Cigarette 20 Project
 

Hi All,

2 years ago I found myself buying a Cig 20 from Cape Coral that my cousin found on craigslist. From the beginning, we planned on doing a resto mod, and I wanted to share the progress so far with everyone on the board. I have to thank my cousin, RockyS18, and my uncle, RedMatter, for all the amazing help that they've given as this was a project that the 3 of us worked on together. There is a thread on the donzi forum that has more info, but I'll try to do my best to port things over to OSO to share with all. Feel free to take a look here:

http://www.donzi.net/forums/showthre...tte-20-Project


The boat in question is a 1979 Cig 20 that I bought sight unseen. Again, my cousin found the boat on craigslist, and knowing that I have always had a weak spot for the 20, he really pushed to make this thing happen. Next thing I know I've joined the Cigarette Racing Team, had the boat shipped, and BOOM! I get a phone call from the shipping company letting me know that its been impounded in New Jersey because the driver made an illegal U turn! That said, after an absolutely AWFUL experience with the shipping company, the boat finally arrived (a week late) in Lake George, NY. She had a few quirks and small issues, but for the most part it turned out to be an absolutely solid boat. I spent the summer of 2012 blasting around the lake with RedMatter and RockS18, and had an absolutely great time. The boat came with a 454 and TRS, both of which held up very, very well, and managed 56MPH on GPS.

RockyS18 and I kept our boats in the water as long as we could, only taking them out in mid October. After a short break, the real work began! I'll start with more info in my next post, but first....pics!!!

-Derek


Before:

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As I mentioned earlier, the boat was purchased with the intent of doing a resto mod. Despite the intent for the update, the "Cigalightening," as we affectionately began to call it, was actually in very good running shape, I put no less than 30 hours on her during the week of 4th of July, and made the trip from DC to Lake George every weekend for the rest of the summer!

The 454/TRS had both been recently rebuilt and both ran very well. The Transom and Stringers appeared to be (and would later be confirmed to be) solid. A new interior had been installed about a year before I purchased it, and happened to be red! This was great for me - I love the red interior and planned on keeping it. Even though it was in good running shape, it had been a salt water boat previously, and the corrosion showed on much of the metal parts, so pretty much everything would have to be replaced.

Plans for the Resto:
- New Paint Job
- 496HO/Bravo 1X
- 280S K-Planes
- Hydraulic Steering (absolutely necessary)
- New Fuel Tank
- Intakes on the power dome removed (bamboo sleeves in the circular vents). A new grill will be made, still trying to figure out what to do. I'd like to design something unique and have it made from stainless.
- Move driver seat to the right side of the boat
- New Controls. Getting rid of the foot throttle
- New Dash, Gauges, and GPS
- New Audio system and Lighting
- Teak removed and replaced

Those were really the big things, but obviously we had a myriad of other things to do! As soon as we got the boat, RockyS18 immediately got to work designing a new paint scheme in photo shop. I can't thank him enough, many many times I would call him up in the middle of the night with an idea and ask him to put something together, and he'd make it happen. We went through probably 10-15 designs over the course of a couple months, and while we had several ideas that we really liked, I really struggled picking something that would be perfect. Then finally, it hit me an I felt like a complete idiot for not thinking of it before! The first 50 Marauder SS has probably my favorite paint scheme on any modern cig. I asked Rocky to make the design work on a 20 foot boat instead, albiet much more simply. When I saw his rendering, I knew that was the design. This is what he came up with:

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Thought I'd post a few more pics prior to the tear down.

Cape Coral:
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Arrival to Lake George:
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Blasting around the Real LG:
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Home for the summer:
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Home for the winter, and the site of the project at an undisclosed location!
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Want to sell it as is.
Dave

Haha, not in a million years! This thing has become much more than just a boat

I had one with the same setup you currently have. I miss it. Sorry I got rid of it. I could save you a lot of money and you could get a bigger boat. Can bring greeenbacks.

I completely empathize! I couldn't imagine letting this thing go, and at this point the money's been spent! Side note, I see you previously had a mystique...absolutely love that boat and would love to have one one day!

Tear Down Begins!
 

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The mystiques are nice for the size and all have the newer type styling or I should say the early 2000s styling. I really liked it and for the price of them I think they are hard to beat. I sold my unexpectedly because the deal was good. That's the only reason I sold it. I believe you do have to know how to run them to keep them flat but its not that bad. At least the one I had. I would buy another again but not sure what road I want to take, but I know I am very interested in your boat as is. I would want it the way it is. I would not change steering to other side and I like the foot throttle. Steering is a must as I had it on mine. 72 mph was the best for mine in the late 90s when I had mine. Just my likeings. Great luck and a successful project.
Dave

Awe man no not yet. just kidding

Good luck

Also Put a 500 efi in there.

Pulling out the 454
 

Cool photo Rocky took looking through one of the bamboo dowels that came off the engine hatch
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Lifting the motor up and out!
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And safely put aside
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pm me your email and ill send you a few pics of my old one. It was actullay stolen last year from the guy I sold it to. I tried to get it back

Ultimately we ended up going with a 496. A donor from RockyS18's Donzi 22 Classic 009.

