Last summer my wife and I decided to get back into family boating. We have an awesome little 13 Whaler, but it is obviously limited in capacity and capability for a lot of the things we want to do. I tried hard to talk Mama into a 22 Classic, but it just wasn’t very practical for toting around my 8 year-old daughter and her friends and we started looking at other options. While driving around after lunch one day my wife said that she saw a Donzi bowrider on the boat lot that we just passed. I thought she was mistaken, but did a U-turn anyway and headed back. Sure enough, it was a 21LXR that had been consigned to the local ski boat dealer in our small town in northern Alabama. We spent an hour or so checking out the boat, which was in amazing condition, and I made an appointment to come back for a sea trial. Ended up buying it and running it on the TN River last season and it has been a great fit for our family, and I love the fact that it’s a Donzi.

This winter I have been tackling a lot of major and minor issues that just seem to materialize even on well-maintained boats. Last night I started digging in under the hatch to get ready for the upcoming season (and the Gorge run in June!). If I hadn’t Conan’d the risers and broken two of the bolts I could probably have gotten another season or two out of the exhaust, but it is pretty crusty even though this is a low-hour fresh water boat. So I’m thinking my best option at this point is to cut my losses and throw some new manifolds and risers on there.

I’m leaning towards GLM aluminum replacements to lose some weight in the stern and because I don’t feel like inducing a hernia trying to line up new cast iron manifolds while contorted in the engine compartment. Does anyone have any feedback on these things? Dennis Moore has small block GLM complete kits for $650 on his site, which is the best price I have found. Any other vendors or alternatives out there before I drop the hammer?

So bottom line I’m whining a little about unplanned boat expenses and looking for some input on the exhaust. Thanks!

duckhunter