Official 370 Venture thread

I see the cockpit and see more cockpit seating than on other similarly sized Sundancer’s. I also can compare my ownership of a Yamaha 200 for 14 years, and know I never spent more than 500/season on the engine, and know the current owner has not either (17 year old engine now). Compared to my 10 year old Merc 350, v-drives, minimum 500/engine, and 3k when the water pumps went out. Another 3 when I have to do the manifolds and risers. So, maintenance should be much better on a venture, but maybe the Verados have their own unique issues? Don’t forget, my v-drives have rudders and shaft seals, both possible points of entry for water in the bilge, the Venture has none if this, and only 2 water intakes, AC, if equipped, and generator, if equipped.
I’m not a fan of the custom cowl the Ventures have on the Verados (I think it provides fresh air). I could see buying a venture and in 15 years if you wanted to repower, not sure Yamaha/Suzuki/ or even newer Verados would be an option with that custom cowl, but I have only seen it in pictures!
 
so we have agreed on price and terms , looks like this deal is going to happen . I really like this boat . I'm a performance guy , everything i own has been modified and so will this boat . Here are a few things i have planned . First , i'm in the Lithium battery business , so this boat, like my other, will be getting a set of custom built lithium batteries . I have to decide how i want to build them . Option one would have the same useable capacity as the boat currently has . Option 2 would have 3x the house capacity . This would be if i decide to install a huge inverter . Probably start with the smaller pack and then increase if i go the inverter route . Battery pack will 200lbs lighter than what is in there .

Second thing is a reflash of the verado's . This is a popular thing here in florida . Increasing torque in the 3500-4500 range . This will make the boat get on plane much faster . Top speed will be faster but i wont use it . 40mph is fine for me .

Third , new props . Going with more blade surface area . This boat has high prop slip , part of that is to make up for lower hp . With the increased hp should be able to go up 1" of pitch . Combined with the lower slip ,rpm's at 31mph should drop from 5,000 rpms to 4500 . Or at the same rpm cruise at 36mph . The newer props also have vents in them which make getting on plane even easier .

That will get me started . Open for any improvements others have done and recommend .
Any update on reflashing the Verados?
 
For 370 Venture owners or past owners ...

Have you had experiences (good or bad) being in shallow water and tilting up the outboards to slide through? Seems like almost any tilt up cuts speed a lot and reduces maneuverability. Is that just a 370 thing?
 
For 370 Venture owners or past owners ...

Have you had experiences (good or bad) being in shallow water and tilting up the outboards to slide through? Seems like almost any tilt up cuts speed a lot and reduces maneuverability. Is that just a 370 thing?

When you tilt the engines out of the water, you lose some maneuverability but the fact that we can tilt the engines out allows us to be in shallow areas bigger boats cant get to!
 
For 370 Venture owners or past owners ...

Have you had experiences (good or bad) being in shallow water and tilting up the outboards to slide through? Seems like almost any tilt up cuts speed a lot and reduces maneuverability. Is that just a 370 thing?
That’s true for any outboard powered boat. Trimming up will change the direction of the thrust from being parallel to the water and the boat, to being 45 degrees, or more, off parallel. Also, as water flows past the lower drive unit it acts as a rudder, but if you lift the engine out, or even partially out of the water, you lose, or reduce the effectiveness of, that rudder. I used to coast up to docks in neutral in my deck boat, turn the wheel, and I would slowly turn the boat parallel to the dock. Doesn’t work if I have to pull the engine out of the water.

The good news is, you will not damage the drives or props if the engines are off and out of the water.
 
Maybe someone has already posted about changing props and the effects on their 370 Venture, however, may I ask again? I bought my 2013 in 2016. I asked Sea Ray what the boat was fitted with at the factory and the reply I got was:
15.3 X 14 RH ENERTIA & 15.25"X 14"LH ENERTIA. (The Enertia is a three blade prop I think.) HOWEVER the boat has 4 blade props??? The previous owner apparently changed props. I have not examined the props for markings.Mine seems to need about 10% more RPMs to get on plane that the Boat Test report on the Venture back in 2013 (YouTube). Are Merc props stamped (marked) with pitch and diameter?
 
Maybe someone has already posted about changing props and the effects on their 370 Venture, however, may I ask again? I bought my 2013 in 2016. I asked Sea Ray what the boat was fitted with at the factory and the reply I got was:
15.3 X 14 RH ENERTIA & 15.25"X 14"LH ENERTIA. (The Enertia is a three blade prop I think.) HOWEVER the boat has 4 blade props??? The previous owner apparently changed props. I have not examined the props for markings.Mine seems to need about 10% more RPMs to get on plane that the Boat Test report on the Venture back in 2013 (YouTube). Are Merc props stamped (marked) with pitch and diameter?

