camping tonight for the first time on the boat . Should be interesting .
 
ok. I need some help!
coming off plane abruptly I get a LOUD high pitch alarm. seems like it would be high water bilge since that is when water would be shifting. however, very little water in all bilge area and little in sump. anybody else experience this? usually only sounds for a couple seconds but has lasted longer. smartcraft engine display shows no warnings.
 
16 Hemingway said:
ok. I need some help!
coming off plane abruptly I get a LOUD high pitch alarm. seems like it would be high water bilge since that is when water would be shifting. however, very little water in all bilge area and little in sump. anybody else experience this? usually only sounds for a couple seconds but has lasted longer. smartcraft engine display shows no warnings.
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I am wondering if one of the switches iseasily triggered by the force of coming off plane abruptly?
 
I believe its an alarm from the Verado due to the sudden drop in speed. When we first got ours, I remember that noise as I learned not to throw in neutral or slow at 30 knots
 
Hi, I'm new to the thread and SR forum. Have been looking at getting into a 33' to 37' SunDancer for a couple of years and we were/are now ready to buy this spring/ summer. Then I discover the 370 Venture! Now I'm on the fence..... Read every thread on here that mentions the Venture. Lots of pros and cons. But looks like there is a lack of recent feedback from current owners now that they are all 4-6yrs old (but also noticed that sales were terrible, so this is unfortunate lack of general sharing with a smaller owners club...). Would love to know some of the following from current or previous owners:

Do the Verado's wear down or lower performance over time with the need to go full throttle w/ tabs to get on plane or run at +4500rpm to stay on plane? Is there a higher cost of regular maintenance or significant overhaul maintenance needed, compared to V-drives or I/O? Is there a ~500hr full rebuild needed on the lower unit (or other main engine systems) similar to the Merc Bravo III's that I see are completed all the time on 310/330 SunDancer's?

Does the change in prop to get on plane better with full boat hurt the engine with higher rev's? Or is this a good longterm strategy with a slight loss (3-4mph?) in top end speed? Did many make this change or stay OEM prop's? If changed to the new props do see a significant reduction in MPG/GPH, but worth the trade off? Did anybody do the engine "Flash" to achieve the higher torque at lower RPM except the 1 fella I read? Did this work well instead of new props?

Saw the BoatTEST.com Youtube vid's for the Venture, but they really don't say how well it performs in moderate to rough sea's. Does is do ok in 2-3's, 3-4's, 4-6's, as compared to say a similar size SunDancer? Can run those sea's on plane? Sea testing in those conditions is likely never an option, so would like to get any input from someone who's experienced it with this boat...

How does the Venture handle in general in moderate chop? I see the deadrise is 18deg at transom compared to 21deg for Sundancer. Does result is a bumpier ride compared to a 33' or 35' SunDancer?

For northern states owners (I live in Michigan) do you find the reduced fiberglass bridge cover now being mostly canvass being a drawback for summer day use in our moderate sun / weather (hotter under the canvass?)? Do you go with full camper top for extended season use in the fringe months (Apr and Oct)? Or just the extended bimini and isenglass? Does the camper top also work with AC for the odd 95Deg days in July (Michigan) when trying to beat the heat with fully clothed guests on board (read: grandparents age or non-swimsuit guests like special customers from work)?

Saw many small repair projects throughout the thread, which I expect as a boat owner. However, is the overall ownership and maintenance similar to other boats in this cruiser class? Or does it appear the SR Engineer's cut some corners with this model?

As you can tell I'm really dialed into the SunDancer or the Venture. I need something that is slightly less than 12' beam so I can trailer it to other parts of the country during our winter season Up North, but I want maximum boat length that I can pull myself. I love that I can get a 37' w/ 11' 3" beam AND outboards to boot! Plus the extra deck and below deck space looks great compared to a Sundancer. But, the under powered/ can't get on plain with 4ppl and a full tank of gas comments have me concerned about long term ownership for the Venture. Also really worried about how they will hold up for the next 10yrs?! However, LOVE the shallower draft (days at the sandbar!) and ability to tilt out of the salt if/when we get to the salt during winter....

Please offer up any insight / experiences and/or suggestions you may have for an expecting newbie to the mid-sized cruiser family! Want to hear about the good, the bad and the ugly (stealing that line from another thread post :) Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
-Adam (and Kelly and dogs) :)
 
Hi ADR,

We absolutely love our Venture. It's a 2014 with over 320 hours on her. I basically bought her new and other than a few miner issues (really any boat could have), she has performed fantastic. I'm happy to have a conversation over the phone if you wish to review these questions and any others you may have. drop me an email at psandquist@soundxperience.com and i will respond with my cell number. It's a great boat with a lot more room than the Sundancer and better lines
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