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Looking at both of these boats, and wanted to get opinions from somoene who has ridden on and familiar with both. Both are twin 275 Vrod boats. Thanks.
My father's business partner is a huge SeaVee guy. The 34 is a nice boat. I was just in Islamorada and was out at the humps with a 34 SeaVee...looked like a nice riding boat. They usually run trips or twin diesels right?
My father is a Pursuit guy...and I'm an Intrepid guy.
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Intrepid 323 Center Console
Southwest Florida
I can only speak from experiance having owned a 34 Venture. Mine was rigged by Henley and was probably the best rigged boat I have ever owned, a true testimonial to someone that knows what he is doing, and a real quality boat for fit and finish.The boat was great for drift fishing with a kite, tons of room and storage, great live well a great fishing boat.
Now the bad part .It was the most dissappointing boat I have ever owned as far as preformance. I think any 34 Venture that does not have a minimum of 300 hp outboards is going to be the poorest running boat I have ever been on or run. If you sea trial one on a nice day you do not understand my comments.They are big heavy boats that need many horses to keep them on plane at any speed below 30 knots. They are basically underpowered with 250 or 275 hp motors and when you get into some bad weather and want to slow it down so you dont beat yourself to death you can't because it falls off plane and just wallow's and is downright dangerous.
With 300 or 350 engines I am sure it's a whole different boat and I would love to own one again but with any less HP your not going to be happy. Ask any owner that has 250 Yamaha four strokes how he gets his boat out of the hole on plane. If he is full of fuel and water and a few people it's a struggle.Mine had 250 ox66 Yamahas and was a dog below 30 knots and I had the big K plane tabs which still didnt make it right.
I have never run or been on a 34 Sea Vee but know the boat and again your looking at a quality boat but I would caution you to find one with big outboards so you have some torque to keep it on plane when you want to pull back on those really nasty days or your going to get a real beating.
I have a 34 Sea Vee with diesels. I have rode a 34 and a 39 Venture and loved both of them. I can tell you from first hand experience that neither of the Ventures will ride with my 34 Sea Vee. The fit and finish of both boats are great, but the Venture is a little fancier in this area. Mine is a twin diesel boat and that is for sure one of the reasons it rides better. I have never been on the Sea Vee with outboards. I went with the diesels for the fuel economy and ride. I get an average of 1.7 MPG and can run 28-29 knots through 4 foot chop in the gulf. And I have a full tower.
did your boat have the ventilation holes on the Trim Tab pockets? From what I've read, they had and issue with these pockets causing suction, and therefore making it difficult to get on plane, and maybe this also caused the poor characteristics below 30???
Too bad others have to mooch a thread with other boats
Quote:
Originally Posted by fastcat2
Looking at both of these boats, and wanted to get opinions from somoene who has ridden on and familiar with both. Both are twin 275 Vrod boats. Thanks.
Fastcat you are asking a tough question because the boats are so alike. That must mean you know what you want. I fish a 34 sea vee a lot and I have done a little on a 34 venture. I can only ad to seahorse about more power. The 34 sea vee I fish the most is a trip 275 vrods and the power is great. If two motors atleast 300s or you wont be happy. The venture is a twin with 275s and could use more power to take advantage of the great hull. As far as a choice its up to you as there is no silver bullet.
I have been on both boats and let’s say I ended up with the little sister to the venture, a 31 Jupiter. Besides budget my biggest concern was adequate power with twins. It’s just the same with a 32 regulator. I didn’t want to strain the motors running @30 knots or so. I local boat in south Floirda call Venturesome runs a 34 venture with twin 225 yami fourstrokes. I would reach out to him for more info, from what I can tell he has thousands of hours on his boat.
link to his site. I have never personally spoken with him but seems to be very open about his boat.