Hey, I would look at my comments and post earlier in this thread. If you click my profile you can find it but I wrote about Mike sensitive research into changing my propellers and what happen when I did. Essentially when I change the pitch and the props to a three blade I was able to get the RPMs needed to get on plane even with 60 people on the boat. I TopSpeed out now at around 37 mph when I used to TopSpeed at around 40 so I lost a few mph but I don’t really care about that. The boat seems to have a lot more torque and grab at lower speeds and I can Plane as soon as I hit 5000 RPM
 
so we have agreed on price and terms , looks like this deal is going to happen . I really like this boat . I'm a performance guy , everything i own has been modified and so will this boat . Here are a few things i have planned . First , i'm in the Lithium battery business , so this boat, like my other, will be getting a set of custom built lithium batteries . I have to decide how i want to build them . Option one would have the same useable capacity as the boat currently has . Option 2 would have 3x the house capacity . This would be if i decide to install a huge inverter . Probably start with the smaller pack and then increase if i go the inverter route . Battery pack will 200lbs lighter than what is in there .

Second thing is a reflash of the verado's . This is a popular thing here in florida . Increasing torque in the 3500-4500 range . This will make the boat get on plane much faster . Top speed will be faster but i wont use it . 40mph is fine for me .

Third , new props . Going with more blade surface area . This boat has high prop slip , part of that is to make up for lower hp . With the increased hp should be able to go up 1" of pitch . Combined with the lower slip ,rpm's at 31mph should drop from 5,000 rpms to 4500 . Or at the same rpm cruise at 36mph . The newer props also have vents in them which make getting on plane even easier .

That will get me started . Open for any improvements others have done and recommend .
I am really interested in the "reflash the verados" idea and see how that works Let us know!!
 
Received this email if anyone is interested in getting more hp from your Verados

Hi Don. As long as they’re 2007 or newer we can get another 45hp and recommend 91 octane. You’ll need to be 63-6500 to get the power and we also recommend you start with the prop you have. Cost is $825 per motor plus shipping with a typical turnaround time of 3-5 business days. You would need to send the ECUs to the below address with a note requesting the upgrade, along with your name, address and contact information and we’ll get credit card when we ship them back. We also have a flash tool which allows you to flash the ECUs without sending them in. You would need to email pictures of the ECUs for the software. The tool will work with any Windows application except XP. Cost for this option is $2200 plus shipping ($775 per motor for the tunes and $650 plus shipping for the tool).

Thank you for your interest.

Dawn
Simon Motorsports/Simon Performance Technology
1900 Joe Crosson Drive
El Cajon, CA 92020
760-440-9334
 
tiara in the snow 01.JPG
I wonder what reflashing does to the longevity of the engine. This is a fairly common practice with German sports cars and voids the warranty. Most wait until the warranty expires to perform the upgrade. The HP of an Audi TT 1.8 liter engine can be increased significantly with reflashing but the higher HP factory version of the engine has beefed up connecting rods and bearings to absorb the greater output. Would reflashed outboards need some similar beefing up to be reliable?
 
the only problem i see with the reflash is the 91 octane requirement....the predominant marine gasoline in fla is rec90 (non-ethanol) - your one tank of bad gas away from destroying 50k of engine - on a trailer boat where you can fill it with premium this may work - or if your at a marina that allows a truck to come in or caters to go fasts - just a PITA for a cruiser though
 
the only problem i see with the reflash is the 91 octane requirement....the predominant marine gasoline in fla is rec90 (non-ethanol) - your one tank of bad gas away from destroying 50k of engine - on a trailer boat where you can fill it with premium this may work - or if your at a marina that allows a truck to come in or caters to go fasts - just a PITA for a cruiser though
Don, I too reached out about the re flashing and received the same email back. The 91 octane is a very good reason why not to do it.
 
the only problem i see with the reflash is the 91 octane requirement....the predominant marine gasoline in fla is rec90 (non-ethanol) - your one tank of bad gas away from destroying 50k of engine - on a trailer boat where you can fill it with premium this may work - or if your at a marina that allows a truck to come in or caters to go fasts - just a PITA for a cruiser though
50k per engine, seems way high, or maybe you are saying 25k per engine and I just misunderstood. since new Yamaha 425s were being sold at the boat show for 38k installed and Suzuki 350s were 25k per.
 
If it were only $20,000, I would be sad.
tiara in the snow 01.JPG
 
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) :)


Adam/ADR,

I have a 37 Sea Ray Venture 2015 for sale here in California. Sea Ray didn't produce many Ventures, but the few people that own them seem to LOVE them. The outboard idea was pretty rare on a boat of this size, but is now making a comeback. You'll see outboards on so many new boats up to 45'.

The venture has many benefits over the sundancer. I'm happy to give you more information and discuss if you have questions. tbenson623@gmail.com
 
Do any owners out there trailer your Venture? If so, did you have the radar arch hinged? Or, do you take the arch apart at the seam with the hull structure and lower it? In talking with trailer manufacturers they say there isn't enough clearance to trailer below 13' 6" w/out doing one of the above. Curious what you all do?

Thx. -A
 
Adam/ADR,

I have a 37 Sea Ray Venture 2015 for sale here in California. Sea Ray didn't produce many Ventures, but the few people that own them seem to LOVE them. The outboard idea was pretty rare on a boat of this size, but is now making a comeback. You'll see outboards on so many new boats up to 45'.

The venture has many benefits over the sundancer. I'm happy to give you more information and discuss if you have questions. tbenson623@gmail.com


Hi Tybee623,
Thanks for the info. I saw your listing on Yachtworld.com. Thanks. If I have other questions, I'll reach out to you.
-Adam
 

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