1988 18 2+3 Classic for sale on eBay Needs Motor Work

[TheFees]

Hello,
I have no business posting this listing, whereas I do not own the boat, nor am I affiliated in any way with the seller. This is just a posting to let the fellow Donzi owner community know about an 18 that could be a good opportunity. It is on ebay at the following link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Donzi-18-foot-clasic_W0QQitemZ180080016944QQihZ008QQcategoryZ312 70QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That's a long link, but the one that is in the address bar of the specific auction.
This boat needs motor work. For someone who is interested in doing a rework. Says the outdrive is recently rebuilt, which could mean anything. Anyhow, thought you might like to check it out. The fact that the seller has 100 percent feedback, and appears to be honest. As he claims the boat is all original. Unfortunately the bottom is bottom painted, I guess you could remove that.... I don't want to get off on a tangent. I have a 1987 classic 18 that is red, all original, and I cut the surface with Dupont 606S compound, then coat it with whatever the 3 conditioner is, and it polishes up beautifully. If the boat was kept under cover, it will buff. This one according to the seller sat from early nineties, to early 2000, something like that, see the ad on ebay. I am not representing this boat. I am just super excited about anything Donzi, and for the amount of motorheads on this site, this is an opportunity to get excited about...as long as the drive is fine. So much to see, the hour gauge in the picture says 256 hours, was the hull painted because of some damage, or did it sit in the water while it was being used??? I don't know, check it out, I am curous to see your posts. Bob

[TheFees]

The auction came to a close and it sold to ebay member name jjmarine for $7,402.00 Somebody is going to get into a possibly great 18 for a very reasonable amount of money if they have in house mechanical solutions. Bob:bonk: :happy_bi: :propeller :eek!: :yes: :boat:

[james johnston]

The auction came to a close and it sold to ebay member name jjmarine for $7,402.00 Somebody is going to get into a possibly great 18 for a very reasonable amount of money if they have in house mechanical solutions. Bob:bonk: :happy_bi: :propeller :eek!: :yes: :boat:
I bought the 18 on e-bay and it was everthing the seller said. It does need new seats(buckets and stearn seats) . Is bilt rite still in business? It also could use a new rub rail and dash panel to make it perfect( besides a good wet-sand and buff) Any help I would appreciate ,Thanks J.J.

[realbold]

Congrats, JJ

[Cuda]

I've got a set of brand new bucket seats.

[TheFees]

I bought the 18 on e-bay and it was everthing the seller said. It does need new seats(buckets and stearn seats) . Is bilt rite still in business? It also could use a new rub rail and dash panel to make it perfect( besides a good wet-sand and buff) Any help I would appreciate ,Thanks J.J.

James,
Way to go with a great buy. I am curious about more specifics on the boat, and it's condition. As I mentioned I have an 87 18 same color and all, have had it since 89. I wanted to make a mention about the fiberglas. First let me say that I am not experienced at gel coat finishing, but I have found that if you polish it, the red donzi with a lambswool tie on bonnet, with Dupont 606S compound, even though it say for hand polishing only, then wash the boat off real well, to get all of the compound off. WARNING DO NOT USE COMPOUND IN THE SUNLIGHT. It will dry so cake hard, that getting it off can be a nightmare if you let it sit and dry hard. The tech rep from Donzi who really knew his stuff also said after washing, to remove all of the compound residue with a second step of washing the surface with automotive pre-kleano, or Prep Sol, then use G3 conditioner. I had a body shop for 20 years, did a ton of high end cars, and I spent literally thousands of hours polishing. I tried all kinds of polishes to get the finish up on the Donzi, and none of them worked, except G3 conditioner. It works great. You will be surprised, after compounding, then using the conditioner how great it works. You see the stuff at all of the boat shows.
I found that the golden rule in automotive finishes, is don't sand when buffing only will do. Admittedly I do not have any experience at sanding and buffing fiberglas, but the compounding alone seems to do the job.
Don't think of compounding with a wheel as a fast job. Get it wet, move the buffer slowly, really let it work on the surface. Take each area, about a square foot at a time, use a paint stick to pick up the compound, and dab it over the area. Then use the wheel to spread it evenly, then move it slow, while wet, then bring it up to dry, which is where the gloss arrives. You really want to dig through the gloss gently, over more time while wet. Figure on spending an afternoon polishing. It takes a couple of hours to do the entire boat properly. The rewards are worth the effort. You could try a little spot to see how it will work. It depends on whether the boat sat out in the sun unprotected for a lot of years, or whether it had a cover on it. I remember some years, I would break the boat out in the spring, and the red seemed more like orange, then buffed to a deep shade of red. So it does work with faded finishes as well.
Reply back to this post. Keep us informed about the progress on the get ready on the boat. Congraulations on a great buy. Bob
PS: I included a picture taken recently after polishing the boat with the included procedures. The pic is called "NiceButShot" you can see the results. I use the lambswool bonnet wheel on the glass, the stainless, even the rubber exhaust covers, then coat it with G3 conditioner. This is a 1987 all original glass not paint, in red, which is normally an oxidizing nightmare.

