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smidgen too
04-07-2015, 11:55 AM
Here are a few updated pic's of Bill Stephenson's Spitfire, If only Donzi would have built them this way...:yes: When Bill finishes this one it will be another BEST OF SHOW @ a ACBS event. Like all of Bill's boats it wont be a trailer Queen, with it's potent 383cu small blocks it will be a great ride.

mattyboy
04-07-2015, 12:16 PM
very nice

Morgan's Cloud
04-07-2015, 12:50 PM
Makin' it last forever , like it should have originally been done !

I sure would like to try out one of those . For a few reasons , not the least of which is it would be interesting to see the similarities/differences in ride with the Mag 25.
Harry did both of them , but the Donzi 24s are smoother to look at.

smidgen too
04-07-2015, 01:49 PM
Makin' it last forever , like it should have originally been done !

I sure would like to try out one of those . For a few reasons , not the least of which is it would be interesting to see the similarities/differences in ride with the Mag 25.
Harry did both of them , but the Donzi 24s are smoother to look at.

Bill's El Pescador Rides different than my Doral, we think do to placement of the fuel tank. The Dorals gas tank is under the cockpit floor where the El Pescador & Spitfire are forward. In these pic's my Doral sits a little lower in the rear, & my fuel load was light were Bill's had much more fuel on board . If you put the same power & weight in the 25' Magnum as the Spitfire the Mag may have a softer ride as it does not have a rounded keel ???

bertsboat
04-07-2015, 02:28 PM
I couldn't get over the finish in the engine compartment. What a great job so far. May beat the Fino out of "BEST OF SHOW" in June there in Algonac MI unless the Barracuda has anything to do with it LOL!

olredalert
04-07-2015, 03:17 PM
----1st, Thanks to my crewchief Mark for posting the pics and all the help and advice he gives me.
----Bert,,,Your Barracuda will take any show its entered in. It is literally spectacular.
----When I bought the Spitfire in Canada several years ago I had only a brief ride in it at just above planing speed. I would have used it a bit but one trim pump was not functioning and other stuff was needed for any kind of use, so I decided to just get the inevitable over with and tear the boat down. Ryan Smith at RCS did all the glass and paint work over the next couple of years and then the boat had to go into hibernation till I could get the Fino done. Im sooooo looking forward to finishing this Spitfire up and finding out just how it will run with the twin TRS drivetrain. It will total out to around 835 horsepower and much less weight than when built. Mark and I will try to keep current now that we are moving forward. But...Theres no way it will make the ACBS show this year. Im planning on 2016. 2015 is going to be Short Circuits time to shine.......Bill S

Ghost
04-07-2015, 04:00 PM
Wow.

Looks absolutely fantastic. You said you've taken out a lot of weight--curious what you've changed. Looks like the layup is probably more stout by a good bit. Aluminum parts?

Can't wait to see her done and find out how she performs...

Mike

Morgan's Cloud
04-07-2015, 04:21 PM
Bill's El Pescador Rides different than my Doral, we think do to placement of the fuel tank. The Dorals gas tank is under the cockpit floor where the El Pescador & Spitfire are forward. In these pic's my Doral sits a little lower in the rear, & my fuel load was light were Bill's had much more fuel on board . If you put the same power & weight in the 25' Magnum as the Spitfire the Mag may have a softer ride as it does not have a rounded keel ???

I'm not sure how much of a difference the round vs sharp keel would really have but the tank on the Mag is under the c0ckpit sole about 2' ahead of the engine.
It would probably come down more to actual weight in my opinion. The 25 Mag is no featherweight for its length , even with a single engine .

It's great to see another fab picture of both your Doral and Bill's El Pesc .

Ghost
04-07-2015, 04:24 PM
I'm not sure how much of a difference the round vs sharp keel would really have but the tank on the Mag is under the c0ckpit sole about 2' ahead of the engine.
It would probably come down more to actual weight in my opinion. The 25 Mag is no featherweight for its length , even with a single engine .

It's great to see another fab picture of both your Doral and Bill's El Pesc .

Here's another 24 for comparison, also with a single BB.

