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oldLenny
07-28-2001, 08:54 PM
What does one watch out for on these boats?...what can I expect for speed with a 350 and older Merc Drive,...is the floor glass or is there wood involved here outside of the stringers and transom,...and does anyone have anything bad to say about the layout and lay-up of these hulls? What can one expect with a 454 MPI and Bravo in the way of speed. Will I ever see 60-65 MPH? Do they like the sea...OCEAN!
I am going to look at one here-ish shortly and I know NOTHING about these babies. I do know the leg won't lift up but "is in otherwise great working order"... :rolleyes:
It comes with a NEW trailer but doesn't fit the boat very well and I doubt it is anywheres near the 3000lb load capacity of the Hornet being a single axle. Any help will be MUCH appreciated. DONZI guru's, please fill me in on these. Oh, and why is there Hornet 2, Hornet 3 etc and what is the difference between these and GT's?
Oh, and the kicker is that there ias a lady who has offered a deposit from North California but as yet hasn't provided one and the boat has been for sale for a week.

HELP!!!

Formula Jr
07-28-2001, 11:46 PM
The Hornets evolved over the years.
Ya got your Hornet 1, at 19 feet
Hornet 2 at 20 feet
Hornet 3 at 21 with TR drives.
Theres no exposed wood on any donzi unless its teak.
They were specificlly designed for ocean use.
The 19 footer was actually raced.
Ckeck the foredeck closely for integrity. There's alot of it
on these boats and its Balsa cored. The soles are glass covered marine ply
just like all other boats. Ignor all competeing offers. As ar as you're concerned you
are the only person in the world looking at it and you got cash in hand. The "leg"
tilt isn't that big of a concern - a little thing. See if you can get him to 8K cause on second look the trailer is minimal but can be worked with by moving the bunks and adding some Keel rollers. Fundimentals to look for, Good, equal compression all around the engine. Sample the drive oil - look for water. Run the boat and watch the temps. Walk on the deck and check for deformation. Look for uncaulked screwholes.
look for repair areas. Look for exhaust manifold leaks. Stuff like that....

EricG
07-30-2001, 11:29 AM
Len, I saw this boat out on Lake Washington last month. It is the fist Hornet I've seen in person, and I was pretty impressed. The Brown color is a little unique, but doesn't look bad - when I went by it sounded pretty healthy too!! Good luck!!

EG

oldLenny
07-30-2001, 01:51 PM
Taking motorhome over on the COHO to Port Angeles tomorrow, (Tuesday), then driving down to Seattle to Woodinville to llok at it on Wednesday am. Hope it looks good. The trailer I am not interested in, needs to be "re-sold" by me or not taken in the first place. I want a tandem and something meant for the weight. Dumb question for everyone, I assume it has a TRS drive on it. How do I look for water in the drive oil and what tools do I need to look at it? If motor is an '83 than what size spark plugs 5/8"? for a compression check? I have to take tools with me.

Forrest
07-30-2001, 02:53 PM
Len, good-luck. The Hornet is a great boat.

To check for water in the drive, take a big, but short screwdriver and loosen the lower oil plug in the outdrive enough to let a little oil out. Water goes to the bottom so if water comes out first the drive leaks. If the oil is milky you have some water wipped up with the oil in the drive. Again, it leaks. If new oil comes out, have the drive pressure checked or water test it for a hour or so and perform the above checks again. Also, most likely that boat has a MercTrans transmission. Check the oil in it and make sure that it looks good. Also try to check the operation of transmission in the water and under load.

