robscarab

Hi everyone,

Newb here, still hoping to join your ranks. Need some advice on my intended Donzi purchase and my go-fast experience is limited.

I have been surfing this site for awhile and you guys and gals are a real trip! I am really hoping this boat is a good buy so I can have an excuse to attend some of your gatherings ! I have found a Donzi 33ZX and it seems to be the best deal I can find, please suggest another boat if you know of a better deal on a 30 to 36 performance boat. I just lost my brother last month in a tragic accident and have decided to quit sitting on my ass and get out there and live my dream before I regret it ! Life is too short and its time my sons and I start enjoying it now!

OK so heres the deal; She is a 1995 Donzi 33 ZXi. It has 502efi power, B1's and comes with a 2 year old trailer. The boat has 250 hrs. on it and was a bank repo. I have not seen it in person yet but I am told it shows well other than some seams are parting on the engine hatch upholstery. It is a green color and has a lion graphic on the foredeck. It was purchased at an auction in Missouri by an independant used car dealer up here in Canada. I purchased a Wellcraft Excel from him 2 years ago and it was a solid deal with no BS. He described the flaws in that boat clearly and without ommisions. (the dealer is 1000 miles from me so I have to rely on his description and pictures) He apparantly had the engines and drives checked out before he bought it at auction. The price is 58,000.00 CAD with the trailer.

I am going to fly to the boat to look at it in person if you folks feel it is a good buy. I am at my western home in Edmonton Alberta now and the boat is in BC. My sons and I are moving to our Kingston area home full time so boating will now be a big part of our life. Incidentally part of my Kingston area property is advertised here in the Real Estate section, and I am looking for partners in developing a waterfront/marina based community. Check out the classified section if your interested! Also if anyone has a similar boat for sale please let me know,I will definately be buying my first performance boat before the end of this month and will pay cash immediately on the best deal offered. So far I believe it is this Donzi but I trust the judgement of the members here more than my own!

Anyway my boat questions are as follows:

Was the 1995 a good hull design and layup? I see that the hull changed to a stepped design a few years later.

Do these engines have a good track record when maintained properly and kept stock?

Are they a multiport efi or TB ? Do they have a roller cam?


What mods work well on these Motors and what should I do first in my quest for 80 ?

Is 250 hrs of run time well into the useful life of these motors or are they good for much longer?

Perhaps some of you HP Mercruiser owners can post your total run times on your efi Mercs before a rebuild was required. It may make an interesting thread to see whom has the highest hrs. on their Mid/High performance engines....


I am a single Dad of 3 young boys and we are not limited by a "voice of reason" when it comes to buying toys... Please let me know if this is a risky purchase because of any known design flaws from this era of Donzi. I can afford the 60,000 price of admission on this one, but my savings will take too much of a hit right now to spend another 60,000 on unforseen major repairs this summer. I would like to have a trouble free fast mover that I can slowly upgrade as money allows.

By the way I will be running in the Thousand Island region this summer and I live near Picton Ont. (Trumpours point) The kids and I love to travel during our summers and camp in whatever is hooked to our dually! Hopefully this boat will check out and we will be hitting some of the other Great Lakes to meet some of the OO Family on here...

Thanks Gang,

Rob

Craney

iTrader: (2)

Rob do yourself a favor and get a survey done before you go down to look at it. If everything checks out go for it .Good luck

RaggedEdge

Check with AquaMania in Alexandria Bay, New York. They did have a used 33ZX with the same graphics in stock a while ago, not sure on the year, or if it's still there. ABay is a whole lot closer to you, worth a phone call. Owners name is Rick Merola.

RonS

Go into this with the understanding that you will have to rebuild both motors, rebuild or put new drives on the boat along with all the other little things.


something is bound to happen after you get the boat, just be prepared for it.

95's would be a flat tappet cam and the VST fuel system, VST is a POS in my opinion, there are diapragms that get holes in them which then dumps raw fuel in the #7 or 8 cylinder. I'm speaking from expierience. Also had vapor lock issues with them.

58,000 does'nt seem bad on the surface but make sure you really dig into the motors yourself to find any problems, find out what 95 33 donzi's are actually going for and factor in the things I mentioned above. Not trying to be negative about it, but if your not careful you could be looking at 20,000 in repairs on the boat pretty easily.

Good Luck

Jassman

This Rich guy will prob take 10 cases of Red Bull for her, I bet he'll prob throw in the truck and while your at it ask for the matching painted golf cart.
http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.c...o16896-en.html

docmanrich37

12 cases remember I just spend alot of your $$ on the boat from the floating dock I built you.
Golf cart is gone already.Didn't last 3 days and sold.

Airpacker

Rob, welcome aboard. I would suggest you contact Peter at Double R Performance here in Ontario and see what he can do for you.

They are an OSO sponsor so just find the link from this site or

www.doublerperformance.com

cosmic12

10 case's !!!!now thats funny!!! The boat that was at Aqua Mania is gone I believe it sold for 60k U.S. is a very nice boat.

OldSchool

MAKE SURE THAT YOU GET A SURVEY!!!!


Also, how much is 60,000 can in American $$$?

WARPARTY36

I don't know much about the boat, but I think it was at the Tulsa boat show when new. It took FOREVER to sell, if it ever did. They may have finally auctioned it new??? Just keep that in mind on resale.