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2donzi2
12-18-2008, 09:10 PM
Bought this a couple months ago. Original owner, completely original boat. Had a bad riser which messed up a piston. Removed motor and went through complete (454/330-TRS). The motor had never been out of the boat. Interior, cockpit cover, gel coat are all near perfect with the exception of a little clean up. The only thing not original which I replaced was the 3" log manifolds to 4" Imco power flows with stainless steel risers.
superhatz
12-18-2008, 10:05 PM
Love it!.....you've got good taste in boats. And...I like that you're keeping them original....:)
RedDog
12-18-2008, 10:27 PM
VERY nice! Please post some more photos.

Where are you located?
captdennisgray
12-19-2008, 01:07 AM
Great lookin Hornet !!!! Congrat's ! Nice colors too.....
DONZI
12-19-2008, 05:40 AM
Very nice !
Welcome aboard
Now pick an event to show it off and meet some of the crew when ready.:)
boldts
12-19-2008, 05:46 AM
Very nice buy. Love the colors! Hope she brings you many great memories on the water.
Morgan's Cloud
12-19-2008, 06:43 AM
Nice ride. That the one from the panhandle? I thought Barry bought that? There's a 22 Classic that matches that running around down here...


Never seen one like that before ... But I do like it ! Different / simple but still tastefull ....
Barry Eller
12-19-2008, 07:12 AM
Nice ride. That the one from the panhandle? I thought Barry bought that? There's a 22 Classic that matches that running around down here...

Nope, Barry didn't win the bid. It was being sold for storage, the marina owner wouldn't honor my bid, which was the highest. He wanted 5 years back storage, $ over retail and the last registration sticker was from 1997. The marina owner didn't have a title and had not placed a "Mechanics Lien" on it. I decided to not pursue it any further.

This Hornet looks just like it though, could be it, as that was a couple years ago I tried to buy it.
chappy
12-19-2008, 07:32 AM
Very nice, best of luck with it.
BigGrizzly
12-19-2008, 10:11 AM
Nice boat good ride.
Barry Eller
12-19-2008, 04:09 PM
Just got a PM from Mike, he did buy the boat here in Pensacola. It is the boat that I tried to buy a couple years ago. It is a local 1 owner boat that I have seen running here since it was new. I have a photo of it running that I took in the mid 80's.
2donzi2
12-19-2008, 04:29 PM
Just got a PM from Mike, he did buy the boat here in Pensacola. It is the boat that I tried to buy a couple years ago. It is a local 1 owner boat that I have seen running here since it was new. I have a photo of it running that I took in the mid 80's.

Hey Barry,

Thanks for the photo and it did say BANDIT on the side. That was the first thing I removed. When the boat went on line I bought it sight unseen and drove 450 miles to get it the next morning. Was worth the drive. Other than the engine and the chrome, everything else was fine. If you know anymore history on the boat, would love to hear it. Also had to buy a trailer for it as well. Thanks again. Mike
Barry Eller
12-21-2008, 07:05 AM
Hey Barry,

Thanks for the photo and it did say BANDIT on the side. That was the first thing I removed. When the boat went on line I bought it sight unseen and drove 450 miles to get it the next morning. Was worth the drive. Other than the engine and the chrome, everything else was fine. If you know anymore history on the boat, would love to hear it. Also had to buy a trailer for it as well. Thanks again. Mike

Mike, the original owner, I won't identify him here, is from an "Old Money" family in this area. He would just throw things away when broken or tired of them. A friend of mine that used to sell boats at the marina you purchased the boat from told me he let a couple of boats go to be sold for the storage bills he wasn't paying. So your Donzi was just a broken boat that he didn't want and stopped paying the storage bill.

Your Donzi is one I have admired for many years. I'm glad its found a good home!
andrewz9876
12-22-2008, 06:01 PM
thats a good lookin boat 2donzi2

Bought this a couple months ago. Original owner, completely original boat. Had a bad riser which messed up a piston. Removed motor and went through complete (454/330-TRS). The motor had never been out of the boat. Interior, cockpit cover, gel coat are all near perfect with the exception of a little clean up. The only thing not original which I replaced was the 3" log manifolds to 4" Imco power flows with stainless steel risers.
2donzi2
12-30-2008, 05:15 PM
VERY nice! Please post some more photos.

Where are you located?

Buffed the boat lightly with polish and looks great, but ordered some aqua buff to do it right. Exhaust will be here friday. Drive is refinished and ready to go back on. Hope to be in the water next week. The only thing waiting on is the chrome to be refinished.
BUIZILLA
12-30-2008, 05:27 PM
my knee's are getting weak...
p729lws
12-30-2008, 05:30 PM
Nice job on cleaning this one up!
Conquistador_del_mar
12-30-2008, 06:40 PM
Buffed the boat lightly with polish and looks great, but ordered some aqua buff to do it right. Exhaust will be here friday. Drive is refinished and ready to go back on. Hope to be in the water next week. The only thing waiting on is the chrome to be refinished.

Great looking boat! That color scheme is hard to beat, and your polishing makes it look new. Congratulations! Bill
2donzi2
06-15-2009, 04:52 PM
Had the Hornet out this last weekend and everything went well. Boat performs beautiful and rides like a dream.
handfulz28
06-15-2009, 06:19 PM
Gorgeous...absolutely drooling here.

I've seen a few IIIs for sale but the IIs are more difficult to come by.
Barry Eller
06-15-2009, 06:38 PM
Had the Hornet out this last weekend and everything went well. Boat performs beautiful and rides like a dream.
Congratulations! I'm glad to see the old girl back on the water. As I said earlier, I'm glad she found a good home.
MDonziM
06-15-2009, 07:26 PM
Had the Hornet out this last weekend and everything went well. Boat performs beautiful and rides like a dream.

Thats a great looking Hornet - Congratulations.
NJFASTECH
01-29-2010, 06:47 PM
Had the Hornet out this last weekend and everything went well. Boat performs beautiful and rides like a dream.

Great job I like the boat attitude in the water very nice! 454 boat that is really cool. Post some more pics if you can.
2donzi2
01-29-2010, 08:41 PM
Great job I like the boat attitude in the water very nice! 454 boat that is really cool. Post some more pics if you can.

Thanks for the compliments. If you need any specific pictures, let me know. The weather has been so cold here I haven't even been to my storage but the first chance I get i'm gonna pull it out and put a coat of wax on it. I'll shoot some pictures of the inside. Unfortunately i haven't shot much of the inside. Crazy enough, but I have the original blue shag snap in carpet and original cockpit cover. The cockpit covers aren't made like the old ones. This thing is thick and weighs quite a bit for a cockpit cover. I might even put the two trumpet horns back on the deck.
flying tomato
02-02-2010, 02:40 PM
Hornets never die, they just get faster!!!!

Flying Tomato (Hornet III)