[TheFees]

I wanted to mention in regards to polishing, be very careful when you are using a buffer around the cockpit cover snaps. They stick out the top, and if you catch them, they can go flying. They normally hold up, and when you do accidentally buff them a little, they show this nice brass underneath the chrome, but the best thing to do is stay away from them. If you do snag one, replacements are available.
I also wish I could edit my post to get the miss spell on "way" out of there and replace it with wayS. As a matter of fact, I could spend an hour revamping the whole thing to make it an easier read, but what the heck, I could spend my time ranting about something else instead.
One more note is that the Dupont White 606S compound does a great job of getting the stains and any surface deposits out of the white as well.
Be sure and look at the second picture on my previous post instead of the first one. You look at the first photo and say what's the big deal, then you look at the second one and say, get out, thats not original 1987 red fiberglas, but it is.

[lee]

I wanted to mention in regards to polishing, be very careful when you are using a buffer around the cockpit cover snaps. They stick out the top, and if you catch them, they can go flying. They normally hold up, and when you do accidentally buff them a little, they show this nice brass underneath the chrome, but the best thing to do is stay away from them. If you do snag one, replacements are available.
I also wish I could edit my post to get the miss spell on "way" out of there and replace it with wayS. As a matter of fact, I could spend an hour revamping the whole thing to make it an easier read, but what the heck, I could spend my time ranting about something else instead.
One more note is that the Dupont White 606S compound does a great job of getting the stains and any surface deposits out of the white as well.
Be sure and look at the second picture on my previous post instead of the first one. You look at the first photo and say what's the big deal, then you look at the second one and say, get out, thats not original 1987 red fiberglas, but it is.why not take off the snaps and replace with new when done can also seal all the new snaps for no leaks in glass

[TheFees]

Thanks for the follow up. My personal opinion is that anytime you remove screws (snaps) from fiberglass or wood for that matter, that tends to open up the threads some more, and makes for a slightly less tight fitting screw. Even if you perfectly mate the threading by gently starting the screw, some degradation of the thread channel will occur. If you more abruptly reinsert the screw, you are creating a mashed potato effect, creating fresh thread channels, on top of the old ones, in a criss cross fashion.
Additionally, when polishing, if you are near a sensitive area that needs a good deal of cutting, it is advisable to do some hand polishing to get the meat of it off, then while machine polishing, you only need to lightly dance on that area to bring up the sheen. Once you cut a faded boat properly, from season to season, you no longer need to hand rub anything. A light pass with the buffer is all that is needed in those areas, while giving the open areas their full due.
I think your idea about sealing them when reinstalling is a good one. I am curious to hear what you have found to be a successful sealing material, and what others have done in the way of choosing what sealing material works best also.
Additionally, the rub rail on the edge of the boat is constantly loosening screws. It seems that I have to re-tighten several of them a little every time I go out. I would be curious as to what material would be good to put in the screw holes to hold them well enough not to come out, yet not too well so as to make them difficult to remove in the event you ever needed to remove them. Any suggestions?

[TheFees]

I did want to say one more thing. If you click on the second picture of my post with the 2 photos, a couple before this one, then when the picture loads on your screen, click in the middle of it, to macro the shot (It blows up real close thanks to the Donzi Registry cool macro tool) When expanded you will notice that some of the screws have the brass showing through from being hit by the buffer. (Leave it to Donzi to put chrome plated brass cups in the snaps.) I like the slight touch of brass. It is not overwhelming, it just peeks out, like an enchanting chest of a well endowed women. :-) Oops, sorry to all of the women out there for being whatever you call guys who make comments like that.
Something else came to mind when I was writing this. In 1989 I was calling Donzi, Florida to order some parts, and they took my order for some dash switches, and a blower motor to vent the motor compartment, and when I offered my credit card, they said no bother, it's on the house. I then told them that I bought the boat used. They still insisted that the order was free of charge. I shouldn't say this, but their generosity was unbelievable. It is unfortunate they went out of business, maybe that is one of the reasons why. What a great company. :superman:

