Venture boat trailers

[Turboal]

MR 580 -- The tongue is not longer, it is the original one the trailer came with. But yes good question -- the trailer hitch is also a shorty only 5,000 lb rating and I have 6 inches of clearance from the bow sprint so it is close but not a problem. The boat itself sits about 6 inches past the rear of the trailer and Venture claimed it could go as far as 3 ft without a problem. There is only about 4 inches of adjustment on the trailer bow stanchion and it is at it's forward limit.  The machine shop where I got the new tongue made at (they only had to drill 4 holes in tube) said the tongue was thin wall tubing and should have been thicker. They only had a scrap piece of tubing (no charge) of the same thickness so out of desperation we used it -- BUT that piece of scrap tubing made it over 4 hours of pot holed gravel road and all the way back home no problem. The bow roller on the trailer is touching exactly the same spot as the last trailer was for 20 years. 

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[mr 580]

Probably the angle of your photo made tongue appear longer.  I have a Venture tandem a couple models up from yours I’ve had since 2008 that has been fine.  Are their “ better” trailers out there -yes, but the Venture has worked for me.  If I had a situation like yours I’d suggest taking the time to weigh your setup fully loaded as you tow it to make sure load center is correct and not overloaded.   Printed spec sheet weights often are understated and don’t include full fuel/water plus what we add in trolling gear puts on the pounds.  Weighing takes some time, but might save a second problem.  Hope you don’t have future problems.

[Nautitroller]

So I've had the same vatb-5225 with a trophy now into our second year. Love it so far.. I can't say the same about the quality of my venture. Sorry you had a bad experience, so you think it was the metal tubing itself? Tough to swallow..

Sent from my SM-N975U using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Turboal]

Mr 580 I know it is no where near overloaded but weighing it would not be a bad idea. The load center (I believe) is defined/confirmed by the tongue weight which suppose to be between 180 and 330lbs. mine is 220 with about 1/2 tank of fuel so it is well within the recommended tolerances. The first thing Venture said is that it had to be over 330lbs to damage tongue obviously they were wrong.

Nautitroller

I haven't got the boat trailer back yet -- to see if they replaced it with something beefier BUT if they haven't I will be going to replace it with one size thicker wall. Tough to swollow is the $400.oo I am out for emergency repairs to brand new trailer plus having to go over 4 hours on a gravel road without my spare tire. As I said the machine shop didn't want to use the same size tubing but the thicker tubing would have taken 2 or 3 days to get there and I already had camping/moorage booked for my boat at $100.oo a day they were nice enough to give me an extra day but I couldn't because of commitments at home. So yes both Me and the machine shop think this tongue is a little light for the application.

 

I would like anyone with an older Venture of this size to measure the tongue thickness just for sht and giggles to see if they have gone with a thinner metal there or it was just a defective tongue from the get go. 

[Turboal]

Finally after having my trailer for 2 weeks it is done. Venture sent the wrong replacement tongue so the dealer I bought the trailer from ended up getting one from Tuff trailers. I have no idea what Venture was going to supply BUT the Tuff trailer tongue is much better than the original Venture tongue. It is 3/8 in thick and lightly galvanized and there is no "extra" hole in it at the mounting point to the trailer right where it bent ( as per pic #2). So basically what I intended to do if they replaced it with the original tongue. The old bent tongue was heavily galvanized and only 1/4 inch wall.

[Bozeman Bob]

For whatever reason , load placement, a piece of weak material  ,drilled holes , etc. the trailers tongue failed. Does that mean Venture makes a poor trailer ? No., it would be the same as a GMC proven sbc or big block failing before its time and then declaring that GMC blocks are no good. This is the first negative post I have read on this mfg. So IMHO  , Venture makes a decent trailer and this issue is the exception to the rule ,albeit 7 years after the original post. My triple axle  pulled a 28' from CT. to Buffalo with no issues and I was at full weight capacity ( and 5-7 hundred lbs over it if the boat mfg specs were correct.) Towed it local a few years back and forth seasonally ,sold the boat ,kept the trailer and have a 27' on it now ,again close to or at rated capacity according to Whalers spec sheet , full tank of gas and I am well over it. Trailer has been flawless for me.

Edited December 19, 2021 by Bozeman Bob

[Turboal]

Yes all thing new and old fail but when the manufacturer denies warranty on a $10,000 2 week old trailer you really have to start wondering. Only through the BBB and a total of 3 month wait did I get this trailer fixed -- IMO this is totally unacceptable treatment.

[Bozeman Bob]

Well I know if I smoked a car engine under warranty  the dealer would tear it down to see if it was something I did  outside oil change and filter not tightened ,drain plug stripped and leaking  or something failed ,like a piston ring ,main bearing ,bad casting part etc.  I do agree they should of handled it better ,but not that surprising for many companies in today's world. Good luck.,it is probably better now than new.

