From Baja to Donzi ZX Advice
 

Looking for some advice and this seems to be the best place to get it. I curently own a Baja H2X 1998 7.4 MPI . Looking for something that can do alittle more and handle some more ocean. I am currently looking @ a 1999 26 ZX 190 hrs. was told that it need some TLC but motor MC 502 is solid. Could anyone tell me what type of upgrade this would be from the H2X and is there anything I should be aware of when buying a donzi Thanks in advance for any help.

my neighbor has a 26zx, great riding boat, the diff between the zx and the H2x is huge, better ride and handling by far, from the ones he looked at seems the bottom around the step likes to get stess cracks, maybe from bad storage on bunks, but other than that great boat, trimming the boat will be a bit diff from the Baja, but she rides flat on smooth and rough water.
hope this helps.

Huge difference. Much deeper cockpit, stand up drop down bolster seats. 24 degree hull and some more length. go for it.

I made the same jump last year, I went from a 22' Chaparral to a 99 26zx. We've really enjoyed the boat, it does seem to like a slight chop, & actually the boat will get faster then. A better example for ya, we were boating over in Pensacola, & crossing the bay in a good 3' chop, we were running 60 & the boat handled perfect. The wife is not real happy running that fast, but she defiently notices the ride is way different. One thing though, when you get it trimmed out & on the back step, you can definetly feel it get "slippery", & you definetly don't want to lay it hard into a turn, that may make you have to change your shorts. By the way, what is his asking price? I am seriously thinking of going bigger, I'm looking at a couple of 33zx deals. Mine will go at a good price, let me know if ya might be intrested. Good Luck...It's a great boat, you'll enjoy it...

No more advice needed - you already made the right choice from a Baja to a Donzi !

Thanks for all the feedback hope the deal goes through. Ill keep everyone posted!

Donzi all the way.. It will crush the waves.. The boat is going to be a night & day difference from what you are used to.. The only thing you may hunger for is more speed.. We can handle that for you if you want...

Welcome to the team.. :D

Feel free to give me a call if you want to know more.. I do a lot of stuff to Donzi's & have owned a bunch myself including my currrent new one which we are putting a blower in.. :)

Jamie / Lakeside 570-639-2628


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Have you seen this one? It belongs to a neighbor of mine, and it is priced VERY attractively.
http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.c...o17102-en.html

Thats a great deal for that boat I need to Trade or sell my boat first if this deal doesnt go throught lll DEFFINATLY be in touch thanks for the heads up

When I list my ZX, I'll have it priced below that....I've got my eye on a couple of deals right now, let me know if you might be intrested.

You guys are jokes already made the right choice donzi vs baja and donzi all the way:Whatever: . I am not going to bad mouth Donzi in any way but in all fairness you need to compare the 2 boats. And i can Name 1000s of Happy 25 ft Outlaw owners. Might be considered the best sports boat ever made for the money.Baja are very reliable have a huge amount of owners you truly support one another. I know this from owning them. Now for the Donzi i have been in quite a few and the very nice boats and a litttle faster than the Baja with the same power but for 20k diff i can sure make up that speed and more and i can stand in the cabin.:cool-smiley-027: That would be the 26 outlaw and 26 Donzi price diff with same options.

Seven posts and a member for 9 months, owner of a bow-rider Baja lake boat making comments, but not wanting to bad-mouth ("you guys are jokes") on an offshore boat forum about true offshore boats like a Donzi?...........Hmmmmm.....
You can name 'thousands' of happy 25 Outlaw owners? Must be a lot of them out there in Waterloo, Iowa.
As far as Baja owners supporting one another, that's true. So do Cigarette, Donzi, Active Thunder, Fountain, and Skater owners..... and the list goes on.
Taking the step to a Donzi from a Baja is a good one. It's a better built boat, and worth the extra money at purchase (and resale) time. There are those that will throw the extra 20 grand at a Baja to get it up to speed. It's money you will be unlikely to get back.
Bajas are a decent mass-produced, dealer-networked boat for the target market that the enormous conglomerate that owns them (Brunswick) set their sights on. It works for their Bayliner, Lowe, Lund, Crestliner, SeaRay, and Maxum sales too. Nothing wrong with that- just good business sense on their part!
Sorry, but I can't name ANY Donzi, Cig, Formula, AT, Pantera, Fountain, Hustler, etc.... owners that have taken the 'plunge' to "move up" to a Baja- and I've been around offshores for quite a long time now. Maybe 'stevez' and others, know something I don't...wouldn't be the first time, or the last.
My last boat was an Active Thunder (I'd own another in a heartbeat), and Donzi certainly wouldn't be off the list. I'm sorry if it offends others, and certainly it will, but a Baja is not on the short (or long) list.
Bottom line- I think anyone making a jump from a Baja H2x to a Donzi 26ZX is going to be one happy fella- it's a different animal in so many ways.:D