[realbold]

I think your idea about sealing them when reinstalling is a good one. I am curious to hear what you have found to be a successful sealing material, and what others have done in the way of choosing what sealing material works best also.
3M 5200 is probably the best, also works like lock-tite. Just a drop on a clean wax free suface, wait a day before tightening all the way so you dont squeeze it all out.

[TheFees]

I received an email from the registry, forwarded from the internal messaging system.
I read your proceedure on how to refinish and old donzi .Could you tell me the manurfacture of g3 conditioner
I logged in and replied, and this is the message that was received:
1. The following users were not found:
1. thanks for writing. I wanted to drop you a message to tell you I received your message, and that I will go up in the shelves of the garage, and pull out the container it is in, and give you the full specs. The G3 conditioner I used to always use is no longer available I was told. No problem though, their is another manufacturer making the same exact product, I have used it, and it is the same milky white liquid, and does the same exact job. They must have picked up the formula. Anyhow, I will get the container out, and should be able to get another message to you in the near future. Thanks for asking. Bob
So the message didn’t get through, (It’s not called Net Working, It’s called Not Working :) ) so I thought I would post it here. If anyone is interested in this miracle juice :) I will post the info for all to read. Now I have to climb up on the shelf and get the info off of the container. It is about 20 degrees out here in the northeast today, so Bella is under cover, and that last thing I am thinking about right now, other than to come into the registry, and dream, and talk about it. Actually boating season is only 3 or 4 weeks away, but you would hardly know it from the weather. They predicted snow here today and tomorrow. Time to play with the Ariens snow blower. (Now it’s not blown :) ) Did you ever see the video of the guy who is cutting his lawn with a lawnmower and it has a hemi on it with headers. Cracks me up.
Hey did you guys ever see the Yamaha Hyabusa motorcycle video of the guy that does a wheelstand from 50 mph, on up to 140 mph then screams the bike all the way up to over 210 mph before backing off, all the while he has a video camera strapped to the tank, so you can see the gauges. Guys this is the only thing that I can compare to catching air in the Donzi, so maybe it will bring some relief to all of us adrenalin junkies. Check it out. These Hyabusa’s are so fast, all you have to do is hit the throttle, and the whole front end comes up off of the ground. They warn you about nailing it at slower speeds, you can loose it. The bike has been known to do the quarter mile in the 7 some second range. Check it out, now that is Donzi fever. Turn up your speakers before you play it. http://www.mccallcolors.com/video_player.htm When he pegs it over 210, now that is Donzi freakin fever, all he has to do is add catchin air to it, and he is there.
Talk to you soon, Bob

[Just Say N20]

That is an astounding bit of performance video. Simply amazing. :eek!: :eek!:

[TheFees]

Just wanted to correct a mistake, I said it is a Yamaha Hyabusa, it is a Suzuki Hyabusa...my bad. :bonk:
I thought this was just what the doctor ordered. The video is very controversial, I appreciate any input you may have. Your input and opinions are appreciated.

[peregrine]

Hayabusa is Japanese for Peregrine falcon. Hence my name. For some reason that video didn't load for me. Hayabusa's don't break into the 7 second zone, ever. I have quite a few friends with drag bikes and they get into the 8's, but with a lot of work. The new GSXR1000's usually crush the Hayabusa's now. I sold mine for a lighter handling bike. All liter bikes now a days will loft it at 50 mph and all you do is shift away. I took a 00' GSXR750 from 45 to 145mph on 1 tire all while changing lanes. These new bikes are so amazing and so agile anyone can ride like a pro. It is all about cojanes. I couldn't imagine wanting to be in a boat airborne, but I wheelie my bike all day long and hit speeds of 180mph as often as possible. Maybe when I finally find my Donzi I will know your feeling. So for now I will have to wheelie my bike. See you guys at the spring dust off. I am bringing the bike too.

[TheFees]

Yes I had to play with it a little bit for it to load also. I hit the page refresh button, the twin arrows on the top tool bar, a time or two, then it finally loaded. It's not called Networking, it's called Not Working.:)