harbormaster
09-12-2002, 02:28 AM
You guys won't believe this one. Hull 18-18
Lee Nickelson of McAllen Texas sent me this email. Its long but worth the read.
************************************************
Hey Scott how are you today? im Lee Nickelson from Mcallen Texas . ok I'm
driving to work one fine morning late because of traffic take short cut thru a mexican barrio and almost break my neck cause sitting in a guys back yard looks as if im seein donzi. I have a 32 cary and knew a little about Donzi boats. Sure was a Donzi, didnt know the model except I thought it was a sweet 16. I bought the boat for 200.00 dollars. Now comes the good ****!!!!!!! turns
out to be a 18 2+3 triple hatch with the sharp keel, not rounded. The title is
screwed up and says its a 69 bull****. OK the tank is gone, rusted out but its still there and theres a tank stuck up in where the skis would go. The stringers are shot at the motor mounts. It has a 289 hm with volvo drive all shot. Turns out the guy sunk it cause the pump went out and burned the exhaust bellows, so he just let it sit there. The last registration was in Texas in 86. I bought this boat in 1997 and have been workin on it a little bit at a time. Question. The deck has plywood under it and runs all the way back
to the back seat, balsa runs from there back to the rear. When did they go to balsa in the deck?
Now what im fixin to tell you i dont think your gonna believe cause i don't. I'm going to check it out closer. On the steering side under the deck and forward in reverse writing is donzi 18 and what i think is the hull number. No big deal ok. But on the other side is what looks to be ARONOW with a line drawn under it, this is no **** bud and its reverse as well. I put
the grinder down and gonna use a palm sander with very fine grit and try to bring this out. Scot can this really be ? Did aronow do this kinda stuff? Could this be the first 18 they built?
Here are some photos.
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln001.jpg
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln002.jpg
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln003.jpg
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln004.jpg
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln005.jpg
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln006.jpg
Lee Nickelson of McAllen Texas sent me this email. Its long but worth the read.
************************************************
Hey Scott how are you today? im Lee Nickelson from Mcallen Texas . ok I'm
driving to work one fine morning late because of traffic take short cut thru a mexican barrio and almost break my neck cause sitting in a guys back yard looks as if im seein donzi. I have a 32 cary and knew a little about Donzi boats. Sure was a Donzi, didnt know the model except I thought it was a sweet 16. I bought the boat for 200.00 dollars. Now comes the good ****!!!!!!! turns
out to be a 18 2+3 triple hatch with the sharp keel, not rounded. The title is
screwed up and says its a 69 bull****. OK the tank is gone, rusted out but its still there and theres a tank stuck up in where the skis would go. The stringers are shot at the motor mounts. It has a 289 hm with volvo drive all shot. Turns out the guy sunk it cause the pump went out and burned the exhaust bellows, so he just let it sit there. The last registration was in Texas in 86. I bought this boat in 1997 and have been workin on it a little bit at a time. Question. The deck has plywood under it and runs all the way back
to the back seat, balsa runs from there back to the rear. When did they go to balsa in the deck?
Now what im fixin to tell you i dont think your gonna believe cause i don't. I'm going to check it out closer. On the steering side under the deck and forward in reverse writing is donzi 18 and what i think is the hull number. No big deal ok. But on the other side is what looks to be ARONOW with a line drawn under it, this is no **** bud and its reverse as well. I put
the grinder down and gonna use a palm sander with very fine grit and try to bring this out. Scot can this really be ? Did aronow do this kinda stuff? Could this be the first 18 they built?
Here are some photos.
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln001.jpg
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln002.jpg
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln003.jpg
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln004.jpg
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln005.jpg
http://www.donzi.net/hull/18-18/ln006.jpg