Our 34 Venture was originally rigged with the 250 OX engines, which we replaced with F250's. In doing so, we researched the power issue, and in addition to the tab pocket venting, which Venture paid for, we added four blade, Powertech props, both of which have increased performance and the ability to stay on plane at lower speeds, even in a sea. It's certainly no speed demon, but is an incredibly stable and solid fishing platform for offshore. We top out at about 48 MPH, with a cruising speed of roughly 28 to 30 with a fishing load, getting about 1.3 MPG. The boat has held up remarkably well, and after four seasons of fishing it, we have no regrets. So far it's done everything we've asked of it. The Sea Vee 34 is also an excellent platform. Don't know that it performs significantly better with the same power configuration, especially if you consider the Venture hard top, which I personally really like, but takes away somewhat from performance due to the weight. I much prefer the Venture head configuration over the Sea Vee. I think the better deal on either boat would probably carry the day, relative to overall navigational package, power, and attention to upkeep. We previously owned two different Contenders, a 23 and 27, and so we know the performance of offshore center consoles pretty well.
If I were in the market today for any of these boats, I would probably go with the new Yamaha 4.2 F300 at 558 lbs, it should be a great match for either the SeaVee or Venture.
did your boat have the ventilation holes on the Trim Tab pockets? From what I've read, they had and issue with these pockets causing suction, and therefore making it difficult to get on plane, and maybe this also caused the poor characteristics below 30???
No my boat did not have Ventelation pockets. I must say that I am so relived that I did not get a slew of Venture owners telling me there must be something wrong with my boat or the way I drove it. Actually I am amazed this topic of trying to keep these big center console boats on plane at any speed below 30 knots does not come up more often in discussions on what boat is better than another. The only center console I have personally fished that was really inpressive when it came to slowing it down and remaining on plane when it gets really snotty is the 26 & 28 Southport. These are some fine riding boats IMO and not getting the press they should , especially from the Florida guys.
Oh yes , even though you did not ask about anything but twin Verado 275's The best riding boat of the two would definatly be the 34 Sea Vee diesel. You would be hard pressed to find anything that rides like one of these.
As a side note, the main reason I picked the 35 SeaHunter is because she will stay on plane at about 20 mph. In NC we run predominately head seas and it can be really snotty on the ride out, so if you are going to the stream (60 nm) you better have something that can stay on plane at slower speeds and get you there and back.
As a side note, the main reason I picked the 35 SeaHunter is because she will stay on plane at about 20 mph. In NC we run predominately head seas and it can be really snotty on the ride out, so if you are going to the stream (60 nm) you better have something that can stay on plane at slower speeds and get you there and back.
My 31 jupiter falls of plane at about 25/26mph depending on fuel load with no tabs. Are you using tabs to stay on plane at that speed?
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Michael Boatman (yes my real name)
I can offer some help here. I currently own and am very happy with a Venture 34 with Yamaha 225s. I've also studied the SeaVees in detail. I wrote a fair amount on them in my "Miami rant" A quality rant from the Miami show
Let's take the SeaVee first. I find their construction techniques to be better than average and their wiring to be quite a bit better than average. I can criticize stringer placement for boats equipped with more than two engines, but that does to appear to be an issue here. Their interior layout and space utilization is very good. I've found the ride on the boats to be as you'd expect from the length and the deadrise. I got to drive one with the pods and was very impressed with the boat. The main reason I don't own one of the pod boats is the price tag and the difficulty of trailering it. If you are considering one with twins, I know of no reason not to buy it. Triples or quads is going to require sitting down with their structural folks and making the bottom support the weight and dynamic forces seen at sea.
Now, onto the Venture. The majority of the Venture 34's out there are the generation one hull, with a typical eurotransom arrangement. The step under the transom area was eliminated in the Gen 2 hulls in about 2008. That step provided lots of room for mounting the K-Planes and helped handling around the dock. But it also caused some performance issues that are real. When the hull was designed, there were only two stoke engines, which are quite a bit lighter and stronger downstairs than the four strokes.
