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View Full Version : Hello to all.......and what did i buy?



eldridge173
04-26-2013, 09:41 AM
Hello to all i just purchased my first Donzi and i believe it to be a 1970 sweet sixteen, but im not 100% sure. the boat is registered as a 1970 Donzi but the North Carolina Wild Life Resource Commisison has issued it a Hull Identificatin Number because the said when the Boat was brought to NC (from where i have absolutely no clue) they were unable to locate the HIN. I do have the proper paper work to register it into my name and legally own it, and i contacted the NC Wild Life yesterday and they said if i locate the HIN they will be happy to add it to the Boats regristration in place of the "NC generated HIN". if some one could tell me where to look for that i would greatly appreciate it.

now for some details on the Boat, its definitely been repainted, the interior has been redone (looks good), the drivers seat as you will see in the pics is out of some god aweful mid 80's GM product, the hull is clean no fading or cracking and its solid everywhere. Now for the motor, so I believe it to be a Holman Moody 302 or 351 block (I could be totally wrong). the guy said his brother inlaw dumped about $5000 in the motor right before he died, he said it has new high comp pistons, some different crank and rods, the heads have been modified with bigger valves, decked, and a full roller rocker set up (i pulled the valve covers, and everything is anodized orange), it has a massive edlebrock high rise perfomer RPM intake maniforld, and a massive double pump 4 barrrel holley carb, and some very aggressive cam. i dont know what all to believe from this guy but it all seems to be done very well. the out drive is a volvo 280, the hull has hydraulic trim tabs (which work) and on the bottom of the hull it has these two massive aluminum fins about 3-4 feet long and 4 inches tall. The boat runs great, all the metal parts are very shiney and not pitted, it has a throttle pedal which i dont know if is OEM or not. Any help you guys could give me would be great.

dont know if this will help anyone but here is the NC Vessel number and the NC generated HIN
HIN: NCZ3726ABK70
Vessel # NC-3726 AB

Thanks, Brandon

mattyboy
04-26-2013, 10:13 AM
There will be no HIN on a 1970 16 there may be a foil tag on the back seat area and there may also be hand written hull number on the back of the dash and up on the bow eye backing plate. They assigned the 12 digit HIN as. All HIN must have certain letters and numbers. The HIN was made mandatory in fall of 72 you could make a HIN up but it would need a valid MIC and be 12 characters long
Look in those places for your hull number I can't see the pics right now but will look later check www.lgdonziclassic.com (http://www.lgdonziclassic.com) we have a model list and also info on how to identify a 16. Post up your hull and ill see what I have on your boat

mattyboy
04-26-2013, 10:32 AM
can see the pics now

the windshield , steering wheel , interior and foot throttle are not oem

check the spots i mentioned for a hand written hull number

Just Say N20
04-26-2013, 11:02 AM
Matty, the engine hatch has the same lift ring latch in the center as my 1967. How long did they use them before changing to something else like the DONZI push/twist latch?

eldridge173
04-26-2013, 11:07 AM
ill check it tonight as soon as i get home from work and ill take a look on your website to try and determine which 16 it is.

thanks

eldridge173
04-26-2013, 11:11 AM
Matty, the engine hatch has the same lift ring latch in the center as my 1967. How long did they use them before changing to something else like the DONZI push/twist latch?



im not sure it the engine hatch is original to the boat or not, if it is it has been cut out and riased up to clear the carb.........and it was done very poorly at that. the fittings you mentined do appear to be somewhat old and of Donzi quality so maybe they are original.

mattyboy
04-26-2013, 12:26 PM
I have seen the single lift ring latch the double corner hasp latches on the early classic the first donzi twist latch
I have seen was on a 71. But that is just what I have seen so it may not be set in stone

eldridge173
04-26-2013, 06:09 PM
Ok guys I found it. It says
16-339
7-18-66
Bill
Poi or pdi

What does it mean? By the way it was behind the helm under the bow hand written on a piece of fiber glass sheet.

