´88 Donzi Z 21

[thegermandonzi]

Hi!
I´m from Germany and I found today your excellent HP. I intend to buy my first boat this year and I´ve searched a lot of used-boat-websites and magazines because I really don´t know what type of boat might be interesting for me.

Until today.
Today I found 2 different Donzi Z21 (1x´87 eBay.com/1x´88 eBay.de) and what should I say? That´s the right type of boat for me - that´s for sure! It looke absolutely amazing to me! The measurements and the prices are exactly that what I am looking for.

And now I hope that some guys of you can help me out: Maybe some of you have expierences (good/bad) with this type of boat. Or do anybody think it would be better to take another type of Donzi because the Z 21 is famous for whatever..

I hope someone can help me with his experience.


Thanks so far and all the best form god ol´ Germany!

[boldts]

Goutin Tog tgd. Welcome to the Registry. I wish I could help with your question, but I've not owned a Z-21. I do however like the boat except that they didn't offer a blue color option. I liked the thru hull exhaust coming out the rear side of the hull and most have the 350 small block Chevy engine with a Mercruiser Alpha outdrive. There is a small cuddy up front to get out of the weather if necessary. Really a nice practicle design as a family performance boat.

[Lenny]

A few here have had 'em. They also have had a few issues. EricG can fill you in with some of his experiences with his. I am sure he will chime in.

[KWAKE]

I just got my first DONZI, 1989 Z25. Has alot of the same features, just a little bigger. Took mine out this last weekend and she ran great. Got alot of looks, and performed very well. Burned less gas than I thought. Cruised at about 35 mph, topped out at 58 on gps. Good luck!

[Formula Jr]

First off,
Welcome to the Donzi Family!


I want to give a completely un-biased opinion about the Z-21. I know i'll get negative feedback for it!

Since this is your first boat, there is a handling quirk which you probably will not notice.
So it will not be important to you.
But as someone who has driven a great many different boats, this handling problem was very noticable. The owner of the Z21 that I tried also felt there was something slightly wrong with the design. The problem is two fold.
If you are looking at a Z21 with the 350 mag engine and an Aplha drive, this combination is slightly underpowered for this boat. It takes a long time for the boat to respond to input from the driver. I am personally use to boats that are more responsive. So this had a unnatural feel to it since the controls are zero effort. This boat needs a big block and a Bravo or a King Cobra drive.

A well designed performance boat will have a window, or sweet spot, in the trim settings that will make the boat feel completely balanced, like it is floating on air. And when you hit a wave in this sweet spot, the bow will not want to bounce up or plow into the next wave. Both the owner and I could not find this sweet spot of trim in his Z21. And we had perfect conditions to try and find it in. The z21, if it has a balanced place of trim, has a very narrow one. The boat seemed to want to nose dive, and then as you slowly adjusted the trim up, the boat would feel like it was fighting this and then instantly, breakout to wanting to flip the bow up. We simply couldn't find a trim that gave this boat a neutral, balanced feeling. This was an unexpected discovery.

I've thought a great deal as why this might be the case. And I think it has to do with the center of gravity being too far forward.

You can't beat the Z-21 for style. It is a beautiful boat to look at and very sexy. Exspecially with the stainless trim windshield. And its a very practical boat for trailering and over night anchoring. I think the boat would be perfect with a larger, heavier engine like a 496 or larger big bock and see if this didn't move the center of gravity aft and give the boat a better feel.

As I've said, it's your first boat, so you will probably not notice this. But as you get more experienced you are going to eventually want a performance boat to exhibit this neutral feeling. Its a joy when you find this sweet spot in the trim for a particular sea state.