Shiny boat in rotten environment...

[axelkloehn]

My GT is painted in Audi R8-white now... it's so shiny I can't even look at it and it's really hard to take a picture of it :hyper::hyper::hyper:

You will not know where this place is and you will definately not know what we are doing there...

Unfortunately the GT cannot stay there, today I brought it back to the place where it was before and now it will stay outside under a cover till next spring :(

I would love to continue but we have winter over here now, too cold and wet to do anything outside....

Cheers, Axel :germany:

[silverghost]

Axel:
Sounds like you are using a "Top Secret" German location~
You folks are not building U-Boats or V 2 s again~ Are You ? ; )

Now that the fiberglass & paint are both done~
Both warm weater jobs~
You should be able to work outside anytime on the boat NOW~

Cold weather is just ~
Mind over Matter~
If YOU don't mind~
It Doesn't Matter !

I am 1/2 German~
We are built of tougher stock than most~
We should not let a little cold weather get in our way!

[BUIZILLA]

Nuburgring?

[Dr. David Fleming]

Axelkloehn,

Un das is gooden, heilsgerscticte!

[axelkloehn]

Guys- no worries, we are not building U-Boats/V2s again and of course it's not the Nuerburgring, although I know they have some likely places over there, but that's 300 mls further south :wink:
This place has been some military installation I guess, but today is used for storage and is gonna be pulled down soon.

It's not the coldness that matters, it's the rain- we have like one or two dry days and 29 days of rain in a month at the moment, that sucks... and if it's gonna be snow soon and the donzi is covered with that it's really not the conditions you wanna work at your boat.

We germans are tough, but good heavens I would love to live in Florida or in the Bahamas... :cool:

[Sweet Cheekz]

Axel
The boat looks great! Too bad you can't stay on it because you were really moving forward Sadly I will now pass you soon enough since mine is cozy as a bed bug despite our crap azz weather! Stay warm
Parnell

[axelkloehn]

Axel
... Stay warm
Parnell


Thanks Parnell, will do!

Don't cheer to soon- I might find another place to keep up with.... :wink:

THE RACE IS STILL ONGOING... :drive:

[silverghost]

I for one, cannot wait to see both of these great "Restoration Projects" !
My "Benchseat C 18" project is just in the planing stage as of today.
Both of you guys are doing spectacular work!
Any bets out there as to WHO will finsh his project first?
Will it be our friend Axel or Parnell ?

[gcarter]

Thanks Parnell, will do!

Don't cheer to soon- I might find another place to keep up with.... :wink:

THE RACE IS STILL ONGOING... :drive:
Axel, I'm wonderin'.....do you spend time here because you love Donzi's????
Or is it a handy place to practice your English?

[axelkloehn]

Axel, I'm wonderin'.....do you spend time here because you love Donzi's????
Or is it a handy place to practice your English?

George, I hope my english is ok for you all, I am surely making some mistakes-

I am working in the aircraft industry and we've got to do our daily correspondence/email in english, so the reason for visiting this site is clear: I love Donzis since there has been a red one in our marina in the early 70ies when I was 10 years old. I was very often waiting for hours hoping the owner shows up and takes it for a ride. Compared to the "swimming toilettes" all the others and my parents had that was a real racer with incredible sound and a nice shiny red, guess it was a 16 cause it had no windshield. Unfortunatey the owner did not show up very often and he never took me for a ride.

Since today I never had a ride in a donzi, this is my first real classic after fooling around with outboard-boats and a 16" Glastron with a 302 OMC engine. Many friends of mine have cigarettes, formulas, sonics and a fountain, but that's not my budget and what's more the design of the classic Donzis is absolutely my taste- don't like the modern ones too much... I like the 22 Classic most, that's why I made my GT look a bit like her...

I am addicted to this site and really appreciate you guys are sharing your time with me and you guys helped me a lot and gave me a lot of inspiration and motivation. If I will ever restore another one I know many more things now and would do many things different, for example pulling the deck or likewise.

