Donzi 16 Timeline - The Boats Built During 1964

[Morgan's Cloud]

Yes Matty , that's the one . Haven't seen those pictures before though. I guess @ number 136 it sure isn't in the first 15 lineup but if you look at the sheer numbers of 16 produced it's still kind of special to have one of the first 150 .
Is it expected that at number 136 and July 1965 that it should have an Eaton unit ?

[mattyboy]

If dating a Ski Sporter by the 1964 casting date stamped into the motor it has installed is no longer valid, how about dating the boat by the serial number stamping on the Eaton drive?

Greg
really not sure it can give a general timeframe but it looks like finding 64 stuff on a 65 is very common.

[mattyboy]

Yes Matty , that's the one . Haven't seen those pictures before though. I guess @ number 136 it sure isn't in the first 15 lineup but if you look at the sheer numbers of 16 produced it's still kind of special to have one of the first 150 .
Is it expected that at number 136 and July 1965 that it should have an Eaton unit ?

Steve
as we dig into to this I have uncovered little tid bits that make sense now as to why they did things. at this point in donzi history july of 65 any V8 I/O would be an eaton mated to a 260 . The aq 200 is only mated to swedish blocks and in the US only 4 bangers in sweden they have a 180 hp version V8 based on their volvo truck engine . Eaton signs on to be a distributor for volvo late in 64 . Ford has changed the block and the rear end on the windsor for the 289 exactly in the same timeframe it drops the 260 so I would guess that eaton is developing a flex plate to mate the aq200 to a ford windsor. so in late 65 and early 66 you see the eaton badged volvo aq200. I am sure now eaton is not going to rework the powernaut to work on the newer 289 windsor seeing the aq200 is a far superior drive.

[mattyboy]

1965 16 no rail new tuck and roll interior in all white to match the deck stripe driven by Dr. Oskar Trost on Lake Constance Germany

note hull 136 also has the traditional bilt rite style tuck and roll with rounded edges

hey how did he keep the hat on that is a real trick in a 16

[Greg Guimond]

.
Word of the new 1964 Donzi 16 Ski Sporter's spread around the globe in a pre-tweet age. Here, folks in Australia provide some ink about the 16's shown at the January 15th New York Boat Show and call out 55mph.

[Greg Guimond]

..... Eaton signs on to be a distributor for volvo late in 64 .....

Actually Matty, Eaton of Michigan signed on to be a Volvo marine distributor a year earlier, in December of 1963.

[Greg Guimond]

Question for you Matty. How does the wonder white with Red deck stripe only 16 that was tested in the July 21, 1965 issue of Teknikens Varld fit then into the 1964 build timeline?

I don't think it does. I think it is a '65

Greg, TOMRON's boat is short straked and the deck stripe doesn't go thru the dash and has a volvo dash plate . it needs to be on it's way to sweden by december of 64 or it won't leave this country til some time in Feb of 65 the articles I have seen on the strike say the ports were hosed with backlog in some cases for several months. His boat is reviewed in teknikens in july of 65 and also ran in the 65 Gettingloppet which is also sometime in July this boat may be the prototype of the new bottom. My point with the strakes is the first one(s) had long ones like the press photo boat same with the deck stripe these are signs of being first.

I'm looking more closely at this particular hull with the shortened inner lifting strakes to place it firmly in the #4 slot. The Longshoreman's Eastern Seaboard strike began on October 1, 1964 and would get progressively worse in very short order. So TOMRON's first (Thomas Ronnberg) boat pictured below would need to be built in October, 1964 including the single through hull exhaust, then shipped from Miami to Sweden in November, 1964, and then stay in Sweden for 7 months unchanged until it was tested and photographed in Teknikens Varld magazine's July 1965 issue and also raced in the Gettlingloppet in July, 1965.