[Gill-T]

My venture trailer needed new bunks after two years. Cheap pine. 

[Turboal]

Yes all thing new and old fail but when the manufacturer denies warranty on a $10,000 2 week old trailer you really have to start wondering. Only through the BBB and a total of 3 month wait did I get this trailer fixed -- IMO this is totally unacceptable treatment.

 

Yes the trailer is stronger than new now but I think more by accident than intent. I would have "upgraded" the tongue if they had replaced it with the same thin wall heavy galvanized steel. Yes i would have removed the new tongue and replaced it because I no longer trust it and it gave me one heck of a scare when it bent and could have been a VERY bad accident.

[Bozeman Bob]

10,000 $$$ you must of bought the gold plated version . I am seeing them for 4500 $- 5,000 in aluminum . 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Bozeman Bob

[Mike M]

I bought a new venture trailer about 10 years ago for my 2450 Lund Genmar sport cabin. Previous trailer and boat damaged in road accident. Boat was fine after accident but trailer was totaled. Bought new venture from local dealer in buffalo ny. After only 2 seasons had to replace all tires. Seemed trailer was flexing alot from boat wieght  I was told. All tires wearing unevenly. Also want say  I'm a trailer guy. Sold that boat and trailer it was time. Anyhow what I'm getting to is it took me a long time to learn there is are 2 types of trailers out there.  The ones that are bolted together and the ones that are welded. If your a trailer guy like me you want a welded trailer. If your boat suits in the harbor every summer and on the trailer over winter a bolted together trailer will save you money. Look at all those beautiful bass boats running all over the USA.  There all using welded trailers. Just MHO.

[Mike M]

Problem with a bolt together trailer is all the bolts come lose and out off adjustment just from normal use. Dealers like to put expensive boats on cheap trailers IMHO. 

[Bozeman Bob]

Axles are not welded to trailer so whatever issue you had with your tires had nothing to do with Venture itself. Did they put a cheaper BRAND tire on , maybe. Or maybe it was a mfg defect in the tires. Bought a car 2 years ago with 4 almost new Michelin s on it. Everyone of those tires were junk. I had them balanced 2 times at different shops and it didn't matter they kept shaking no matter how I rotated them. So in your world it is the car mfg fault ,ok.. Pretty sure big ass travel trailers do a lot of flexing rolling down the road , with axles being bolted on the frame . Don't bring up actual tractor trailers flexing 

[Gill-T]

I had to replace the tires after three years. Tread on three tires was fine. One tire had unusual wear but could have been from the broken bunk causing a weight shift. Can’t replace one tire…….$800 later. 

[Turboal]

All in taxes and accessories trailer was $7,840.oo

So if you can get a 2022 for 1/2 of that then buy a bunch and bring them to B.C. and sell them 

 

[Bozeman Bob]

So you are talking Canadian money ? In the USA where most of the LOU members live this is the price I got when I searched it out. Maybe you should of stated that when you started talking money.  Living in B.C. must be a heck of a road trip to get to Lake Ontario.  Honestly a stupid statement about bringing them to BC. along with adding taxes and accessories to try to get close to the 10,000 you said you paid for it. You do know if I went to Canada and bought one with the exchange rate I am still looking at 4500-,5000 in American cash.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Bozeman Bob

[Turboal]

yea I know how hard it is for some folk to click on a profile pic and see where they are from

[Bozeman Bob]

Not a stalker. Maybe you are .

[Sk8man]

May not be worth getting riled up about....lot more important things to be concerned about right here in our own backyard

[Shakemsam]

Current Venture owner and owned just about everything else over the years. I also worked for a Loadrite distributer for 10 years

 IMHO...and I know it is just MHO...That trailer was/is overloaded or at the very least loaded incorrectly. Trl Mfg. 99% of the time decline warranty because 99% of the time, the dealer set it up wrong. Type of axle plays a huge role as well. Trailers with torsion axles require a completely different set up compared to sprung axles. Torsion axle trailers need to be tongue light. When tongue heavy, they will bounce resulting in the type of issue you had as well as worn tires. Sprung trailers general rule of thumb is 10% (+or-)total weight on the tongue. That's fine with 3500# but not when your pushing 8k. Then a weight distribution hitch should be considered.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Shakemsam

[Turboal]

Well I will run though the specs one last time

VATB-5225 has a load capacity of 5,225 lbs load capacity NOT GVW

boat with fuel just under 3,500 so I have 1,725 lbs of wiggle room

boat tongue is 220 now and max is 330 lbs so not heavy on tongue

total weight of trailer and boat and fuel is 4,450 lbs  it is not even noticed when towed behind my truck with a towing cap of 22,000 lbs and it has aftermarket air bags for stability

boat sits exactly where Venture literature says it should be

Venture mechanic moved it 1/2 in back from where i had it

it sits on new trailer almost exactly where it sat for the last 20 years on the other trailer.