IMO.. I will not name any boat names I will try to keep "politically correct".. Almost all performance boats are built well these days..
One could look at it this way some perf boats are like built like:

1. A Corvete (nice flashy & built well for the job and nothing to really bash).

2. Some are built like a hot rod (cool & very powerful & some attention to detail, but still lack some things that some cars have).

3. Others are built like a Porsche or Ferrari (cool, very well built & can eat up anything the track may throw at it with ease in comparison to the other cars in that race, with rare exception.)

All of these cars are cool, but they are all made differently & they all will provide some different results along with different costs..

Hopefully that came off like intended & explained without offending anyone.. :) Jamie / Lakeside

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Very PC indeed 33. I thought the AMC Pacer was cool too, but I wouldn't own one.........I've driven everything from the H2X to the 29 outlaw, owned a 28zx for three years, they are not in the same league. Donzi makes a much better boat, you get what you pay for

Jamie,
Very well put. Guess that's why I race a Porsche when I'm not on the lake in my Donzi ;)
They are both rock solid, take the abuse I throw at them & come back for more!

okay, I'll call you and raise it a bar...

name 10 right here and now, then i'll be nice and give you a day to name 100, and then i'll be really nice and give you 2 days to name the rest of the 1000's... I call BS.

JH

Visit TBM ... you just might be surprised :rolleyes:

Regarding "you get what you pay for" ..... the same goes for advice :p

HEY BUIZILLA are u kidding me
 

GO on over to TBM and read anything on the baja 25 outlaw and you will nothing but good reviews or do a simple search for Baja 25 outlaw reviews. Nowi know that might be above yor education level to read but i am sure you can find someone to do that for you. Heys a llittle truth to you guys about your so called better boats.:Yep, all the BS on other sites about the inferiority of Baja boats gets under my skin also. I just love it when someone gleefully says that their 32 Dom will outrun a 33 Outlaw, or a 29 Fountain will outrun a 30 Outlaw, ad infinitum. That stuff just gives me a chance to throw some real-world comparison in their pompous faces.
Fact is, I really believe that the reason many of the naysayers bad-mouth Baja is because we Baja owners spent WAY less $$ for the curb appeal, good performance and handling, parts availability, etc. than they did for their "superior" brand boats.
If they don't bad-mouth Baja, they look pretty foolish for throwing that extra money out the door.
Funny, it seems like almost every older Cig has had at least the transom replaced if not some stringers also. But I don't hear one single bad word about Cig Mistress or Cafe Racers.
As for me, I get just as many compliments on my Baja as they do their "superior" brand, or so I would assume.
Let's be truthful. Compare wetted surface (length of hull) weight, horsepower, steps or no, and Baja comes out pretty good compared to the other guys.
I have considered going to a Hustler or the likes a couple of times, but I always find it makes more sense to stay with Baja.
Funny story--Last Saturday after the LC poker run, I was running back to the marina at around 65-70, and a Scarab 31 was gong the opposit way, saw me, and started an immediate turn towards me. I slowed down to about 40 so he could catch me, and when he caught up, we ran virtually neck and neck at around 70-72. The look on his face was priceless. In fact, if I hadn't just topped off the tank(185 gal.), I would have blown him away!!!!!!!!
I'm thinking now that I will keep the 33, (everybody knows that they are inferior in every way anyhow), up the power to around 600 each side, and really blow almost everyone away!!

Heres one you go read the rest .
 

was drawn to performance boating because of Baja. I have always loved the looks and styling of them.

When I got serious about buying a performance boat I also looked at donzi, formula, fountain and simply did not like them. On the second time around I considered them all again but guess what??? I still don't like them!!! And it has nothing to do with price. (If it did, I probably would have bought a Formula at 0% my payment would have been a lot less).