Cheers, Axel :germany:

[gcarter]

I think your English is quite good for a second language.
Do you also have opportunities to practice speaking it?

[axelkloehn]

I think your English is quite good for a second language.
Do you also have opportunities to practice speaking it?

Yep, I have international colleagues and my boss is british, he does not speak any german.

[Sweet Cheekz]

Both of you guys are doing spectacular work!
Any bets out there as to WHO will finsh his project first?
Will it be our friend Axel or Parnell ?

Thanks SG
I have a family trip planned for the Miami boatshow in mid Febuary and I am trying to get this done for its first voyage there. I have the 16 if not but I have upped the efforts considerably this past three weeks. Unless Axel gets some inside space I like my chances :) It will be at aoth regardless so he needs to work in the snow!
Parnell

[silverghost]

Axel: You are well on your way to completing you Donzi Speedboat Restoration.
I cannot believe the quality and speed of your fine workmanship!
Have you deceided on the final graphics airbrush design and colors? What about the interior vinyl seats etc?
Will you be doing any of this work yourself also?
It's a shame that here in the USA far too many of these great old speedboats are just cut-up with chainsaws and taken to the burn pile or dump.
I can never understand why any owner would let his boat get into this poor sad condition in the first place?
I have seen many great hulls that could have been saved just stripped for parts and thown away and discarded.
The very few that you see being restored on this great Donzi website are the exception; and not the rule!
It's a shame that in the USA we seem to live in a throw-away society!
Few want to do all the work necessary to bring these great boats back to life and use!
It is true that restoring these old hulk hulls is a "labor of love". It would be very hard to restore most boats here and get your restoration money back if you ever sold some of them!
Others can be bought for very little here and brought back to life for a small fraction of what it might cost to buy a similar new boat.
Some of the larger Cigarette & Fountain style speedboats especially !
New they can cost big $$$ .
I wish we could find more of these once great old speedboats a new home with more people like you, and the other fine restorers here, who would like to own and restore them!
You said that these style boats are rare and costly in Germany!
Are you looking for any other type and make/size of USA built old speedboats?
Also parts !
I could keep my eye out for you and your boating friends for good project hulls. There are many on the USA east coast just waiting for a new home!
Many, if not most, will sadly be scrapped, and junked !

[gcarter]

Brad, what you say may be true, but many of the older hulls from the 60's -80's are too far gone.
I mean, there's no payback.
I doubt if anyone is going to pay me $40K for my TR when I'm through.
Nice idea though.

[axelkloehn]

Guys, thanks for all your compliments about my work...

We have sold our house this spring and we are looking for a new bigger one, of course with some big hangar in the backyard. The conditions I am working at my boat right now are not satisfying, I used to have a twin-garage before with enough space.

I hope I will find a house soon, and of course it will have space again to do more restorations.

Brad, it's good to hear there are still interesting hulls at your place. Also the prices for parts are a lot cheaper in the U.S... I am still looking for 4" Gibson mufflers (or others) and a good raw water pump, I couldn't find any over here by now, so I might go for american ebay. Of course my GT will get airbrush and graphics, it's just a question when (depending on my work space), final design is almost decided. I will do the interior myself except seats which I am going to buy.

Parnell, keep up the good work, I hope your schedule works out fine and I am really looking forward to see you making progress.

Cheers, Axel :germany:

[axelkloehn]

Brad, what you say may be true, but many of the older hulls from the 60's -80's are too far gone.
I mean, there's no payback.
I doubt if anyone is going to pay me $40K for my TR when I'm through.
Nice idea though.

George, 40k$ is 30k€ over here. For this price you don't get a 22C in germany in such an outstanding restored condition like yours is going to be. But you're right, you gotta find one freak who is looking exactly for that offer- might take time in germany too but I am sure there will be a buyer.
But with shipping, customs and tax it will end up in being 40k€ which is more than 50k$... that makes it difficult.