mattyboy
04-26-2013, 06:53 PM
that would explain Bill's theory on the hatch latch

hull 339 would be a 66 6 years before HIN came about. I would take pics of the hull number for your records and leave the NC assigned HIN

eldridge173
04-29-2013, 07:55 AM
here is a pic of the hand written tag and here are a couple pics of the metal fins on the bottom of the boat that i had mentioned. i highly doubt that they are orginal, but i could be wrong what do you think? also when i was crawling around under the bow i noticed the boat had a aluminum fuel cell which is significantly smaller than the what should be in there, wonder why this is?

mattyboy
04-29-2013, 08:47 AM
a few things

the original tank was steel so the smaller alum tank is a replacement , the size may be due to being replaced with the deck on is the tank foamed in? all in all I think this is a good thing even though the range may be down with less fuel.
the original tanks were 23-25 gallons

the fins look to be extensions of the short inner strakes, they are much deeper and I would be curious how they effect handling of the boat and performance of the volvo. the short strakes were to provide clear water for the volvo it didn't like turbulent water . Donzi in the mid 1970's made the inner strakes longer on the skisporter . very curious now

never seen the date also written with the hull number, probably someone's first day on the job trying to make a good impression ;)

eldridge173
04-29-2013, 09:44 AM
the tanks is dated July 1985, and it has foam board placed around it to hold it inplace ill take a pic of it this week when the rain stops. I have yet to take the boat to its limits, but the previous owner said the boat has extreme grip on the water and he says the boat is faster in some what rough water than on smooth water, he said the boat was used in some sort of competition.......what i dont know and once again really have no idea if he knows what hes talking about or not.

at this point im assuming the 4" through transome exhaust is not OEM either?

mattyboy
04-29-2013, 09:50 AM
the 3 inch stock exhaust would not work well on a tweaked motor. can't tell from the pics what type of exhaust? are the risers 4 inch or just 4 inch tips?

eldridge173
04-29-2013, 11:25 AM
I'm not sure he just said it was a 4 inch exhaust, ive been looking at any engine compartments that I can find on google for similar boats and from what I've found it seems to be shaped quite different. Mine does not seem to have risers off of the manifolds. If you stick your hand inside the tips there is wierd butterfly flap that seem like they prevent water from going back in.

mattyboy
04-29-2013, 11:42 AM
take a pic of the exhaust system.

the older exhaust logs had the riser or the dump at the end, if the exhaust exits very low on the transom the exhaust might not have a riser just a turndown elbow. some of the holman moody exhaust had a riser ( a hump) at the end with either an exit parallel to the runners or with a turn down

the newer fords have center risers ( the riser is in the middle of the manifold)that exit out the back

internal flappers are a good thing to stop wave reversion ( water slapping against the transom from getting back into the motor) but with a warmed up motor with an aggressive cam with over lap can suck back in exhaust water . usually exhaust cost and choices limit the high performance mods of a small block ford

an easy way to tell would be if there is a hose going from the exhaust to the tip, is it the same size or does it have a reducer?

Conquistador_del_mar
04-29-2013, 12:16 PM
I have yet to take the boat to its limits, but the previous owner said the boat has extreme grip on the water and he says the boat is faster in some what rough water than on smooth water, he said the boat was used in some sort of competition.......what i dont know and once again really have no idea if he knows what hes talking about or not.

The boat might have been used in slolam skiing competition where they do not want the boat to slide sideways when the skiier pulls from one side as they run through the course. Just a guess. Bill

eldridge173
04-29-2013, 12:57 PM
the engine pay pic where you can see the exhaust is dirty before i got a chance to clean it, but if you look a the exhaust coming off each manifold it goes straight back them makes a 90 degree bend then curves down and out where it looks like flex pipe, but is not its just a covering over the actual piping. the other pics are the outside of the tips and the inside of the tips.

BUIZILLA
04-29-2013, 02:54 PM
is that really corrugated flex exhaust pipe and truck muffler clamps I see?

eldridge173
04-29-2013, 04:03 PM
is that really corrugated flex exhaust pipe and truck muffler clamps I see?


that is not the actual pipe used for the exhaust, its over top of the real pipe for some reason.