Formula Jr
07-30-2001, 03:38 PM
I see Forrest already got here while I was typing off line but anyway:

The Merc 260's are all based on the Chevy 350 engine. From my little book here it says
theres a:
260, 260R, 260MR and a 260 II-TR. So it might have a Type I MR drive - which would be cool cause they directly update to Alphas and not so cool cause of the dog clutch shifting. The type 1s just have the standard big sloted screw plugs for the vent and drain. The sides of the upper unit are flutted and the anti-ventilation plate is round in the back. Idle is 650-700 and WOT is 4200-4600 RPM. The TRs have a dip stick in the inner transom I think, for checking drive oil level. They also use the same sort of Vent/Drain plugs as the Type 1s.
Oil pressure is 30 to 55 lbs. It should be a 5/8 's plug but why not bring along a 13/16ths for giggles. Make sure you got a high quality driver and socket cause you don't want to be cracking any plug insulation. You might want to buy an extra plug before hand. Compression should be about - and I say about -160 PSI but its more important that all the plugs look the same tan color and that the compression numbers are within 20 PSI of each other high and low reading. If you get a real low reading, the plug associated with that cylinder will look different than the rest and that means trouble. Make sure you got the center distributor lead to a good ground before you start cranking. Damn near blew my self up last month cause of this. If all your readings are less than 120 lbs then the engine is worn out. The recommended plug is a AC-MR43T gapped at .035 inches. BTDC 8 degress, Point gap .016-.019, dwell 28-31 degrees. Fuel PSI 5.5 to 7. 260's used a 1.50:1 gear ratio. At 4600 rpm, that ratio and a 21 pitch prop you're looking at around 55 MPH, but these boats are built tough and heavy so 52 is more realistic. Fast enough for the Sound in any case.
The trailer should be a 2" ball but you never know. In any case hold him to the 7800 price as advertized. I can't tell from the pic whats going on with the water line stripe, looks alittle wavey. Any dealer worth his salt will have compression tested the boat already and have those figures on hand. I just use the dial gauge type with the push on rubber tip but you need another person to crank the engine. Those little electronics cleaning compressed air cans are great for in the field, cause you can blow out any stuff that might be around the plug wells. If he's really interested in selling the boat, I can't see why another trailer can't be substituted in the sale.

Forrest
07-30-2001, 04:13 PM
Could it have the 255 or 280 TRS package (both 350 Chevys), or did Merc stop making those packages by '83?

Formula Jr
07-30-2001, 04:49 PM
'76 looks like the last year for the 280 and 255 II-TR. There's two 255's a GM and a Ford - go figure merc to cloud the waters. The 260TR starts in '85. The 260 in '83 looks to be a Type 1. In '84 there's a Type 1-R and in '85 you got a Type 1/MR. My book says there aint no '83 260 with a TR of any kind. But we all know, books can be misleading. ;)

The seller says its a 260 on his site.

oldLenny
07-30-2001, 05:10 PM
thanks...everyone!
Leaving tonight, Monday,..here goes... :rolleyes: :p :D ;) :eek: :eek: :) :(

Formula Jr
07-30-2001, 05:38 PM
Happy Hunting Len! Get good pics.

oldLenny
07-30-2001, 06:06 PM
:rolleyes: :( :rolleyes: :confused: Just got off the phone after recieving a voice mail from Matt at Doug's Boats and they took a deposit today from a local. He has till Saturday to pay/be happy. He is not yet in control of the deal but first on the list. I am now next in line c/w deposit, with a "subject to original Gel-coat, lifting leg and proper load rated trailer and basic functionality of the boat". THEY KNOW I WANT TO SEE IT,,,...BUY IT! Can you believe this *&%^$(. This is the truth folks,...and as a side note, the trailer is "a shop trailer" in the pics and comes with a tandem NEW trailer for the boat. ARRRGGGH!!!!! All is not lost yet...I hope :( Will see it on Tuesday, Aug 7th while coming home from Okanagon Lake, and Shuswap Lake in the Interior of B.C. Fingers crossed.
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

oldLenny
08-07-2001, 11:00 AM
The boat was sold. The fellow from Seattle did buy it. :( :( :( Hopefully he will find this site and keep us informed. The people at Doug's Boats are keeping their eyes "peeled" for me for any other DONZI'S. I picked up a buy and sell coming home from the interior of B.C. (lake country) on Saturday (4th) and found a 16'. Called to look at it the same afternoon on the way back and it sold same day. :( :( :(

I was getting really pumped for the Hornet,...but the search continues (locally right now)
:)

EricG
08-07-2001, 12:59 PM
Too bad Len, I saw the boat out at Seafair this weekend, I even took a couple of up-close pictures...oh, well. Good luck with the continuing hunt!!

