23' center console Donzi fishing boat

[Conquistador_del_mar]

This afternoon, I bought a yellow 1988 23' CC Donzi with a T-top and Mercury 250HP EFI motor from a man about 3 hours from where I live in north Texas. I am so excited about this boat that I will be completely restoring to take the place of my 20' Stratos CC- not that it needs all that much. It should handle the relatively large Lake Texoma perfectly - I was surprised that the fuel tank is supposed to be 125 gallons!! The man I bought it from said it will do in excess of 50MPh - I hope he is right. Does anyone know what the weight might be? It sure seemed heavy behind my 1 ton dually, but maybe a lot of that might have been wind resistance. I will show some pictures when I get a chance. Bill

[BUIZILLA]

Jody Staples is the authority on these IMO, he has had his since new and his now has a 250 EFI and runs about 56-58 if I remember right, his parents owned the factory when his was built..

there ARE some issues with the floor on some of them, and other small things to look into, but if it's a dry hull, it's a great boat, the main drawback was the low transom to waterline distance, where water CAN and WILL come over the transom in heavy following or backdown sea's... some people have put splashboards back there to help with that.... Jody is not on this board, but is on the other board sometimes, if you need to find him... I have his cell number if you need it

also, MR X here had one with a Yamaha, and can maybe assist with questions as well

[gcarter]

+1 on the low freeboard @ the transom.
I remember the last time I saw Jody's boat w/the new motor, it seemed like there was 3"-4" of freeboard. I know this really isn't a problem if the water drainage is handled properly, but it looks strange. After all, there're a lot of racing sailboats w/no transom at all.

Congrats on the boat Bill, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Keep us informed

[Greg Guimond]

Wasn't that a 8 1/2" beam on that hull Bill? I seem to remember they are pretty easy to move around in. Congrats, must look good in yellow to boot

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Jody Staples is the authority on these IMO, he has had his since new and his now has a 250 EFI and runs about 56-58 if I remember right, his parents owned the factory when his was built..

there ARE some issues with the floor on some of them, and other small things to look into, but if it's a dry hull, it's a great boat, the main drawback was the low transom to waterline distance, where water CAN and WILL come over the transom in heavy following or backdown sea's... some people have put splashboards back there to help with that.... Jody is not on this board, but is on the other board sometimes, if you need to find him... I have his cell number if you need it

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Jim and George,
You guys really nailed it.
The transom height really grabbed my attention since I knew it looked like it would be low in the water. The boat I bought has an additional splashboard in front of the outboard at the back of the cockpit. I guess it might have been added to help with this very problem. The boat fired right up on the hose and seemed to run perfectly and it shifted fine, too. The lower foot on the outboard is almost new. The only negative I found was that the floor from the front of the console back was soft, but right now there are no cracks in it. The center section under the driving stand-up seat is rock solid. The transom is solid with no gelcoat cracks. The boat has great looking classic Donzi/Cigarette/Magnum lines from the side profile. I had to think twice about the soft floor issue, but there were so many positives and the price was so good that I bought it for his $7000 firm asking price sitting on a galvanized tandem Donzi trailer with new ST trailer tires. I had to stop and remove the T-top canvas and storage bag after driving for less than a mile and seeing some of the weathered zip ties were breaking loose. I realize that repairing the floor will be a huge project, but I could not turn this one down after seeing so many positives - . I am still curious as to the weight. Thanks for your replies, Bill

[biggiefl]

LOA w/pulpit 24'3", 22'6" w/o pulpit
Beam 9'4"
Draft 16"
Deadrise 13
Windshield to waterline 5' 2"
Fuel 115gal
Weight(boat only) 3900lbs
Max hp 300.

3900lbs plus engine and gas is over 5k...50 might be possible. 45 is easily obtainable with top and such.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Wasn't that a 8 1/2" beam on that hull Bill? I seem to remember they are pretty easy to move around in. Congrats, must look good in yellow to boot

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Greg,
I just measured what I think is the widest section of the boat which is about at the front of the console. It measured exactly 100" or 8' 4". Bill

[biggiefl]

The note the F-21 as 8'6"

[Jamesbon]

Congrats, awesome find! You're going to like it.

Do you have a baitwell? Mine doesn't. My buddies does, it's in the floor under the rear deck hatch. His leaks into the bilge
I bought one a couple years ago and did some heavy mods. to it. If you have any questions, post'em here and I'll share what I learned.