[mattyboy]

Yeah agreed that is the first 16 short strakes hull 4 the test bed boat thru hull so exhaust will not interfere with hydrodynamics

So what happened stateside did they keep building long strakes boats or did they wait for results would they wait until oct to pop this boat from the mold when drawings are completed in June ? Could 4 be 1 and 1 be 2 and so on
No one will know until a tape is taken to a boat in the timeline

[mattyboy]

Can someone with a short straked skisporter take a tape to the inner strake then take that measurement to the gunwale and then to the grab rail and then the cockpit

I think it falls just fwd of the first rail support

Thanks that might help ID long and short boats

[Greg Guimond]

Yeah agreed that is the first 16 short strakes hull 4 the test bed boat thru hull so exhaust will not interfere with hydrodynamics

Ok, so 1964 Ski Sporter #4 on my build timeline is confirmed and still in existence I believe today in Sweden. What model drive is on #4 pictured below?

1964 Builds
Hull 1. White with Red deck stripe and red water line stripe - Jim Wynne pictured driving - Mike Aronow took a test drive with Don. Drive assumed to be a Volvo Prototype - No Deck Grab Rail
Hull 2. White with Green deck stripe - Alan Brown pictured driving - Eaton drive - No Deck Grab Rail
Hull 3. Jacksonville Boat Show boat 11/13/1964 - White with Blue deck stripe and blue waterline stripe. Shown in press photograph behind El Camino. First Volvo AQ200 Production drive - No Deck Grab Rail
Hull 4. Teknikens Varld Magazine boat - White with Red deck stripe. New design "shortened" inner lifting strakes and single thru hull exhaust shown in photo - No Deck Grab Rail
Hull 5. Bob Cox and Ed Joyce Lauderdale Marine boat. Have not found photos yet but Cox was initially a Formula and then a Donzi dealer. Deck Grab Rail unknown
Hull 6. Frank Civitano's Dad's solid green boat. Frank claims purchase took place in 1964. Motor and drive as yet unknown. Deck Grab Rail Unknown
Hull 7. Fred Darwick race boat - White with Green deck stripe and green water line stripe. Special Hot Volvo performance version and special race 100 lower unit. Invoice dated 12/10/1964. No Deck Grab Rail
Hull 8. David D. Ray boat - White with Blue stripe. Volvo powered
Hull 9. Sam Ballinger boat - Motor block casting date shows June, 29 1964 - Eaton drive, exact date not yet known. Yes it has a Deck Grab Rail, could be the first rail
Hull 10. January 15, 1965 New York Boat Show - could have then continued North to the Shepherd boys?
Hull 11. Second New York Boat Show Ski Sporter

*** Muncey 16??

[Morgan's Cloud]

You know , sometimes I wonder if Don and the crew ever thought that the 16 was going to become the success / icon that it has.
At the time of its introduction the general public who had a bit of disposable income and were going to use it to buy a boat were of the mind that a boat had to do many things . Maybe not all of them really well , but at least a few of them .
I bet it wasn't just the red necks at the shows who looked at them and said ' What de h*ll is that thing ?'

Back then , who was going to drop a load of money (for that time period) into a boat that all it could do was go reasonably fast (for that time period) and make you feel good ?

What a success story . And still as gorgeous now as it was then !

[Greg Guimond]

Factoid the aq200 is put into production in 1963 and is used in the Volvo Penta AQ180 a gas powered V8 180 hp based on the Volvo B36( 3.56L 218 CI) motor this is an overseas offering only it was only available in 1963.

Mostly correct Matty..............

The Volvo B36 V8 in 180hp Euro version was offered in 1963 and 1964. In marine garb it had an AQ200 drive behind it. Is this why you think that Hull #1 actually had a prototype 200 drive? Just to be more clear, if Jim, Walt and Don were able to source a "Euro Spec" 200 drive, would that not really be a production drive even though it was only available in Europe? Or, do you think that Volvo sent Jim W a slightly different 200 for the US market? Thus your terminology of prototype for hull #1

[Greg Guimond]

You know, sometimes I wonder if Don and the crew ever thought that the 16 was going to become the success / icon that it has. What a success story. And still as gorgeous now as it was then !

So true MC. Now that they are being produced again, doesn't that make the 16 the longest running design in boating at 51 years?

The thing that I wonder about is why there is so little information out there about Dave Stirrat. Almost nothing as I have done my research. Strange.

[Ghost]

I'm going to say it's impressive, but not the champ. Off the top of my head, the 13 foot Whaler almost has to be older, and in continuous production.

[Morgan's Cloud]

Actually , the 13' Whaler was the first thing that came to mind too , but I don't think they've been made for a good while now.