1971 Donzi Classic 18 power....

[Greg G]

The Rev 4 has done very well on 18 Classic's. If I'm not mistaken they come in 21 and 23 pitch and no bigger than 23. You can normally find them used for about $225 or so.

[Classic18]

Seems if an 18 is not stable at 80 a 16 would be less....also unsure how it gets by with an alpha drive. Sounds nice though

[FUJIMO]

Seems if an 18 is not stable at 80 a 16 would be less....also unsure how it gets by with an alpha drive. Sounds nice though

They are not stable at ALL at 80. Its the wrong hull design to go 80 safely. Can it be pushed to 80? Yes. Can it be pushed to 70? Yes. Is it at all safe at either? No. Let me again give you "one" example of an 18 round bottom Donzi's safety record, "one" of a number of them that I can recall from years ago. A friend of mine had a beautiful all powder blue 18 with a modified MerCruiser 280/TRS package. It went 73 m.p.h. The MercTrans that they came with standard, locked up while going 73 m.p.h. As you might know, these boats ride high out of the water when wide open. When the transmission locked up, the boat fell down off its high horse, barrel-rolled a few times & killed my friend by breaking his back/neck. His one passenger survived. If you would like, I can give you another 18 Donzi speed example or two. As stated earlier, these boats are nice lower speed Hot Rod type boats. A good looking, comfortable, gentlemans cruiser, no more. Get the 70-80 mph goal out of your head. Please.

[Classic18]

I'm with you and see your points. I appreciate you taking the time to explain!

[Madpoodle]

They are not stable at ALL at 80. Its the wrong hull design to go 80 safely. Can it be pushed to 80? Yes. Can it be pushed to 70? Yes. Is it at all safe at either? No. Let me again give you "one" example of an 18 round bottom Donzi's safety record, "one" of a number of them that I can recall from years ago. A friend of mine had a beautiful all powder blue 18 with a modified MerCruiser 280/TRS package. It went 73 m.p.h. The MercTrans that they came with standard, locked up while going 73 m.p.h. As you might know, these boats ride high out of the water when wide open. When the transmission locked up, the boat fell down off its high horse, barrel-rolled a few times & killed my friend by breaking his back/neck. His one passenger survived. If you would like, I can give you another 18 Donzi speed example or two. As stated earlier, these boats are nice lower speed Hot Rod type boats. A good looking, comfortable, gentlemans cruiser, no more. Get the 70-80 mph goal out of your head. Please.

Wow, long time no post. Digging for some info and I ran across this.. First off, I am truly sorry you lost a friend. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Upper 70's are common with these boats, and there are enough of them running well above that to disprove the blanket "bad news" commentary. Properly setup and dialed in, they can and will run all day comfortably in the 70's. A drivers boat, you need to pay attention but then again I have yet to see any speedboat you don't...

"280" TRS boat...