Boats by Porsche

[CrackerJack]

This may look good behind someones Porsche SUV.

[gold-n-rod]

Buildinbg 10 a week? Wonder who has that kind of production facility?? How many molds does it take to sustain 10 boats a week? More than one, that's for sure. I was told Donzi has only one 22' Classic mold. What's the annual production of 22's??

Jus' wonderin'

[smoothie]

Whats the web addy at the end of the ad...

[CrackerJack]

Whats the web addy at the end of the ad...
www.porschedesignyachts.com
This is according to the article in Motorboating mag. It doesn't work for me, goes to some other site for ink cartridges.

[BUIZILLA]

The first following wave over 8" is gonna sink that thing... it'll never sell... 500 boats the first year, uhhhh, yeah, rightttttttttttttttttttt. :crossfing

JH

[Lenny]

Porche was building boats in the mid 80's. I forget the model, and I CAN'T find the ad, I have tried many times, BUT, in GQ (Gentlemans Quarterly :rolleyes: ) don't ask, they used to advertise their boats. Back in the days of Miami Vice and David and David and Miss Christina. They had a pair of their 928S "eights" in 'em.

They have been here before...

Their last rendition 20 years ago, was 30 feet.

[MR MAGOO]

Lenny, the Porsche offshore boat with the 928 motors was actually a Tempest, built right on Thunderboat Row. Not many were made. I don't think the project ever got off the ground.

The book Muscle Boats has a bit of info on the project.

Kurt

[MOP]

Poodle had a Name that boat post awhile back, it had a photo of an earlier Porsche boat. I think he had found it down his way, it was a nice looking more practical design.

Phil

[Fish boy]

Porche was building boats in the mid 80's. I forget the model, and I CAN'T find the ad, I have tried many times, BUT, in GQ (Gentlemans Quarterly :rolleyes: ) don't ask, they used to advertise their boats. Back in the days of Miami Vice and David and David and Miss Christina. They had a pair of their 928S "eights" in 'em.

They have been here before...

Their last rendition 20 years ago, was 30 feet.

It is my understanding they only built 1 (I am not a porsche guy). Had a single 928 v8 motor in it. A good friend had one for a couple of years sitting in a field providing shelter to racoons. He just sold it a couple of months ago. I actually put up a mystery boat thread with it a little while ago, I'll see if I can find it.

fish

[MOP]

Thanks fish sorry for the mistaken ID on the post!

[Fish boy]

here it is..

porsche boat link (http://www.donzi.net/forums/showthread.php?t=34803&highlight=porsche+mystery)

[Fish boy]

Thanks fish sorry for the mistaken ID on the post!

No sweat Phil, he does a lot of the mystery boat things, I thought it was him too ;) LOL

[Donzigo]

Oddly enough, hey do have a similar look to them.

..............and that little cubby up front provides quite a nice habitat for a family of nine racoons, thank you.

Yeah, I'm seeing two, not-so-boat-savy, advertising guys writing this Porsche-wanna-be-boat article saying to each other, while sipping their latte's in their office on Madison Ave: "Hey Rocko, what shall we say the production is for the first year?" Uhhhhhhhhhhh: "How's about 500, that sounds like a nice round figure". "Righto, Ok, so, where do we go for lunch?"

[Last Tango]

Called my local "pusher" (Porsche salesman who keeps me constantly in deep debt) and he says it ain't so. Too bad. I think it would be fun. The Carrera GT look after the cockpit is a nice touch. Might even have VDO gauge cluster similar to Porsche.
www.Porschedesign.com makes no mention in the news section. Almost everything they make would fit in your pocket or the trunk of your Porsche. And the link supplied is straight to ink cartridges.

Is my calendar wrong? Is it April 1 already?
Darn

[Last Tango]

Jack,
What magazine did you get that from? A Porsche freak like me would love to have a copy.

[Lenny]

Yep, :yes: that's the boat. Looks like the one I saw in the magazine 20 years ago. Gun Metal grey and yellow.

[CrackerJack]

Mark,

Motorboating March 2005

[Last Tango]