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Sent them . Check it out. Feel free to post or send them to anyone as someone may have seen it. It was stolen from philly july 4 2012 roughly. I would take it back in any shape.

I am happy to do so!

With the motor finally out, I got to work cleaning out the bilge. It was a mess of wires, spare hardware, and a few bucks in change back there. While I started off trying to keep things intact in the event we may need them in the future, it got to a point where I just had to rip things out. Also noticed a few interesting things, I don't believe the motor was original to the boat. For starters, it had 2 storage units on either side of the motor, while the other bbc 20's I've seen pics of generally had only 1. As a result of this, a previous owner cut the back of the seat out to get the motor in and out. The motor also had a Holley carb installed at some point in its history, and had a very serious aluminum mount. I found more traces of the previous motor in the form of accessories that were just left in the bilge. One such item was an old fuel filter, with the hoses still attached but leading to nowhere. After removing the transmission, had a very fun time trying to remove the old exhaust and TRS transom assembly. Neither wanted to be removed, but with a little elbow grease and creativity in the form of a unique hammer, I emerged victorious.

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Looks nice when its all cleaned up, doesn't it?
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Awesome boat, I'm currently looking for a 20cig for the next project. Keep us updated.

Thank you! And that's great to hear, it has been a fantastic project and I'll certainly be happy to see what you end up doing when you make it happen. Although, just a few months ago, I believe there were as many as 5 20's available at the same time.

very cool project. good luck with it.

Cool stuff! Subscribed!!

Wow, ktron, thank you! Truly happy to have you following. Your cig 20 is probably favorite of all (except for mine of course) and was a huge inspiration for this project.

I have more pics that I'll continue posting tomorrow!

While I worked on the back end of the boat, my cousin RockyS18 diligently dismantled the front end:

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Awesome Project keep up the Great work and Thanks for posting all pictures your motivating me to get my 20 dusted off

OMG... I called to buy that boat, previous owner told me it sold... how funny it came to Lake George!! Thought I saw it on the lake last year... looking good!!!

Wow, small world!!! You may have seen it on the lake 2 years ago, last summer I wasn't in the lake at all.

After completing the work stripping the dash, the real fun work started. Pulling out the toe piece, and having a look at all the beautiful foam under the deck! I had a really great time pulling all of it out, and if memory serves, filled up 14 huge trash bags with all of the foam.

First we needed a hammer to bang a few things out
http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/...s166657ab.jpeg

toe piece removed and out of the boat
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foam!
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more foam!
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if only this stuff was worth something....
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I see your dash panel came off just like mine... Splinters!

It was fastened with 22 recessed and plugged screws and fully glued to the fiberglass.

Was it 2 years ago already? wow how time flies, I do remember seeing it though... she's lookin good!!!

I have special memories with the 20 Cigarette. My father had 2 of them at one time. Bought one (78) brand new then bought another the very next year. Just found this old pic, thought you would appreciate it. Brand new back in 78

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Hmmm... Looks like Wild's old one. Last I heard it was on Grand Lake, OK.

Nice project man! Happen to be a Mustang stashed in that warehouse LOL?

Tell Rocky and his dad Poodle says hi. Look forward to seeing the rest of the build!

Yep! Sure did! Definitely made a mess, and while we started off trying to be gentle, we eventually had to use some force!

Yeah, the boat was delivered in june of 2012. Happy to hear I've been spotted! Hopefully you've seen a certain cig 20 blasting around the lake this summer also!

Thank you! No mustang in this particular warehouse tho...

I'll let them know!

With all the foam gone we were able to get up into the bow and clean things up in there and remove the remaining hardware. At this point, we were pretty much finished with stripping the boat, and not a moment too soon!

Suffered a little set back snowboarding with Rocky, when I unknowingly broke my left collar bone on the first run of the day. Kept going for the rest of the day tho!

http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/...s848b453c.jpeg


Back on topic...with the hull stripped and cleaned out as best we could, it was time to take the cig out into the wild, and drive her a few miles down the road to Performance Marine. They'd finish up the work we started by removing the gas tank - which was seriously foamed in - and by rebuilding the transom.

Backing the cig out into the wild!
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First time in the snow:
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We're the most serious group of guys you'll ever meet. No jokes whatsoever, and nothing funny or ridiculous ever happens
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And I guess this is what it feels like to drop your child off at school for the first time:
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nice work!

I love the thread jtr!

You haven't lived until you tow a 22 Donzi Criterion in a blizzard in Joisey.. :) :)

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After we got the boat to Performance Marine, they pulled the gas tank and rebuilt the transom. It was then sent of for paint. Unfortunately, at this point we determined the extent of the osmosis on the bottom of the hull. It had to be stripped by hand and resealed. After that, the rest of the boat was primed and prepped for paint.

Aerocig or cigaplane?
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And paint!!!!

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