Building Surface Tension

[LKSD]

Greg, these are not my interiors just some pics I had in my notes on red interior examples in classics.. Like I said I have done red interiors before but without digging further right now this should give you a little more of an idea on it.. Jamie / Lakeside

[Greg Guimond]

Well when we dry fit the tank, I was wondering if the dual feeds, sender, and vent were in the best possible location. Ideally, I wanted them directly under the lip of the bench seat so that we could drop the height of the bench upholstery if needed. Here are some pics.........

[Greg Guimond]

There was a gentleman who did a wood deck 16 resto that looked like he had dropped the bench seat height. I was never able to track that boat down but it looked like a real cool build. If I have to keep the fills where they are I can probably get about 3" of drop, and possibly still get some storage between the left and right fuel fills.

[Greg Guimond]

While I was searching for that 16 Bench Seat Woodie thread, I ran across this interchange and decided to post it below. Should be of interest to the 6 or so folks on this forum that have the 16 OB Baby model. In essence it creates a nice bit of controversy about when the first ever factory 16 OB Baby was actually built. lou indicates he owns the first 16 OB Baby ever built, a 1965 "stinkin" wacker !!
Anyone know how to contact 'ol lou? After all it is only a decade ago and this is the internet


10-01-2001
lou
Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 113
BIG BAD DONZI, my 1965 16 outboard belonged to Gerry Walin he was the first owner, I also have a money clip with the starflight IV that was given to him by Evinrude for setting a speed record. It was one of the first Donzis built.
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Lou


10-01-2001
BIG BAD DONZI
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 128
Lou, if Gerry is still around, ask him if he had the transom customized hinself in order to make it outboard compatible. Production Donzi 16s did not leave the factory that way in 65. What outboard speed record does the clip refer to? (Mercs have ruled as long as I can remember)


10-02-2001
lou
Join Date: Mar 2000
Posts: 113
Big Bad Donzi: The boat was made this way by Donzi, Walin was a Donzi & Evinrude Dealer up north and sold both inboards and outboards. Don knew him very well. This was Gerry's personal boat He put a 135 hp Evinrude Starflite motor on it. Brownie said that Gerry died in an accident, I purchased the boat in 1976 when I worked for Bertam in Miami.
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Lou


10-02-2001
BIG BAD DONZI
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 128
Lou, that was a hell of an achievement by Gerry hitting those speeds back in the 60's. That Evinrude ad is great and your clip is a true piece of history. Still do not recall any outboard 16s being produced in 65 but Don did special things for his friends and this might have been one of those. All the Best

10-03-2001
Tito
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 21
BIG GRIZZLY I know Lou and I have seen his 16 outboard run. I have been wrenching on boats since I worked for River Marine in 63, and he may be too modest to tell you, but his donzi outboard blew my 1970 H&M Donzi 16 away. My boat did an honest (and scary) 65 on my gps. His boat has an evinrude V-4 135 that is a factory race motor it has four exhaust pipes the size of softball bats and only a two bladed prop. It sounds like an airplane and it SCREAMS! What ever has been done on that motor is working right. I also was a non believer. He also owns a wicked 45zx and has a SH*T load of toys.
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Tito

Tito ; Thanks for your comment. I have been meaning to take a picture for awhile but have just not done it. I have had that boat since 76 and I am so familiar with it that I sometimes take it for granted. I am in Chicago and will take and post detailed pictures when I get back to Florida in December . It is just like any other 16 but outboard with a real interesting motor from the mid 60's.
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Lou

I left Donzi on Halloween, 1967, and until then, we had not built any stinkin' outboard 16's. It was a product of the Chisholm brothers after the recession of 1970. Jr., your time table is a little off. Aronow, 64 up to April 65. Teleflex, April 65 to Halloween 67. Chisholm brothers, Halloween 67 to Genth.
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BROWNIE

[Carbo]

He mentioned putting an evinrude 135 starflight on his '65............the first year of the Starflight 135 was as a 1973 model. I think someones got their Donzi's mixed up. I personally doubt any Baby was built before 1972 other than a custom special one. And I'm sure it probably looked different. Just my opinion.

[Greg Guimond]

But Carbo, aren't ALL the OB 16's special?

I've put an APB out on lou.....he will be hunted down and have to produce the pics to prove that a mid 60's eggbeater exists. I am betting lou has the goods to back it up!

[BUIZILLA]

the gentlemen I just bought my 16 OB from, Fred Darwick, used to race a 16 IO, in fact he and his wife raced it in '65 in the 9 hour Marathon, Poodle, me, and Cliff have all seen the pic's and printed story line recently.... memory tells me he did say there WAS a 16 OB in there somewhere, maybe a converted IO to OB, it did have something else for awhile until it got the 135 however..... i'll ask him this week to jog both our memories..

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

There was a gentleman who did a wood deck 16 resto that looked like he had dropped the bench seat height. I was never able to track that boat down but it looked like a real cool build. If I keep the fills where they are I can get 3" of drop, and still get some storage between the left and right fuel fills.

Greg , it would be real interesting to find out just how he did that deck . Greg ,just by chance do you know if the wood was screwed into the existing deck and bunged or................?

[Greg Guimond]

Ginger, I can't really answer that. Perhaps rustnrot will see this as I think he may know who did the 16 woodie project.

Buizilla, ask that question, would be pretty cool if he can remember the details around the 60's wacker

[axelkloehn]

I know someone here who did his deck with some special wood effect paint- looked stunning, no difference to real wood. Amazing effect! Will have a look if I can find the pics

[gcarter]

The 16 deck was done like most any wooden boat deck w/transverse frames on station lines attached to longitudinal strips inboard and outboard of the shear of the hull, I think.
Then the deck planking was attached to the transverse frames.
The builder is a friend of Tom's that lives here in Lake County. It looked good when done, but the purchaser let the finish go downhill a year later when I last saw it at Mt. Dora.
Any of Howard Chappelle's books on wooden boat building can show in great detail how to build a deck.
I think all of his books are available on the Wooden Boat magazine site.
http://www.woodenboatstore.com/Boatb...roducts/40/1/0

[gcarter]

I think that project was a near "giveaway" w/Tom's friend getting the hull and the deck going to someone else in GA??????

[Greg Guimond]

George,

When you say.........The builder is a friend of Tom's that lives here in Lake County........do you happen to have the contact information of the builder of that wood deck bench seat 16? I'd like to give him a quick ring. I am still curious if the height of the bench seat was actually lowered from stock.

[Greg Guimond]

Putting a little more thought into the upholstery. I guess the tank is the tank at this point. With that in mind, I am thinking that I can have a hinged seatbase for the bench seat. I can have that seatbase built with a 3" drop to help with the windscreens and having a 6'2" body in a microboat If I go with some type of hinged seat base I can also carve out a storage locker between the two fills. I have to scratch out my thoughts on paper but it might work.

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

George thanks , i wanted to get a general idea on how the wood was fasten to the deck because i have seen it done two different ways and in fact i have just replaced all the battens ,most of the frame , new cover boards ,and aft deck on a resorter that i have been working on .