Did Donzi make an 18' 2 + 3 outboard model in 1976?
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Did Donzi make an 18' 2 + 3 outboard model in 1976?
No....
Well, actually they did. They only made two of them. Just checking in to see if the Donzi pros knew their Donzi history.Quote:
Originally Posted by Madpoodle
please enlighten us airride.Quote:
Originally Posted by AirRide
i'm farrr from a history guru or a know it all, sooooo, we've heard that 1976 rumor for the last 32 years, yet NONE has ever surfaced, nor has pic proof, owner confirmation, sale confirmation, build confirmation, or documentation.... not saying your wrong, but let's just say i'm from Missouri :) and i'm really not, but, hey, let's pretend...Quote:
Originally Posted by AirRide
perhaps your confused and it was earlier in life?
Jim,maybe he is actually thinking of the 22. We know of one which met its death at the hands of Harbor master, and there has been a long running rumor of a second one, but I am unaware of any actual proof of any 18 OB's factory produced.Quote:
Originally Posted by BUIZILLA
Airride, you out there? I would love to know more if you can enlighten us about even 1 factory produced 18 OB.
There were many factory custom small Donzi's built in the 60's, 70's and 80's. Mostly 16's & 18's as yacht tenders, test facility boats, military drones and special use platforms, such as camera boats, etc. I'll direct you to positive proof on one, and you'll just have to take my word on the many others. In 1976, Johnson & Evinrude introduced their first V-6 outboard. Powerboat Magazine had an introduction article written up in one of their 1976 issues. They highlighted this new 200 h.p. engine on the front cover running out of their Stuart, Florida Test Facility on a yellow & white 18' Donzi, with a D.A. Heinrich modified OMC 3-blade O.T.H. cleaver propeller. At that time, I inquired to Donzi, as I was in the market for one & was told they built two for OMC, but was not interested in building any more. Afterwhich, I bought two 18' 2+3's & then moved on to boats that were much faster. Also unique about the OMC Donzi 18' boats, they were wrap-around interiors, not 2+3's. I still have the issue of PB stored away.
welp, that eliminates them being 18's... please find the issue... thanxQuote:
Originally Posted by AirRide
Sooooooo glad you have the magazine and can provide "positive proof" of at least one of the two donzi ob 18's you know exist... We will definitely take your word on the second one after you provide the proof on the first... Please scan it, take a pic of it, or send it to me or greg (screamandfly) to scan... We will definitely post it for you if you cannot.Quote:
Originally Posted by AirRide
i heard about the OMC OB's and the magazine cover, but they were 22's. one is the ob 22 that the guy in the other thread butchered (made it on I/O:rolleyes::rolleyes:), and the second was just a rumor but it was an omc mag cover. good ting you have the magazine and can post it, that shoulkd put an end to the speculation.
oh, now we have an OMC 22 also... :icon_bs:
hey, this is getting good :D
sorry, not an omc built 22, it was a 22 ob that I heard rumors about that was made for the omc launch of the 200 and used as the photo boat; like the 16ob was used for the mercury 1400 launch. I have never seen the magazine and only know of the one 22 ob that got turned into an I/O, just have heard rumors of the second one on the magazine. I guess when airride posts pics from the magazine, we will know about the 18ob, or if it was possibly the second factory 22ob.Quote:
Originally Posted by BUIZILLA
Had to comeback and apologize, Airide is correct.. Thought about it last night, recalled something, took awhile to find it..
Hey, if you have the article, I would LOVE to see it. Please scan and email or post..
The OB 22 that was converted was factory built for a customer. Approx. 18 months later they re-rigged it for twin Yammies for the same owner.. At a later stage the OMC V8 was put on it. A second OB 22 has been rumored, but there is no proof of it's existence as of the moment.. Same goes for the "second" 18 OB...Quote:
Originally Posted by SFRacing
The above in NO WAY lends any credence to geekmafia's claims btw...
