Formula Jr
04-02-2003, 07:30 PM
Crossing Over X
Pig in a Poke.
It was 5 in the morning when I finally pulled into my brother's driveway in Annapolis. Time to see what I had bought.
The GT 21 (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell324.jpg) had been bought over the internet for $4700, from the comfort of my home in Oregon. I had never seen the boat (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell327.jpg) in person before. The photos on Ebay looked great though. The seller was in Long Island, and the boat had been at lake Winni, NH. I had had the boat shipped from NH to Maryland right after the sale for $450. My conversations with the seller revealed all manner of unsettling facts regarding the boat. First, he knew nothing about the boat. He was just flipping the sale. Second, he had actually never seen the boat or the trailer it was on. More unsettling facts came to light. The boat was not titled. The trailer was not titled. But he insisted that there were no VIN numbers or distinguishing lettering on the trailer. I had brought some Mastercraft stickers which i was going to apply to the trailer and then pretend that the trailer was one that I did have titled and tagged back in Oregon. Of course this would have only worked if indeed the trailer had no distinguishing markings. Well, gee wizz, not only did the trailer have Gater scripts all over it, but right there on the tongue in bold and clear text was the VIN number! And this thing was tired. I had also had the yard it originated from repack the bearings and replace one of the hubs for $150. So as the boat sat in Maryland, I was already into it for $5300.
I had broken all of my own established rules for buying a boat. This one was bought on faith. It turned out that this faith was misplaced.
Maybe it will look better in the sun I thought, so I crashed in the van till that afternoon.
This was the last day of the Annapolis Powerboat Show, so The brother, his wife and I (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell325.jpg) headed for downtown. There we met up with several old friends. The Donzi display was, well to tell the truth, boring. It was the exact same boats displayed three years eariler and no classics to be found. The Donzi dealer was also completely out of touch with the market with its pricing. Compared with the show of three years ago, all the other manufactures were giving boats away. I could not believe some of the pricings of the yachts. Boats that has been 1.5 mil were now $700K. It was a buyer's market.
I stopped by Dave's trailers to price out a tandem with surge brakes that would fit a GT21. He didn't have the GTs in his compatibility book, so we settled on one that would fit a classic 22. $1675 with a temp tag and I got his card. Several of the booths were being run by folks I had not seen in 20 years. That got alittle embarrassing. "Hey, remember when we all got smashed and went water skiing in the harbor at 2 in the morning..." "Hey Owens, remember when you got that billy goat so drunk that he passed out....." etc, etc. Problem is, most of these things, I don't remember.....
Back at the brother's house, I re-surveyed the trailer and concluded its wasn't fit for a 3700 mile trip back. It didn't have brakes and all the hard points looked rusted and weak. I picked up a new Five Star Trailer (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell328.jpg) at Dave's the next day. I'm now into the boat for $6975.
I'm still not upsidedown though. But I'm getting close to any resale margin I may have.
Close inspection of the GT revealed some very sneaky and bizarre touch up work to make it look good on an aucton site. Someone had sprayed the engine mounts with a paint that closely matched the compartment gel coat. This was so you could not see the rusted condition of the fittings. Most of the fasteners were mismatched and one of the vents was a cheap perko part. The gas tank, steel, was original and on its last leg. The transom had four patched holes cut into it where the exhaust had been moved around over the years. It became obvious that this had also been a saltwater boat for most of its life. More bazarre was that the paper work I got with the boat doesn't seem to match the serial number on the foil tag on the side of the instrument console and the registration numbers on the hull are from Massachusetts - a title state - not NH. Oky, so thats not working out either. Well at least I have two volvo drives. Or do I? I take out both drives and with the serial numbers in hand, head over to the volvo dealer in town. One of the drives is the original 270 but its been disassembled and all the gears are fryed. Lots of little parts are missing. The other, get this, turns out to be a 280 geared for a four banger engine. This is turning really ugly.
On the plus side, the engine fired right up after charging the batts and purred like a cat. But the Carb is not marine.
Other little funky details include, broken latches through out, a fogged compass and a goofy, poorly fitted, home made replacement plexy windshield. The bennett trim tabs are over sized, miss-aligned with the hull and conform badly with the curve of the transom. All the hardware needs replating and the rub rail is trashed beyond saving.
My 4700 dollar bargin is beginning to evaporate. But it is a real and rare Donzi. It better end up being the only one in Oregon when I get it back. The Boat looked beautiful in the water when I swapped trailers. Even in her faded glory, her classic lines stood out. Henry was excited. (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell326.jpg) The horn worked. :)
Join us again for part XI, when Owen and Donzi Dog Henry begin a life or death struggle to haul this pig across the North American Continent.
