Rodger/F22

[CDMA]

Rodger,

Can you tell us a little more about your boat. I was looking at the pictures and the Criterion and 22 classic lineage is clear. What more can you tell us about it? She looks like a very nice rig.

Chris

[Rodger]

Chris, thanks for your interest.
The Criterion and F22 were offered simutaneously from Donzi. They have the same hull, and from the transom to the front of the engine compartment, they are also the same. From the seating area to the nose, I think the F22, is very similar to the current 22 2+3 except that my rear seat back cushion is taller because of the elevated deck over the engine area. When Donzi first introduced the 22 2+3 they used the exact same hull as the F22/Criterion. Now there is at least one difference being that the chines have a slight angle down now, where mine are flat. Even though there were a variety of power options available on the F22/Criterion, all I have ever seen are the 330 TRS setups. My F22 is a '78' which is the first year it was offered. I don't know what else to tell you; do you have any specific questions?
Rodger

[CDMA]

Ok so if I follow this the Criterion and F-22 are the same hull. When they built the first 22 classic they used this hull. But sometime later they made a different hull for the 22 with slightly different strakes. Now when you refer to this angle are you talking about the outer strake or what could be referred to as the chine or the inner two strakes. Any idea when they changed the hull on the 22? That is something I didn't know.

Do you have any idea how many they made?
Is the windshield original?
Also on a slightly different subject how have you liked the twin turbos? What kind of fuel delivery system do you use with this? I am assuming it is carbureted.
What kind of steering do I spy on the transom?

Thanks and AWESOME boat...

Chris

Want to trade for a 22 wink wink wink

[Rodger]

The angle I'm referring to is the outer strake, or what I call the chine. I don't know when they made the change in the hull. I noticed it about 3 or so years ago when a guy on our lake bought a new 22 and I got a view of the rear when the boat was parked on a lift. Around 1989 I spoke with an employee at Donzi who had worked for the company a long time. He said the current 22 hull (1989) was identical to the original F22...so it was sometime during those 8 or so years after that. I tend to think it is a relatively recent change. I don't know how many F22's were made but I don't think there were many. In 1986, I was at the Marine trade show, when it used to always be in Chicago, and the Donzi rep implied that the F22 was not as popular as they hoped it would be and therefore they made the change to the current flat deck style. He was perplexed when I told him I'd rather have the F22 than the newer style (at the time I didn't have my 22 yet). The windshield is original. It's kind of an after-thought. All of the add photos showed it with no windshield. Probably some people complained that they would like a windshield; so Donzi threw this thing together. I think the windshield looks OK but the mounting and fastening of it leave something to be desired. I am happy with the twin turbo setup though it took me a while to dial it in. I'm running a Holley 800 fed by a Mallory electric fuel pump. The ignitian is a MSD 7AL. I inject water into the intake above 7 psi boost. I kind of stumbled across the turbo setup. I originally was going to build a NA 540 when I saw this used turbo setup in the paper which included the exhaust manifolds, intake manifold, carburator, distributor, camshaft, and valve covers. All this for less than it would cost me to buy exhaust manifolds alone. All I had to obtain was a forged crank, rods, pistons, square-port heads and convert my original block to 4-bolt mains. All these parts I picked up at swap meets. It's an economical boat. I keep records of every drop of gas I put in it and also take the reading on the hour meter. It is typical for me to average only 7.5 gallons per hour for an entire boating season. That is for a relatively high performance boat (Mid 80's MPH). The turbos are interesting. The boat will pretty much reach the same top speed whether I'm alone or I have 5 adults. Turbos tend to make more boost as they are loaded more; therefore when I pile the people in the boat the turbos want to equalize the situation. The steering I hope to improve someday. I didn't have money for hydraulic steering after I upgraded the engine so I have one of those dampers that stiffen more as the load increases by Drew Marine. The gimble and tiller arm have also been upgraded to the current square shaft style.

[CDMA]

Rodger did you notice any diference with the steering stabilizer. I have heard conflicting reports over how effective they are.

Thanks

Chris

[Rodger]

I installed it only for safety. I didn't really expect to notice an improvement in how the steering felt, but there was a slight improvement. I had steering break at speed once on different boat and I didn't want to experience that again. If it breaks now the boat wil go into a slow turn and give me time to slow down (I hope).

[vonkamp]

I want to see! Where are the pictures posted? :)

[Rodger]

Pictures are in the registry. Look under my last name...Eppley.

[EricG]

Rodger, You mentioned that the Donzi Rep said in '86 that the F22 wasn't as popular as they had hoped, so they changed it to the "Classic" style. Which I'm sure was the truth. However, what I find fascinating is that the Minx, other than being 2 feet shorter, is damn near identical styling wise to the F22. Obviously someone at Donzi still thought the style had promise. They are both great looking boats in my mind.

F22
http://www.donzi.net/hull/DNR226011178/Mvc-014s.jpg

Minx
http://www.donzi.net/hull/DMRCB131C787/donzi101.jpg

Also, The F22/22 Classic hull variation is exactly the kind of thing I am trying to get posted in the "Show us your bottom" thread....but, err......I hasn't really worked out that way I guess wink

I'd love to see pictures of the differences...

EG

[Rodger]

I totally agree with you on the similarities of the F22 and Minx. The Minx though, was also relatively short lived. I was disappointed when they discontinued it. I came very close to buying a new Minx instead of the F22. The Minx is much more agile and responsive than the 22. I was already used to my 16 and the Minx could maneuver just about as well and was almost as good a ski- boat. I can probably take photos of both a newer 22 and my F22 hanging from the lifting rings to see the bottoms, but it wouldn't be possible until next May.

[RH]

Nice looking boat Roger! Where do you boat in Illinois? I live in Iowa and get over to Illinois once in a while and hit Lake Geneva in Wisconsin.
RH

[Sagbay32]

Rodger,
Beautiful Boat!
Gotta Love that Gale Banks setup!

Mike

[Rodger]

Thanks for the nice compliments guys. RH, I do almost 100% of my boating at Lake Geneva. We have had a family house there for 45 years and 10 years ago, my wife and I bought our own place there. The photos you see of my boat were taken on Lake Geneva.