I think that particular 18 OB hull was built in 72 or 73, not 76... I seem to remember a previous discussion in 'Sota about this now... hmmmm... that the hull was a few years older than the engine year displayed??... can't be positive... hmmm
good save fuzzy..
Thanks Poodle, and my apologies to airide as well. Any more pics? looking at the ones you posted, this looks like a converted 18 I/O to me, not a factory built ob transom. There is a notch cut in the middle to accommodate the motor height, and it looks a lot thinner than the 16 's transom. The finish is also different in terms of trim and it does not have trim tabs (although i am not positive if all the OB's had the trim tabs from the factory). Does anyone know the history other than it was used for the photoshoot? Anyone know where it went afterwards?Quote:
Originally Posted by Madpoodle
it's coming back to me now, Brownie put a post up 3-4 years ago on D.net about this.... check the archives... something about racing in the 188 dead end canal with it against an I/O boat... timeframe would be '71 or '72 hull but used up to 77-78 by OMC, originally rigged for V4's... boat was stationed at the Stuart OMC facility.... Poodle, ask Brownie, he'll remember.... good memory on AirRide, +1 for him... alzheimer's is a bitch...
OK, now you guys got me thinking. If I hypothetically took a 18 testarossa with a ragged out OMC kingcobra package to jack barsh and also took my 16 up there and told him to do an exact copy of the 16 OB transom (beefed up of course) on it to convert the 18 to OB like the factory did. I came a cross a real testy today and now I am thinking how cool it would be as an 18 OB, or is this just stupid to do to a realitively rare boat (omitting the obvious comparison)?
fill the transom in, add some knee's, get a 12" jacker and a 200 Pro XS... :cheers:
That Testa was originally a Merc package...
first props to Airride for bringing this up especially in the face of so many of us who thought we knew what we were talking about.
This thread was moved from a buy and sell thread that went left so it will not disappear and take Greekmafia's for sale thread off course. the posts were moved here.
Jackplate going to screw the balance..
your right poodle, I had one with the windshield back in the day (wish I had not sold it), but this one has a king cobra. it is a 1989 model. For obvious reasons I did not follow donzi as much that year ;) so it is possible it may not really be a test, just a 18 painted all red but no mistake on the power. It is a pretty good deal and I have casually been looking for a 22 to do the conversion with a transom well, but an 18 could be a lot of fun.Quote:
Originally Posted by Madpoodle
the 200 proxs would be awesome, but I have a couple motors in the warehouse that I would probably use first (cheaper). I am looking for the same look and transom usability as the 16 has, not bolting a bracket onto the back. I am familiar enough with pulling the deck and doing the transom work on a donzi OB to remember that I am not in a hurry to do it again. :DLOL besides, Jack Barsh does such amazing work, I know it would be perfect when I got it back from him.Quote:
Originally Posted by BUIZILLA
I'm by no means a expert on Donzi's at all . but there was a Factory Outboard Donzi that looked just like that photo that use to show up out at Markum Park 10 or 12 years ago when I lived down in Ft. Lauderdale . It was in really poor condition ,and the kids didn't seem to know anything about it . They just used it to tow tubes up and down the canal . I knew it was rare ,but never gave it much thought as to being being that rare .Rich Martin 018:eek:
i'm going to respectfully disagree with that... ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Madpoodle
Fish, i've been looking for a winter project... I like the idea.... without the motorwell though... hmmmm :reddevil:
jim, I have some pics of a boat that I saw in marsh harbor a few years ago. I think it was a splash and I could not tell if it was an 18 or 22 (yeah I know, hard to mess that up) but I will try to find them and show you what I am thinking.Quote:
Originally Posted by BUIZILLA
seeing what a lot of the SOB guys do on here, they have jack plates but I am not sure how much it has to do with tweaking the hull design (which is different than the donzi) and how much is getting the lower unit in clean water off the hull. I am sure it would take a lot of trial and error, but I am definitely not ruling out the jackplate idea.