EG

MXRoadster
08-07-2001, 10:42 PM
Sorry Len, but I am the proud owner of the Honet 3 that everyone is taking about. I am happy to say that I am one happy Donzi owner right now. I found out that I am the second owner of this boat and it seems to be perfect. Other than the tach and speedo not working, it just needs some buffing on the gel coat. FYI I upgraded the trailer to the tandom axle EZ-loader and paid $8,300.

Hey EricG, I was out at seafair all weekend and I pretty happy to have people ask questions about my new boat when we were just sitting around. If you get those pics on your computer Please e-mail them to me, I don't have any pics of the boat in the water yet.

Well tomorrow after work I'll have the boat out on Lake Washington again, and if I fixed the speedo I'll let everyone know what the top speed is.

MXRoadster
08-07-2001, 10:55 PM
Sorry Len, but I am the proud owner of the Honet 3 that everyone is taking about. I am happy to say that I am one happy Donzi owner right now. I found out that I am the second owner of this boat and it seems to be perfect. Other than the tach and speedo not working, it just needs some buffing on the gel coat. FYI I upgraded the trailer to the tandom axle EZ-loader and paid $8,300.

Hey EricG, I was out at seafair all weekend and I pretty happy to have people ask questions about my new boat when we were just sitting around. If you get those pics on your computer Please e-mail them to me, I don't have any pics of the boat in the water yet.

Well tomorrow after work I'll have the boat out on Lake Washington again, and if I fixed the speedo I'll let everyone know what the top speed is.

Formula Jr
08-07-2001, 11:57 PM
Oh Boy......................sigh............


Hey! Good luck with that Hornet MX! Tell me, what's it got for a drive?

Moody Blu'
08-07-2001, 11:58 PM
ouch that hurts!!

Looped
08-08-2001, 08:11 AM
Len,
You could always give this guy a lowball figure and see if he bites? He may feel a bit more desperate now that no one made a bid on it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1621628917

Keep your head up your day will come.

Craig

EricG
08-08-2001, 11:17 AM
Welcome to the Group MX....I'm sure someday you'll lose the distiction of being the one that destroyed Len's dream ;)

I saw you floating on Saturday, but I never made it over to say hi - and then on Sunday I was pretty focused on getting through the traffic under the bridge when we passed by - but I made sure my girlfriend took some pictures. Of course, she didn't used the digital camera, so I'll have to wait until I get them developed. We'll definitely have to try for an informal meeting out there sometime later this month. I'm just excited to finally have another Seattlelite on the Board, there are a few of us, but it's always nice to have more!!

Once again, welcome to the board...

EG

MXRoadster
08-08-2001, 11:16 PM
Formula Jr, the drive is a Merc 260 as far as I know, I don't see any other labels other than the 260 on the drive. I'll have to check the S/N and compare them with the info at dougrussell.com.

EricG, I sure hope I don’t have that distinction for long either, but I’m sure (hope) Len will find his true dreamboat and soon. I was out on Lake Washington today and just had a great time, let me know when you are out there it would be great to meet up.

As for top speed, she was only :( reading about 43mph in slightly rough water. I’ll have to get a gps to confirm the reading; otherwise I guess I have another winter project. More speed is a good thing :D

Tomahawk
08-09-2001, 04:54 AM
MXRoadster - you might be interested in looking at the Boat Registry section of this web site. See John and Kathey Shahbas listed under Arizona (although they are in FL now, I believe). This shows what can be done with a Hornet. Congratulations on your boat purchase and good luck with your quest for speed.