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Originally Posted by rak rua (Post 4702460)

Originally Posted by 770guy (Post 4702377)

That is a good idea and I am going to do it. I was looking at a person with the same boat and the factory trailer and it had bunks at every chine. I went ahead and raised the existing bunks 3.5". I made these stainless brackets.




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Originally Posted by Sydwayz (Post 4702722)

Suggestion from experience:
Cut and insert a piece of wood, the same width, at the proper height to "fill that gap" between the trailer cross members and the bottom of the bunk. As it is now, you have only the integrity of the wood holding the boat up. With a wood support under, you have the entirety of the bunk holding the weight of the boat; and the bolts are just holding it in place.

Also, I would not have gone that high. Again, speaking from experience on poor ramps and/or low water levels (end of dry summer), and also even trying to get on boat from ground with ladder and the like; the lower the better. I slipped off the bow of my boat, while sitting, and fell onto gravel with bare feet. I landed square on my feet, but I would have appreciated even 2" less to the ground. That hurt for weeks.

Originally Posted by Sydwayz (Post 4702722)

Suggestion from experience:
Cut and insert a piece of wood, the same width, at the proper height to "fill that gap" between the trailer cross members and the bottom of the bunk. As it is now, you have only the integrity of the wood holding the boat up. With a wood support under, you have the entirety of the bunk holding the weight of the boat; and the bolts are just holding it in place.

Also, I would not have gone that high. Again, speaking from experience on poor ramps and/or low water levels (end of dry summer), and also even trying to get on boat from ground with ladder and the like; the lower the better. I slipped off the bow of my boat, while sitting, and fell onto gravel with bare feet. I landed square on my feet, but I would have appreciated even 2" less to the ground. My feet hurt for weeks.

I think the mistake made by the guy who took the boat out was he power loaded the boat onto the trailer, and it jammed the hull through those V-bunks at the and nailed the straight/square crossmember. If it were me, I would tighten those up, to lift the boat up on the trailer a little higher, and prevent the hull from poking through, You can also replace those two cross members with V-bent ones.

https://www.ebay.com/i/253249111957?...BoCxdIQAvD_BwE

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Originally Posted by Too Stroked (Post 4702786)

Having worked on - and sworn at - more Venture trailers than I care to mention, let me note several common "issues" with them. First, they're pretty much entirely "bolt together / fully adjustable" trailers. While that may sound appealing, it's not. Anything bolted together can come loose. Anything adjustable can come out of adjustment. Get my drift?

Second, Venture bunks are made out of about the cheapest / quickest rotting / fastest warping wood on the planet. As you noted, the single bolts holding each bunk in vertical position are totally inadequate - and that would be if the bunks were made out of real wood.

Third, Venture's Engineering department - if one can call them that - is terrible at designing a trailer for any specific hull. Sure, with enough messing around / adjusting at a dealer, one can usually make one pretty much fit a specific hull. But things like cross members that allow the hull to contact them during loading are waaay to common. Throw in something like a hull with variable deadrise and they absolutely have no clue - and usually end up delivering a recipe for disaster.

Fourth, Venture trailers have more built in flex and less factor of safety than any other trailer I've ever worked on. That's a bad combination and means your trailer will have all of the strength of cooked pasta and will barely hold what it's (supposedly) rated for. A cross member that (on flat ground) looks like it won't be a problem will be when the trailer flexes. I honestly don't know what Aluminum alloy they use, but it must contain a significant percentage of Jello. I've only bent two trailers in my 30+ years in the marine business. They were both brand new Ventures.

Finally, if you ever work on a Venture trailer, make sure your Tetanus shot is up to date. Deburring is not a manufacturing process understood or used by Venture. By the time one gets a Venture trailer to fit a boat, you're usually in need of a pint of blood.

There, I feel better now. Good luck with this one.