08venture
Venture builds a boat that a diverse group of owners finds attractive – from hard-core offshore anglers to those who want handsome tenders for their megayachts. What do these two groups have in common? Both have unyielding, discriminating taste in boats and only accept the best.
Performance
Three things conspire to make a boat run smoothly and dry offshore: the design of the running surface, weight and waterline length. Skimp on any of those and your ride quality diminishes. Venture blends these three ingredients masterfully, sacrificing none in the quest for overall performance.
Make no mistake, this is a massive ride. It honestly wants the triple Mercury Verado 275-hp outboards on the transom linked to Shadow Technology throttle-and-shift controls.
On the way out the Stuart, Florida, inlet, I encountered wind-against-tide seas of 3 to 4 feet at a horrendously short period. The bow never lifted or dropped. It qualified as a non-event. Additionally, as a testament to the construction, the sound of the water and spray blowing out the sides was louder than the engines. The pounding-hull noise normally prevalent in such conditions proved nonexistent.
Put the bow into the wind and it falls off to drift directly beam-to with a relatively short roll moment but with remarkably gentle transitions. I did notice some chine-slap noise in a beam-to drift, however.
At 30 mph with the engines trimmed down, the Venture 39 leans into a hard turn, bleeds speed quickly and reverses course in about 1 1/2 boat lengths – very impressive and safe. One really couldn’t ask for better emergency maneuvering. Heading down-sea, the Venture 39 tracks straight as an arrow and stays perfectly dry. I never once had to touch the wheel.
Wide-open throttle produced 52.6 mph at 6,200 rpm, burning 90 gph, which is in the realm of inboard convertible sport- fishermen. However, drop that to a more realistic 40 mph, and your fuel consumption decreases dramatically to a much more reasonable 47 gph total for three big engines. Want even better performance? Throttling to 33 mph at 4,000 rpm grants you 28-gph fuel economy, translating to an impressive range of 600 nautical miles (with a 10-percent insurance factor).
Fishing
The Venture 39’s raised forward deck holds three in-deck, insulated boxes that drain directly overboard so you can use them as fish boxes, for ice management or dry storage. A fourth huge, insulated athwartship box finishes out the bow-step storage. One step down to the main-deck level leads to yet another large, dry storage compartment. All the hatches aboard are heavy, insulated and gloss-finished on both sides. Venture mounts heavy-duty rams on each hatch so that once you pop the latch, it opens itself; you needn’t lift it at all.
A tackle center on the aft side of the leaning post provides space for a dozen removable Plano tackle boxes plus two full-width drawers on smooth-as-silk roller tracks. Another centerline hatch just aft of the leaning post reveals the largest fish box of all, extending all the way forward to the center console – a full 7 feet long.
The transom holds both a 55-gallon livewell and a bait-prep station with sink and both fresh and saltwater washdowns. Standard equipment also includes three rod holders in each gunwale, two more on the transom and six across the T-top back.
The owner of this particular vessel had superb ideas on how he wanted to customize his fishing boat. He mounted a center rigger and a tower that supports more rod holders; Mercury’s Shadow Technology allows installation of a second fully equipped helm station with plug-and-play ease. Additionally, he mounted integral teaser reels under the hard T-top (the floor of the upper station). The owner claims his strenuous tests proved he suffered no measurable performance loss from the tower addition – not that he would have cared, since he says, “The increased number of fish you see by being elevated in the tower more than makes up for any minor loss in performance. The improved vision is extraordinary.”
**Design and Construction
**Other than superb offshore performance, perhaps my most favorite aspect of the Venture 39 (and other Venture models) is the aesthetic. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a sharp edge, right angle or distinct corner anywhere on this boat. Radius curves rule. The center console – almost 6 1/2 feet deep – provides access to battery switches, bus bars, instrument backs, storage, and a head and shower.
The helm seat/leaning post features five rod holders across the back (seven if you count the receivers for the seat-back posts) as well as four drink holders, and an under-seat box.
The running surface consists of solid biaxial fiberglass, Kevlar and vinylester resin for optimum osmosis impermeability. The hull sides, decks and console are all cored with Divinycell, and the transom contains a ceramic-matrix composite to prevent rot while providing a tough-as-nails mount for the 825 horses. Venture vacuum-bags the liner and massive, solid stringers into the hull.
If you want a well-rounded boat that combines offshore fishability with offshore performance, Venture’s new 39 deserves a very close look indeed.
LOA……39 ft. 6 in.
BEAM……10 ft. 8 in.
HULL DRAFT……2 ft. 7 in
DEADRISE……24 deg.
WEIGHT……8,000 lb. (dry)
FUEL……550 gal.
MAX HP…… **(3) 300-hp OB
**MSRP……$302,127
(w/triple 275 Mercury Verado OB)
NMMA Certified
Venture Marine / Riviera Beach, Florida / 561-845-8557 / www.venturemarine.com
