Venture VBT 5800 Manual?

[Tri’d n Sail’d]

Does anyone have a trailer manual they can share or provide a link to one? I can’t find one online. Heck, I can’t even find this model on the Venture website. Thanks!

[Tri’d n Sail’d]

I called the venture trailer company today and that was absolutely no help. Still looking…

[Ron]

Not sure why you need the manual. I think I have one, but it's down in Florida, and we're in NJ. A bunch of us here know a lot more about the trailer than Venture or Performance Cruising. If either of them knew how to correctly build a trailer I'd be surprised. Ask away.

[Tri’d n Sail’d]

Thanks Ron. My first voyage with this boat will be a 650 mile road journey and I don’t want to screw it up.

Two questions… 1. Do I need to cover the trailer bunks and support pads with carpet? If so, how much, what size, and how do you keep them affixed? 2. The Telstar manual states that I need to move the winch post forward 1 foot, but to move it back for long journeys. I don’t understand this, nor do I know which position it is in currently. It is possible I suppose that I can figure this out based on the 46” mark that is supposed to be on the boat (but is not). Does the 46” matter and what about the location of the winch post?

Thanks! I am very excited about getting the Telstar. I have been shopping for some time. I am a first time sailor (except for being retired from the Navy) who is getting ready to really retire and do some sailing.

[Mangodoc]

My advice is to be VERY careful before you embark on a 650 mile trip with this boat on its stock trailer in the heat of summer. Take a quick read through my “Trailer woes” post for details, but briefly, these boats exceed the weight rating for the trailer by a large amount. In the final analysis, I ended up replacing the VBT5800 with a VBT7900 and feel completely safe with it now. I know all the other owners do it, but I personally would not trailer this boat far or fast in summer heat, especially in Florida where I keep her.

[Tri’d n Sail’d]

I did read that and will give it a shot carefully, which is why I am interested in the answers to the questions above. Thanks!

[Ron]

The two questions -

Covering the bunks will help protect the hull from minor damage. You don't have to do it, but ??? It's hard to staple into fiberglass or steel, so use duct tape.

You've got to move the post about a foot forward to get the Telstar to wind up in the correct spot on the trailer. Use some waterproof electrical tape to highlight the two positions. Why, you ask? It's because of the angle of the floating boat in the water compared to the angle of the trailer. The only way to correctly position it is to temporarily move the post forward. The post in the aft position will not allow you to get there. You don't have to move it back if you're going 2 miles, but for any real distance you've got to have the bow jammed into the rubber "V". The easiest way to figure out where the boat is going to wind up is to look at the 2 "U" shaped stainless supports hanging down from the stern on either side. They should wind up on the center of the two bunks on the trailer made to hold them.

Ask Venture any of these questions and they'll just stare at you. Hey, they built this trailer to be illegal in virtually every state in the country, including Maryland where it was built. You got to have brakes on both axles, and you'd be better off it they were discs. On the other hand, this is what Performance Cruising asked for.

[Tri’d n Sail’d]

Good stuff. Thanks Ron, and by the way, since when do staples not work well with steel?

[Tri’d n Sail’d]

Oh, and you are right about those Venture folks... they are some special people.

[Ron]

One thing that I definitely would do with the trailer - move the axles back about 8 to 12 inches depending on which motor is hanging on the back of the boat. As I recall, the tongue weight is on the low side for this kind of load. It should be somewhere in the 600 - 650 pound range to be safe. That would also get some weight off of the trailer (and put it on the tongue). With this kind of load on the tongue you should definitely be using a good weight distributing hitch, preferably with some sort of sway control. Your would need this on most vehicles because it's more than the 500 pound max load they recommend.

There should be a number of posts on this stuff in this section. Also look at the ones that involve the brakes.