Donzi 7 Meter

[Damhnaic]

Hello all..I'm new to the greatness that is a classic Donzi and have interest in a 1970 7 Meter that is for sale locally. The owner says it was re powered with twin 350's and Merc alpha 1 outdrives from a Scarrab. I have seen the boat out of the water and she is a beaut. He custom built a t-top for it and a few other restoration items like new carpet lining the cabin and new upholstery. I can find very little information about this or any 7 Meter and was wondering if yall could inform this noob a bit on what the quality of this model boat is.

[Damhnaic]

Bump for some help on this 7 Meter.

[silverghost]

Sadly there seems to be very little collector interest in the 7 meter on the Donzi websites.
It seems to be a footnote here in Donzi boat history.
Most here are interested in the Donzi speedboats.
The 7 meter is more of a small family cruiser.
Few here own, or have ever actually seen one in person.
Try searching for info on it from past threads & posts above in the forum search area.

[Ghost]

I can't address quality of build. I would expect no big departure from any Donzi of that vintage.

What I can tell you is the Nova Marine 24 I have is an Allen Brown/Dick Cole creation that is probably as close to the 7 Meter as anything. Same hull below the rubrail, just stretched a little and built with v-drive inboards rather than outdrives.

The hull is a wave crusher. Or perhaps wave slicer and crusher. One of the best riding rough water boats I've ever been in. Probably as deep a V as you could get away with. 25.7 degrees I think. The sterndrive setup in the Donzi will give it more speed and efficiency than mine.

But I think getting back to your question, by now, with the age of the boat, there is more to investigate with a particular serial number than with the model. Any boat that age is a candidate for stringer and transom rot, fuel tank replacement, etc. Not sure if the Donzi lets you get the tank out without pulling the deck.

Do some searching here for the 7 Meter and among others you will find some posts by a friend of ours, VRod, who played around with one the last couple of years. He picked it up for the motors and drives as I recall, but the old beast performed well I think, before he yanked the iron. I think he broke 60 with the original motors after just tuning them up a little.

Regards, good luck, keep us posted, and snap some pics whether you buy it or not. Actually, snapping a bunch of pics might yield some comments/help from others here too. Some folks here have VERY keen eyes. They can often spot subtle glass issues just from some good pics.

Mike

P.S. http://www.donzi.net/forums/search.php?searchid=1404633

[Damhnaic]

Yeah i read most every post about the boat..im just fishing for anything else out there..The transom is all been replaced when the new power was installed..the tanks as well. I live right on the intercoastal and only a few miles from the ocean..my wonder is has anyone had this boat out in open water fishing...and Im interested in pulling some watersports down the river..is it a good boat for all that or will i just spend my life savings in gas to have a cool boat?

[Ghost]

Gotcha. You will burn some gas. But not as much as I do, since you can trim the drives.

Pre-restoration, my boat was loaded up with saddle tanks and shark-fished WAY offshore. I think you will find it a good hull for getting out to the fish, and twins are a good thing offshore to get home.

For water sports, burns more gas than a single, but you know that. Can't tell from the pics if you have a towing eye, or just the twin eyes off to the sides. For skiing/wakeboarding, the single eye is far preferable, but you can install one if you don't have it. The wake should be a lot of fun for boarders and tubers. Not so much for a slalom skier, unless he wants to do a lot of jumping.

[JimG]

Awesome find! Those are great boats, and that looks like a honey. Most of the hard work looks like it was aleady done.

I'd grab it! That hull is the spiritual grandfather to every performance offshore boat built since...

[silverghost]

It sounds like most of the hard & expensive re-power & restortion work might have already been done.
This hull should ride & handle rough offshore water well.
What is his asking price ?
If reasonable~
I would snap-it-up if that is the type of boat you are looking for.