Venture 21


The Venture 21 is an American trailer sailer built from 1966 to 1979. It was the first monohull boat produced by MacGregor Yacht Corporation.

Design

It was designed by Roger MacGregor as part of his Stanford University Master of Business Administration degree program, with a prototype built in 1965 and then put into production.
Boat reviewer Darrell Nicholson noted, "capitalizing on the fiberglass revolution in boatbuilding, MacGregor’s business-school project sparked a pivotal marketing shift that helped bring recreational sailing to mainstream America".
It was developed into the MacGregor 21 in 1980.
It is has a fiberglass hull. Early production boats had a plywood-cored deck, while later ones were balsa-cored. It has a cutter rig, a spooned raked stem, a slightly angled transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller and a swing keel. It displaces and carries of iron ballast.
The boat has a draft of with the keel extended and with it retracted, allowing operation in shallow water or ground transportation on a trailer.
The boat is normally fitted with a small outboard motor for docking and maneuvering.
The design has sleeping accommodation for four people, with a double "V"-berth in the bow cabin and two straight settee berths in the main cabin. Cabin headroom is.
For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with a symmetrical spinnaker.
The design has a PHRF racing average handicap of 252 and a hull speed of.
In a 2010 review Steve Henkel wrote, "best features: Price is below her comps, reflecting an ultra-low price when she was new—and perhaps some perceptions of the level of construction quality. Worst features: Headroom is lowest of the group of comps. Motion Index is worst of the group. Her Space Index is also at the bottom of the list. Her cast iron keel, like that on her comps, is a maintenance chore, since it eventually begins to need frequent attention to keep rust at bay. Hardware is not as high quality as her comps."
In a 2011 used boat review in Practical Sailor, Darrell Nicholson wrote, "with two quarter berths and a V-berth, the Venture 21 technically could sleep four, but this sort of arrangement probably would be brief and acrimonious. Although you could pack a lot of gear under the cockpit, actual locker storage is limited. Some ambitious owners have added sinks, small galleys, 12-volt systems, and port-a-potties below, but the boat’s cramped headroom restricts its suitability for more than a few days of cruising. For the 20-something adventurer with aspirations of camp-cruising on one of America’s many inland lakes, it will do just fine, but more than a couple of days aboard a boat this size will be a sure test of any marriage."