Thanks, Jack.
As luck would have it, a March 2005 MotorBoating magazine magically appeared in my mailbox today. I do not subscribe to this magazine. Addressed to Mr and Mrs... strange. I wonder what WE did, that YOU also did, that got this magazine to my door.
But, anyway, page 24 has the very article you posted. I'm gonna run it over to Brumos (Porsche dealer here) on Saturday and see what they say with the "evidence" square in their face. hahahaha! If they say it is a hoax, I'll accuse them of not being one of the "worthy" SELECT Porsche dealerships to offer it. That ought to crank them up pretty tight! I'll insist they FIND a Porsche dealership for me that sells them!
Now this "500 horsepower" Porsche engine is interesting. None of the Porsche cars or SUV's has an engine like that. The Porsche 996/997 Turbo X-51 (3.6L flat 6 with TWIN turbo's) has 450HP. The Cayenne Turbo has 450HP (4.5L V-8 turbo). Now superchargers are popular performance boating items, but a turbocharger has real issues with HEAT.
A normally aspirated Mercury 525EFI would be cheaper than a Porsche engine of ANY kind in that boat. And a heck of a lot easier to deal with in the long run.
Porsche 928 engine was a maintenance nightmare.
Mooney aircraft engine was a 911 engine modification.
Much earlier on, in the '50's and '60's, Porsche had a modified version of their 1600cc aircooled flat 4 for aircraft and boats, but it was never a success with the users, in the long run. Fred K had them skunked right from the beginning.
Neither of the two HEMI boats in this thread (or in the articles they are taken from) is a production motor in a production boat. Both were mods to HEMI motors (one an original 426, the other a crate 528), and done as custom one-offs. The current HEMI's are 5.7L (330-340HP), and 6.1L (425HP) for the Chrysler 300C SRT-8, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8, and Dodge Magnum SRT-8's. Ram 1500 SRT-10 is the 500HP Viper engine now also available through Ilmor for performance marine applications.

[gcarter]

Mark, you may recall that Lamborghini builds some much larger V-12's for off ropad and marine applications. Lambo has nowhere the rescources that Porshe has.
Do you remember the flat 12 1000 HP Can-Am engine?

[Last Tango]

Lamborghini marine engines have been around for some time now. I remember in Europe seeing lovely posters of the offshore boats running TWINS! Now THAT is some seriously expensive motivation for a boat.
Lamborghini has "always relied on the kindness of others" when it comes to engine and other technical developement. A decade ago they were owned by Chrysler, and now they are a subsidiary of VW-Audi. Prior to Chrysler, Lamborghini Spa. was owned by a very wealthy private individual who poured his extraordinary financial reasources into having the company develop whatever HE wanted in his toys. And he had some VERY wealthy friends who didn't care what things cost when it came to their toys, either.
Porsche AG, the last independent carmaker in the world, still runs a business that must turn a profit, and their resources, while considerable, are not open-ended. They are a responsible and profitable engineering company that uses their automobiles and racing to showcase their skills in order to win contracts from other companies - example: Harley-Davidson V-Rod - designed and engineered by Porsche.
Porsche Design is NOT a subsidiary of Porsche AG (the car people). Porsche Design is a private company owned and operated by a Porsche family descendant who decided he was more into industrial design beyond the Porsche cars manufacturing business. Porsche Design has been run completely independently of Porsche AG other than for the usual family gatherings. It has been in operation since the early 1970's.
All that discourse from me, and still no idea if this boat is for real or just a hoax as we seem to supect here. I think we can all agree that 500 a year is definitely a pipe dream. But then if every Cayenne owner bought one to pull around, there would already be a need for over 50,000 boats. So maybe 500 TOTAL is not completely out of the question.
I sure hope it has a 5 year warranty. :wink:

[MOP]

Just a tad of track but speaking of Lamborghini one of our family members has one of their "4X4 Tractors" in their lumber mill down in CR. I watched that thing pull a mahogany log 5 foot thick and about 40 feet long without breathing hard. I will try to remember to shoot a few pics of it at "Play", I am going down on the 26th need a break from the off & on crappy weather. :)

[gcarter]

Tractors is where Sr. Lamborghini made his money. The cars were a hobby.

[MOP]

Thanks George I had no clue they built anything other than cars only heard a little about marine. That was the first tractor I had seen, I thought WOW a Lamborghini :bonk:

[Last Tango]

Porsche also built tractors, in the 1950's. Brumos has one in their collection. A buddy of mine in Michigan has one as well. There is usually at least one at the Porsche Club of America parade each year. Lamborghini was a farm impliments manufacturer long before they made cars. THAT is were Ferrucio Lamborghini made his fortune after WWII. The story goes that in the late 50's he approached Le Commendatore (Enzo Ferrari) and requested a special car be built for him. Enzo thumbed his nose. Ferrucio went home mad and began his OWN car company to directly compete againt Ferrari. His goal was to run Enzo out of business. Like potlatching, the war was begun and is still being fought, neither side is an independent manufacturer of cars anymore, and both rely heavily on their parent to keep them afloat financially. Enzo and Ferrucio are both dead, but the feud runs on and deeply between the two companies. When Fiat purchased Ferrari a few years ago, they also planned to buy Lamborghini. Enzo raised such a fuss that Fiat finally backed down and Chrysler got Lamborghini. A few years later, they sold it to VW-Audi when the cost of owning the boutique carmaker ran Chryslers' debt out of control.
Porsche AG is still independent. They are NOT part of the VW-AUDI Group as is often thought by those outside the regular dealings of German carmakers. They have ALWAYS been independent, since the company was formed in the 1920's. In the 1980's they considered being acquired by Daimler-Benz but the Porsche family refused to give in and fought back to save the company. Times being what they are now, there is very little likelihood that Porsche will ever be acquired. They will soon be bringing out a fourth major car line to prevent ever having to rely solely on sportscars. The Boxster, Carrera, and Cayenne, will soon have a new sibling to share the floor with.