Pig in a Poke.
It was 5 in the morning when I finally pulled into my brother's driveway in Annapolis. Time to see what I had bought.
The GT 21 (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell324.jpg) had been bought over the internet for $4700, from the comfort of my home in Oregon. I had never seen the boat (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell327.jpg) in person before. The photos on Ebay looked great though. The seller was in Long Island, and the boat had been at lake Winni, NH. I had had the boat shipped from NH to Maryland right after the sale for $450. My conversations with the seller revealed all manner of unsettling facts regarding the boat. First, he knew nothing about the boat. He was just flipping the sale. Second, he had actually never seen the boat or the trailer it was on. More unsettling facts came to light. The boat was not titled. The trailer was not titled. But he insisted that there were no VIN numbers or distinguishing lettering on the trailer. I had brought some Mastercraft stickers which i was going to apply to the trailer and then pretend that the trailer was one that I did have titled and tagged back in Oregon. Of course this would have only worked if indeed the trailer had no distinguishing markings. Well, gee wizz, not only did the trailer have Gater scripts all over it, but right there on the tongue in bold and clear text was the VIN number! And this thing was tired. I had also had the yard it originated from repack the bearings and replace one of the hubs for $150. So as the boat sat in Maryland, I was already into it for $5300.
I had broken all of my own established rules for buying a boat. This one was bought on faith. It turned out that this faith was misplaced.
Maybe it will look better in the sun I thought, so I crashed in the van till that afternoon.
This was the last day of the Annapolis Powerboat Show, so The brother, his wife and I (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell325.jpg) headed for downtown. There we met up with several old friends. The Donzi display was, well to tell the truth, boring. It was the exact same boats displayed three years eariler and no classics to be found. The Donzi dealer was also completely out of touch with the market with its pricing. Compared with the show of three years ago, all the other manufactures were giving boats away. I could not believe some of the pricings of the yachts. Boats that has been 1.5 mil were now $700K. It was a buyer's market.
I stopped by Dave's trailers to price out a tandem with surge brakes that would fit a GT21. He didn't have the GTs in his compatibility book, so we settled on one that would fit a classic 22. $1675 with a temp tag and I got his card. Several of the booths were being run by folks I had not seen in 20 years. That got alittle embarrassing. "Hey, remember when we all got smashed and went water skiing in the harbor at 2 in the morning..." "Hey Owens, remember when you got that billy goat so drunk that he passed out....." etc, etc. Problem is, most of these things, I don't remember.....
Back at the brother's house, I re-surveyed the trailer and concluded its wasn't fit for a 3700 mile trip back. It didn't have brakes and all the hard points looked rusted and weak. I picked up a new Five Star Trailer (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell328.jpg) at Dave's the next day. I'm now into the boat for $6975.
I'm still not upsidedown though. But I'm getting close to any resale margin I may have.
Close inspection of the GT revealed some very sneaky and bizarre touch up work to make it look good on an aucton site. Someone had sprayed the engine mounts with a paint that closely matched the compartment gel coat. This was so you could not see the rusted condition of the fittings. Most of the fasteners were mismatched and one of the vents was a cheap perko part. The gas tank, steel, was original and on its last leg. The transom had four patched holes cut into it where the exhaust had been moved around over the years. It became obvious that this had also been a saltwater boat for most of its life. More bazarre was that the paper work I got with the boat doesn't seem to match the serial number on the foil tag on the side of the instrument console and the registration numbers on the hull are from Massachusetts - a title state - not NH. Oky, so thats not working out either. Well at least I have two volvo drives. Or do I? I take out both drives and with the serial numbers in hand, head over to the volvo dealer in town. One of the drives is the original 270 but its been disassembled and all the gears are fryed. Lots of little parts are missing. The other, get this, turns out to be a 280 geared for a four banger engine. This is turning really ugly.
On the plus side, the engine fired right up after charging the batts and purred like a cat. But the Carb is not marine.
Other little funky details include, broken latches through out, a fogged compass and a goofy, poorly fitted, home made replacement plexy windshield. The bennett trim tabs are over sized, miss-aligned with the hull and conform badly with the curve of the transom. All the hardware needs replating and the rub rail is trashed beyond saving.
My 4700 dollar bargin is beginning to evaporate. But it is a real and rare Donzi. It better end up being the only one in Oregon when I get it back. The Boat looked beautiful in the water when I swapped trailers. Even in her faded glory, her classic lines stood out. Henry was excited. (http://www.donzi.net/photos/osaffell326.jpg) The horn worked. :)
Join us again for part XI, when Owen and Donzi Dog Henry begin a life or death struggle to haul this pig across the North American Continent.