Rich,Quote:
Originally Posted by RNM018
from what I know (and what I am still learning;)) donzi made the 16 ob in the 70's (and there might have been one more a little later than that ;)) there were less than 200 made of these; perhaps poodle, buizilla or Mattyboy who just showed up on the other thread can chime on on this (btw, these three guys know more about donzi's than anyone alive except for maybe brownie).
there was 1 22' from the factory which is discussed on another thread somewhere on here. There is rumored to be a second 22' from the factory, but no proof has ever materialized.
There is the 18 discussed in this thread and as airride pointed out, there may have been a second one of these.
When Arronow owned the company, they did some experimenting. When the chisolm's took over, they made some really cool one-off or just a few off boats and ran the company like a cool, fun, lets see what we can make company that was not very profitable. Since then, it has been a business with subsequent owners and the one off things are very limited although there are a few custom built donzi's in the mix.
Fun and profitable seem to be mutually exclusive in this industry..
Fish,
Out of curiosity why would you want to "re-create" the OEM 16 splashwell using the 18 as a donor? Is it just the thought of having both the 16 and the 18 sporting the identical look?
18's with a bracket look like poop. Actually, so did the 22..
The first pic of the 18 is the one pic I have I had not seen the second pic , I think the first pic is of the powerboat test run and was a new setup now I know someone here can confirm the year of the boat by the paint scheme of the johnson looks like a mid 70's motor to me but what to I know I am a bilge rat ;) and we do know about the where abouts of the 22 OB
sorry my Donzi Brethren but I would not convert an I/O 16 or 18 If I wanted a nice OB I would just buy a challenger/superboat 21 and be done with it. and I have not dismissed that idea just trying to figure out if I could stand not being at the dustoff in JUne ;)
You can come, but you can't bring the boat..
Oh wait, who the hell am I kidding? Bring it, I want to see pumpkin boys face when you try and dock at the Algonquin... :) :)
Matty, if your clamp on is orange with a black mota just tell Pearson it's it's big brother... you didn't lie... :thumbsup:
There was an original 18 Donzi outboard for sale on Long Island NY this summer with a 140hp OMC on it, I spoke to the owner about it, I can't remember if it was on craigs list or ebay.
Greg, I am an outboard guy. I love the ride of the classics; 22 the most, next the 18, and then the 16. Each has their own pros and cons, but I have always thought the 18 and the 22 would make a good outboard platform. Back in the day, there was not enough hP and torque for the larger hulls (my assumption), and when it was available, I do not believe the demand was there commercially to produce, test and refine the hull for an outbord. I knowit was briefly discussed in the mid 80's, but with the launch of the z series and then the fish series, there were just too many other fish to fry.Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg G
I like the look of the 16 ob's transom and splashwell as opposed to the bracket attached like woodsy's was. I saw one in the bahamas that I am trying to find the pics of that has a splashwell- it looked pretty cool, so I figured if I could find a derelict hull I would try it one day.
Matty, not really interedted in the challenger or other SOB's as much. I am pretty set when it comes to OB in the bigger water, and don't really have time for the donzi's I already have, just looking to scratch a donzi itch that I have had for a long time.
Kiare4me, thanks for the info, I tried looking in the LI craigs but only found a 16. I am guessing the search would not go back far enough. Any more info you can recall? Did it look like the one in the pic above?
.....
I agree it's :icon_bs:Been on the water for years in South Fl never ever seen an 18 outboard always have mercruisers 260hp in them. 16's different story. I have a 16 with a splash well it an o/b 76 powered by a 2.5 offshore.Quote:
Originally Posted by BUIZILLA
Fish,
I get it. You would have a big brother 18 to the 16 O/B if you decide to go that way. Certainly extra work as compared to the bracket approach but for you it sounds like you have the access and the time. I'm not sure where the gas tank sits in an 18 I/O donor boat, but to carry the bow you will need setback and 3.0L+ power. 99 Promax 300 for a cheap powerful option might be a nice choice? What were you thinking?
The boat that was listed on LI was a 16 O/B not an 18.
Martymarr,
How much setback are you running with the 2.5 you have on your 16?