[Last Tango]

Okay, in my "History of Porsche and Lamborghini" lessons above, specifically about current Porsche engines, I did fail to mention one possible candidate for the "500 HP" boat. The $440,000 Porsche Carrera GT has a 605 HP V-10. The styling of the dream boat comes from that same Carrera GT. Based on that theory, the 25 foot boat should price out somewhere near $400,000 itself, ... and be made of carbon fiber.

PS. Did you know that carbon fiber is bio-degradable? It has a "shelf" life of approximately 15 years. That means your half million dollar car becomes dust in less than 20 years. Hmmmmm

[Fish boy]

Based on that theory, the 25 foot boot should price out somewhere near $400,000 itself, ... and be made of carbon fiber.


I am confused, is this 25" carbon fiber 400k boat "according to Tango" or is the size, price and carbon fiber construction according to another source?

Thanks for the info on Porsche AG, I always wondered about that.

fish

[Last Tango]

fish,
Size of boat and HP rating come straight from the article Jack posted in the thumbnail above, which is from MotorBoating magazine (March 2005). The power plant and construction details were "according to Tango", as an extension of the dream boat concept crossing with the existing Carrera GT. Porsche does not have a 500 HP , non-turbocharged engine in their arsenal, so I was speculating as to the source of such an engine. The construction from carbon fibre is just an extention of the Carrera GT which has a complete chassis and body 100% from carbon fibre. The design of the boat pictured gets its aft deck lines from the Carrera GT sports car. A "morphed" design, if you will.
Mark

[McGary911]

Porsche also built tractors, in the 1950's. Brumos has one in their collection. A buddy of mine in Michigan has one as well...... I ran with my PCA chapter at Mid-Ohio a few years back, a guy who lived next to the track in Mansfield Ohio, brought over his beautifully restored Porsche tractor for all of us to drool over.....Definately a cool part of the trip. Wish I had a pic......too busy driving, I guess.....

Tango, good to see another Porsche nut on the board BTW.....Guess what the 911 in my screenname is for? :yes:

[Last Tango]

While I have been babbling on about this topic, it occurs to me that perhaps some folks do not know what a Porsche Carrera GT actually is. So for everyones entertainment I am posting this link from the Porsche Cars North America website.
Note: dial-up guys, it is slow to load at first but worth the couple extra minutes. Once loaded you can play all you want.
For me, ... Red. Gotta be red. :convertib
http://www2.us.porsche.com/english/usa/carreragt/colorconfigurator/color_configurator_flash.htm

[Lenny]

WOW, never heard of the Carrera GT.

Very nice.

...and I thought it was tough to save for a DONZI :rolleyes:

I am definately in the wrong club...

[boldts]

Hey, just wondering, did that Porsche boat used to have a see thru engine lid or maybe it's under the yellow padding now? I think I saw that boat a number of years ago while touring the Magnum factory on Thunder Boat Row. I don't remember it being a jet drive, but when your looking thru a see thru lid at a Porsche engine, your not paying much attention of whats pushing the water. Maybe I'm thinking of a different boat all together. Anyway, back to the original subject...... This new offering from Porsche :cool:

[Fish boy]

Hey, just wondering, did that Porsche boat used to have a see thru engine lid or maybe it's under the yellow padding now? I think I saw that boat a number of years ago while touring the Magnum factory on Thunder Boat Row. I don't remember it being a jet drive, but when your looking thru a see thru lid at a Porsche engine, your not paying much attention of whats pushing the water. Maybe I'm thinking of a different boat all together. Anyway, back to the original subject...... This new offering from Porsche :cool:

Hey Scott, I am pretty sure the pics I posted were of the boat in original condition. I could not figure out the jet drive either but I am sure they had their reasons. The guy who had it when I took the pics did not do a thing to it except let it sit, and he had it for years.

[Fish boy]

Only one word to describe the way a porsche handles...

Porsche (http://www.big-boys.com/articles/firstpersoncrash.html)

[sobeboater]

To answer some of your questions the Porsche Designe boats are real. The first boat is a 28 ft boat that goes 80 Mph + with its base engine.
To come there is a 44 Ft, a 68 Ft, a 125 Ft, and a 150 Ft. You can see the boats @ www.fearlessyachts.com

If you are interested in purchasing one email me.

info@yacht-charter-club.com