The Venture 34 with a pair of decent two stokes was a happy package. But when the first four strokes came out, they were heavy and and had less bottom end grunt than the two strokes the hulls were designed for. Some of the early four stroke equipped hulls would seem to "suck down" on the water and would have a very hard time planing. Venture figured out that vacuum and turbulence in the trim tab pockets was the problem. Venture promptly began a free retrofit program, adding large vent lines to the tab pockets. Once the vent lines were installed, the performance with the early four strokes improved markedly and all was well - until Mercury released the Verado.
Verados are not much different in weight, but if you study their mounting brackets and tilt mechanism, you'll see that they moved the center of the powerhead back about 8 inches from where it is on things like 225 Hondas and 225 or 250 Yamahas. The Verados also did not offer as much trim inward as the rest of the four strokes. The Venture hulls did not like having the weight moved back and the inward trim being limited. A common fix for the early Verado equipped hulls was the addition of 4 degree transom wedges to let the engines trim in more and help lift the hull. Needless to say, I think triples were not big sellers on a hull that was basically stern heavy because of the lack of flotation under the eurotransom.
Jupiter 31's and Bahama 31's, both closely "related" hulls, seemed to have related or somewhat similar problem. But since Jupiters use a bolt on Armstrong bracket, all they had to do was call Armstrong and say "Send us brackets with more flotation". They did and there are three different versions of Jupiter 31 brackets depending on year. Likewise, the first 10 Bahama 31's had flotation added under the step to correct the same problem. The molds were revised for S/N 11 and up, making it an excellent hull. Scott Henley rigged many Ventures before he brought out the Bahama line and he obviously paid attention to the quality and the rigging, because I'd put his boats and Venture at the top of the heap in quality, fit and finish in their size range.
Venture's solution to the problem was to fill in the area under the eurotransom, adding both flotation and length to the running surface of the hull. Once that was done, the Gen 2 hulls could carry triples or the big Yamahas. so, if you are buying a new Venture 34, you are getting a great hull on which the problem has been resolved. If you are buying a used Venture, you need to decide how you want it to work. Here are my thoughts on that problem:
My 2002 hull with Yamaha 225s is no race boat. It will make mid 40's and is very happy in rough water providing it has stern lifting four blade props. The three blades are fine for general weather, but when the going gets tough, the boat is happier with 4 blades. I'd put the rough water ride up there close to Regulator territory. If I were repowering the boat, I'd do my best to hang twin 300's on the transom. I'll be the first to admit that I love the Verado controls and VesselView, but the aftward weight problem remains, so to me, Verados are out. I think Suzuki 300's would be great, if you have decent service for them and the factory starts supporting the dealers with better parts availability. Yamaha has just released some new stuff that sounds good, providing all the horsepower is at the prop instead of just in the decals. Ready? Take a deep breath. My first choice among what you can buy now is 300 E-tecs. Light enough to fit the original design intent of the hull, yet more than powerful enough to make it perform. Yes, they are two strokes in a four stroke world, but they work well, are fuel efficient and their owners love them.
In the couple years I've owned my Venture, I've gotten to know it very well. I loved it when I first got it and I love it today. The boat is built to a quality level that is unprecedented and continues to surprise me with how well everything on the boat is done. Add a bunch of electronics to a boat yourself and you'll know a lot more about the hull than you did when you started. It never disappoints me. Mine is usually loaded with 12 tanks and dive gear and I set the trim at the dock and don't usually change it while running. I do use the tabs, but only to bring the bow down a bit if it is rough. I normally run the tabs at about 3 degrees up, but I also added a windlass and about 150 pounds of ground tackle to the bow, which made the balance of the boat about perfect to me.
Would I like more horsepower? Sure, but I'm going to run the Yamis until they die. When I'm ready to repower, I know that the hull will still be solid enough to run what ever I want. I've owned a lot of boats, been on a lot more, crawled around, under and through a whole lot more and am still very happy with my Venture. I'll be at the Miami show again this year, but I'll be there to see what's new, not looking for a replacement.
34 Sea Vee vs. 34 Venture
