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I like my Venture 24-4, but I don't like the swing keel swinging side to side.

I also don't like the Venture's tendancy to ride waves(tendancy to "kinda" pitchpole ), while also yawing(?)/rolling, on waves that attack at about 45 degrees from shore).

I think a lot of the problem is the Venture's light weight and the flat, almost planing bottom.

In any case, at this point, I feel that even if I can accept the less than walking height in the boat, I can't accept the two movements without getting very queezy and sick.

It looks like this makes the Venture not such a good boat for long voyages on Lake Erie and though I'm not a person who likes to spend money, I'm looking for a more stable boat.

Is there a better alternative to getting rid of the 24-4? Can I do something, within reason to make the 24-4 more passage-freindly?

Try reefing the main about 1/3rd.

Is the board locked down?

On edit: before you sell your boat, get on some others and see if they will do what you want.

Also, put more weight in the stern and install a bigger motor.

If you are just going to do the passage 1 or 2 times then you may want to have the boat trailered instead of crossing Erie although not as much fun it will save $$$$$$$$.

On my Mac 25 I never noticed the board swinging back and forth. I guess you could try locking the board down; when I locked mine down it didn't seem to make much difference so I normally left it not locked. I'd make sure the rudder is tight in it's bracket. If the waves are the problem and not the boat being overpowered I'm not sure what to suggest other than redistributing the weight inside the boat; I'd try to get most of the weight as low as possible. If the boat is overpowered then yes, reef the main and I'd use a jib rather than a genoa. Also check that your rigging is tight. If the rigging is moving around that might contribute to your problem.

Daniel

Just my opinion, but many of the features that make a sailboat better suited to trailer sailing, shallow water, and beaching, make it less well suited to the steep chop of Lake Erie. I'd prefer a a heavy, low aspect-ratio fixed keel.

Try rigging a bridle that holds the boat at about a 30 degree angle to the waves. If you search there are a few posts on how to do this.

MIght also try some rocker stoppers, but they only help a little.

Anchoring from the bow eye might also help, if it looks stout enough.

Erie gets some steep rollers though, probably still going to get tossed around no matter what. Maybe try lake Ontario Western part?

You should rebuild your keel to elimimate the slop . First by building up the width of the keel around the pivotbolt and then by putting a wide fitting bushing in the keel for the bolt to pass through

http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewt ... ght=bridle

Here is some more info about results and methods of using a bridle.

I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like the best setup to tame the wild beast at anchor

http://macgregorsailors.com/phpBB/viewt ... 4670#84670

Keel shouldn't rock much side to side, this may be contributing to the motion as the boat is moving independently of the thing that is supposed to smooth out the motion of the boat, namely the keel.

Fix the pivot bolt and lock down bolt holes and associated hardware.

If I keep the boat and I feel up to it, I'll drop the keel and upgrade the pivot hole with something with less slop.

The digram with an aft-lead anchoring was very helpful . . . thanks.