81938

olredalert
04-07-2015, 04:42 PM
----Love that boat, Ghost!!!!!!!.......Bill S

smidgen too
04-07-2015, 05:46 PM
Wow.

Looks absolutely fantastic. You said you've taken out a lot of weight--curious what you've changed. Looks like the layup is probably more stout by a good bit. Aluminum parts?

Can't wait to see her done and find out how she performs...

Mike

If you looked closely how Donzi built these 24's a Klem Gem's boat would look good. Donzi used lots of filler & uncoated plywood that sucks up water. The inner hull is the backbone sandwiched to the bottom with stuff that looked like Bondo. Bill's now has real stringers & bulkheads that are cored with today's new technology materials, lighter & stronger.

Capevettes
04-08-2015, 08:43 AM
Great looking Spitfire Bill. I think you will very pleased with that kind of horsepower. Those of us that remember you in Corvette circles here on Cape Cod would expect nothing less than the best. Enjoy it!!

My boat will be in the water by early May. It was a miserable winter here!

olredalert
04-08-2015, 09:34 AM
----Thanks!,,,I hope retirement is treating you well. My sister has been keeping me updated on this past winter. You guys have to be just about worn out......Bill S

Lenny
04-08-2015, 02:58 PM
Beautiful job Bill !

mattyboy
04-09-2015, 08:49 AM
Bill

do you have any pics of the spitfire a part . I always wanted to see what the modular construction looked like. with the 24 basically it was a 24 foot shell then they put the specific model modules in to make it a spitfire, el pesc, doral or spirit

also what are your plans for the seats? this boat had the bucket seats if I remember correctly or did it have the capt Kirk star trek seats?

again nice very nice

olredalert
04-09-2015, 10:01 AM
----Matty,,,Thanks for your interest. The hull and deck resto was done off sight and I was too dumb to get any pre-resto pics. Mark has some pics of his Doral that might help explain the original concept a bit better. Suffice to say, the original bonding "goo" seems to have been a combination of old chopped and ground up pieces of fiberglass scraped off the floor of the Donzi factory mixed up in some kind of witches cauldron, LOL! Because of that a bunch of that stuff always seems to break loose in between the hull and liner and bounce around in the voids for the life of the boat. We scooped out mounds of it in both the El Pescador and the Spitfire. I think that if sales of the 24 line had kept up any kind of pace, a lot of the problems we have encountered would have been delt with by the factory over time. Unfortunatly, every boat manufacturer in south Florida was already building longer boats that had more appeal at the time and the 24 line couldn't seem to get over the hump.
----The original front seats were the normal Donzi seats on shock absorber bottoms. The bottoms suffered from corrosion and I have decided to go to bolsters. You can see the stands in the one picture. Seats are being built as I type this. Mark has the star-wars seats in his Doral, and I am partial to them, if only for the added storage in the back. They kind of crowd up the cockpit though. The back seat will be a bit more permanent than the original but will allow easier access to the front of the engine compartment.
----Ghost,,,As far as weight removal, you are correct about the addition of many aluminum pieces. Being a twin TRS boat there was a tremendous amount of weight in the stern. Boot stripe was way below the waterline. Problem is that I like the TRS packaging (internal trans,Etc.) so aluminum intakes, heads, exhaust manifolds, etc., etc. have been implemented. Also, we removed a great deal of wood and went to composite for the transom, stringers, bulkheads, etc. Obviously, there are benefits beyond just weight removal with composite usage. Im presently struggling with my desire to have a teak floor against the added weight. Im also redoing the engine hatches which are heavy. The new ones, or possibly one, will be substantially lighter but just as strong. For awhile I struggled with the idea of 280 K-planes because of weight but I like the way they look and work so they are in, LOL!......Bill S

mattyboy
04-09-2015, 10:57 AM
I love how they worked the 3rd color into the scheme on the 24
the yellow orange and white on Mark's doral,
the blue white and red on your el pesc

and the blue white and lighter blue on the spitfire

Morgan's Cloud
04-09-2015, 11:08 AM
I love how they worked the 3rd color into the scheme on the 24
the yellow orange and white on Mark's doral,
the blue white and red on your el pesc

and the blue white and lighter blue on the spitfire


Completely agree with that . It's a great combination of classic and sporty .

