1985 Donzi16

[Danny]

Went to look at a 1985 16" Donzi this weekend. Had a Volvo drive with a Holman Moody engine. After looking at the boat I then started to look for boats to compare it to and naturally looked here first. In the registry there are no 16s from the 80s, didn,t find any on the boattrader either.
Any thoughts on why so few of this vintage out there?
Also was curious about hull/serial #, on this boat it was a 12 digit # on a plate on the exterior of the transom that begins with FL and ends with the 2 digits that determine the year. I noticed that while looking ta the registry there was only one other 16, Mark Krohn's that had a similar # starting with FL and ending with the year, is there any signifigance to these #s, do they tell you more about boat, or where the boat was built if you know how to interpet them.
Is 1985 getting near the end of the era that Donzi used Holman Moody with a Volvo?
Danny

[Forrest]

Are you sure that the Hull Identification Nunmber(HIN) didn't start with "FLZ"? If it does, then the real HIN and model year is unknown. Any boat that has a HIN of with an "FLZ" prefix has been issued a replacement HIN by the State of Florida. Since my Magnum 27 was once owned by the DEA, and in '72 the USCG did not require that the HIN to be molded in the transom, and the owner before the DEA was less than helpful in producing the title, the state issued an "FLZ" HIN. Unfortunitally, the actual Magnum Marine hull number is lost. When I was at the Classic Donzi Show in Orlando, someone (KenG? FastEddie?) told us of how the factory placed a small piece of cardboard with the hull number written on it in the upper part of the hull on the inside, near the bow, though I've never seen it. I'm trying to find out if Magnum Marine did the same.

By the way, 1985 is way too late for a factory HM setup . . . in fact, I don't think that the 16 was in production in 1985. For a few years there in the '80's they didn't make 16' Classic Donzis.

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Forrest

[This message has been edited by Forrest (edited 09-11-2000).]

[Danny]

Thanks Forrest, you're right it is an FLZ # and therefore the 85 on the end of the # is the year it was probably first registered in Florida. I didn't think that they wee still using Holman Moody that late , any thoughts on when they stopped using them.
Any other hints on how to identify the age or do I simply try to compare it to different ones in the registry?
Like your Magnum went to look at one very similar this spring just outside of Toronto in Ontario.

[Danny]

When I first saw this boat it had been sitting at this cottage left uncovered for the past year (remember this is Ontario, lots of snow) no drive on it, so Scott all I knew was that it was a Volvo transom plate. so to make a long story short, tracked done the cottage owner, boat owner's father,talked to the boat owner and it sadly is not for sale, turned out to be a 1974 or 5 with a 351 HM with a Volvo speedmaster drive.
Too bad, nice boat. The hunt continues!
Danny