Mine was submerged the day I purchased. In fact, the bilge pump was on and she was coming up outta the drink as I pulled up. Torrential rainstorm combined with auto float switch failure.

Mine had a 100 gallon tank with 99 gallons of saltwater inside. I removed it and put a new 75 gallon tank aluminum one in it's place. With the old 200 Johnson she was 1 MPG. I put a 200 Optimax on this summer and tripled my range, so now the 75 g tank will get me roughly 225 miles at cruise.

I think the low freeboard looks scarrier than it actually is. With such a deep v down under, the ass end really doesn't sit very low. It scares me sometimes to look at it, but offshore, I've never had a doubt. I also closed in the transom and stuck a Stainless Marine bracket on there. I couldn't say enough good things about the bracket. We do allot of freediving and stuff, so it helps with that, plus it's great for scuba with all that heavy equipment.

Similar to your situation, I bought mine for next to nothing, however, after a new tank, SSM bracket and 200 Optibomb my investment has grown a little. BUT, and a big but, I absolutely love this thing. She's beat to hell and it's perfect for what we do. You can spill beer and stomp on the lettuce that fell off your sub and it just doesn't matter.

IMAG1214.jpgIMAG1251.jpgIMAG1139.jpgIMAG1269.jpg

[biggiefl]

1mpg? You would have to top out at 20mph to get that low at WFO. At 40mph at WFO it would burn 2, etc. I would assume with the old 200 it did about 2.5 at cruise, maybe better. The Opti should bring you up to about 3.5 but at slow speeds is where she shines. Old tecnology just spit out gas at trolling speeds where an Opti might get 10mpg there. My 225 Looper got about 3mpg at cruise(3900) at 31-33mph or so burning about 10-11gph. Even if your cruise was only 25mph the old would get you around 2.5. At WFO the old 200 and new both burn about 20GPH so that reamains constant.

You say it has a really deep V but the specs show 13 degrees at transom. What is your weight and beam? Is the 91 that much different than the 88's?

[Jamesbon]

Ya, 1 mpg overall average. 50 gallons got ya 50 miles. It was expensive boating at that rate. One cylinder was a little low on compression too.

Those specs. sound different than what an 88's are. It has a deep v, probably very close to a 22 Classic. Aren't they 24 deg.?

The 88 F23 is an 8' 6" beam and weighs 2700 lbs. (from NADA) Doesn't say if that weight includes the engine or not.

[blackboat]

Bill

Congrats on the new boat Looks sharp!I restored a 1971 wellcraft center console with a 1978 Mercury. I leave in the water all summer at a marina up the street.
I turned my girlfriend into a fishing addict!

Mike

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Jamesbon - interesting facts about your boat. I like the extra room you got by glassing in the transom and cutting out the splashwell. Although I like the idea of the Stainless Marine bracket, I will leave mine alone for now. Our boats look identical from the transom forward - what year is yours? Mine has 2 livewells - one in the rear floor behind the leaning post and one under the front seat of the console. The 2 compartments in the bow area have drains, but I will be using them for storage only. I was a little surprised that the livewells and compartments drain into the bilge instead of outside the boat. Actually, the livewell under the front seat drains into the cockpit. I am really looking forward to fixing mine up to be my fishing and exploring boat. I figure I can sell my Stratos for more than I paid for the Donzi - bonus! Thanks, Bill

[biggiefl]

20gph WOT(any 200hp) at 20MPH would yield 1mpg. Please advise on your situation. I can't see your boat only doing 20mph at wide open throttle but agan it did sink. Sorry but 1mpg is not possible on a single 200hp outboard unless a barge.

If anyone is looking for one in FL.... http://sarasota.craigslist.org/boa/2652945336.html

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Bill

Congrats on the new boat Looks sharp!I restored a 1971 wellcraft center console with a 1978 Mercury. I leave in the water all summer at a marina up the street.
I turned my girlfriend into a fishing addict!

Mike

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Thanks, Mike
I know what you mean. My wife now enjoys fishing and looking for arrowheads almost as much as myself. Here is one of my recent finds on youtube and the best bird point I have found so far (about 2 weeks ago). The fishing is having to take second fiddle for now - lol. Bill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orm9WTzFhAM