Bill , you obviously have things well thought out .. and that normally comes with a lot of ' hindsight ' .. lol
This ought to be fantastic when done .

olredalert
04-09-2015, 05:56 PM
----Matty,,,Marks Doral is all original in that regard, but my two boats didn't even nearly resemble what they are now. The El P was orange down to the boot stripe and white south of that. And,,,when I found the El P it was painted metallic brown (yucky-poo). The Spit was all white with baby blue trim. What can I say, Jan likes navy and I like Jan!!!.......Bill S

smidgen too
12-03-2015, 11:31 AM
After returing from his latest work outing in England Jeff Hall returned to Michigan over Thanksgiving to help Bill & myself with Bill's Spitfire restoration. After much thought on how high we should install the Trs drives on the Spitfire we were still confused as to drive centers & height. We measured the drive heights on Bill's Short Circuit Mag & my drive height on my Mag we still were a little in the dark where to set them. Jeff solved that issue by making a call to his friend Bob Saccenti [Chief & Apache powerboats] who has set up many Trs boats, Bob set us straight on were to set them. With that problem solved all we had to do was layout the transom & start cutting the Spitfires pristine transom . Our next project will be setting up the engines & there mounts, that should happen in a few weeks.

Ghost
12-03-2015, 11:45 AM
Wow, gorgeous!!

Morgan's Cloud
12-03-2015, 01:25 PM
With that problem solved all we had to do was layout the transom & start cutting the Spitfires pristine transom . Our next project will be setting up the engines & there mounts, that should happen in a few weeks.[/I]


I insist , your next project should be epoxy sealing those beautiful new cutouts. Then you have my permission to proceed ! :biggrin.:

ok , ok , you've done it already ...you just didn't tell us !

That one is stunning . What a keeper it's going to be .

smidgen too
12-03-2015, 06:21 PM
I insist , your next project should be epoxy sealing those beautiful new cutouts. Then you have my permission to proceed ! :biggrin.:

ok , ok , you've done it already ...you just didn't tell us !

That one is stunning . What a keeper it's going to be .

This was the first time I have worked on a all foam core transom as all the wood in the hull has been replaced with foam, it sure cut out nice. As good as the cutouts area looks we do plan seal them up.

Greg Guimond
12-04-2015, 07:14 AM
After returing from his latest work outing in England Jeff Hall returned to Michigan over Thanksgiving to help Bill & myself with Bill's Spitfire restoration. After much thought on how high we should install the Trs drives on the Spitfire we were still confused as to drive centers & height. We measured the drive heights on Bill's Short Circuit Mag & my drive height on my Mag we still were a little in the dark where to set them. Jeff solved that issue by making a call to his friend Bob Saccenti [Chief & Apache powerboats] who has set up many Trs boats, Bob set us straight on were to set them. With that problem solved all we had to do was layout the transom & start cutting the Spitfires pristine transom . Our next project will be setting up the engines & there mounts, that should happen in a few weeks.


That is one nice looking hull. Any full length side pics? Access to Saccenti directly? Does not get any better than that! Nice work.

olredalert
12-04-2015, 09:09 AM
----Thanks for all the replies, guys! Jan and I took off for a short trip to Fla. the same day Jeff left to go to a boat/car/plane show in Key Largo. Will send some full length pics to Mark after we get home. The transom holes were such a big deal to me. Scared me to death! But with Jeff, Mark and Mr Ss help it finally got done with really a minimum of fuss. Can't wait to go further now that the hardest part is done........Bill S

CHACHI
12-04-2015, 12:25 PM
I would have to be in another room while someone who has done say, 500 transom cut outs, cut the holes.

Just saying.

Looks beautiful.

Ken

bertsboat
12-10-2015, 10:51 AM
Cant wait to see it and ride it Bill and Jan. Looking forward to Detroit this summer!! Going to bring the Fino too!

Conquistador_del_mar
12-10-2015, 11:03 AM
Bill,
This is such a fabulous looking restoration you are doing! I hope to see more pictures as it comes together.

olredalert
12-11-2015, 04:42 PM
----Thanks, guys!!! Wow, I find stuff to order every day. Getting there though........Bill S