I am happy with my second Baja and would definitely buy a third someday if I could. I am proud to say that I own a Baja whether I am talking to someone that doesn't know boats or someone that owns a Nortech. My dream boat would be an Outerlimits but if I had that kind of money, I would probably want a Baja too!!!

Heres another
 

He started with a 25 Outlaw, had it for a couple of years.. then the 29 Fountain. He said that the 25 OL was twice the boat for ride quality compared to the 29 Fountain, sold it and bought the bigger one.
I think he just wanted to stick with Fountain because it WAS a Fountain if you know what I mean.
This year, he has sold the Fountain and bought a cat of some kind. He told me the name but I can't remember off hand at the moment.
__________________

Heres another off your own oss site
 

Actually the Baja is lighter, 4750 lbs. vs. 5150 lbs. for the Fountain.
Fountain website lists the 27 with the 496 HO at 68+ mph. If thats the case I can't imagine the Outlaw being any slower than that. I have a friend with a 25 Outlaw that we take out off the coast at Southport and beat the living sh@t out of it and it hasn't had a single problem.
I personally will take the more attractive and cost effective Outlaw.

Now i can go on for days with these.
 

But my guess would be you know how to use a search button.

Sorry heres another to good not to post
 

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After reading through the various Baja vs. (insert brand) threads on OSO and other sites, I have decided to sell my Baja. Before you jump to conclusions, please read why below.



1) They ride terrible; I was always under the assumption that a good ride meant comfort and stability in rough water, I did not realize it meant getting bounced around and on the edge of loosing it.

2) The build quality is terrible, once again I always thought my boat was of very good quality since I have never had any problems out of any of the Baja boats I have owned (engine is another story) but now that everyone has told me that the only way to get a quality product is to buy a more expensive product I have decided to sell both my Baja and Tag Heuer watch and replace them with a Rolex and an Outerlimits. We all know those two brands have never had any problems since they cost a small fortune. All I need to do is put my plan in motion to rig the lottery so I can spend more money.

3) My boat is too slow; I always thought that when compared to similar sized, weight and powered boats, that Baja was on the same playing field. Now I realize that the only fast boats are those that weigh less than Nicole Richie and have step bottoms. Well, now I guess that those are slow too, better get me a Cat.

4) My boat has terrible resale value; this one was hard to swallow. Since I almost made money on my 20 and did fine on my 245 I figured that buying a third Baja would be a better choice than some since they had such a large following. Forget the fact they cost 20-30% less than other brands the same size. Also forget the fact the 25 Outlaw is one of the most popular single engine go fast boats out there. Now it seems that there are actually boats out there that appreciate instead of depreciate, I will go buy one of those.

5) The only boats in poor condition are used Bajas. It is amazing; I have learned on OSO that other brands look great regardless of how they are maintained. Plus, this one guy has a cousin who saw his boss’s, sister’s neighbor’s uncles Baja and it was in really bad shape.

6) Finally, I was told that 25 Outlaws are Tacos. Now, this was news to me since I have yet to find any corn or flower in my boat but I have noticed the Mexicans down the road always stare at it so it must be true. Surely I can find a hamburger to own instead. I am still trying to find out in what way my 25 is a Taco. I guess since just about everyone likes Tacos, that may be a good thing?



Hopefully you got a good giggle out of this. It just shows how stupid comparison threads can be and how useless they really are when shopping for a boat. The only thing they prove is that opinions are like azzholes, everyone has one and some are worse than others.
__________________

Education levels?:rolleyes: I'm guessing Nowi = Now I, yor = your, Heys = here's, llittle = little

This Baja owner really has his feathers ruffled. :D

Pompous faces, bad mouthing Baja owners because they spent WAY less money, looking foolish for having 'thrown' money away............almost every older Cig has had its transom and stringers replaced...............:rolleyes:

When I started reading these posts I put my boots on. I've now graduated to hip waders and soon will be looking for something that floats.:D

We're still waiting for that list of your thousand happy 25 Outlaw owners you know.......:rolleyes:

Here are a for for you since you dont know how to search forums
 

Posts: n/a 25OL is a great boat, one of the most popular and many TBM MEMBERS have 'em. I just sold my 25 and if it wasnt for the new 30, I would have spent quite some time doing research on several boats and many different brands, there are so many factors in making a decision. I finally decided on the 25 Outlaw. It was the best boat (in that price range)for dozens of reasons. I've taken it out about three times so far and each time I like it more. It handles really well. The last time I was out, I was looking for rough water and would have gone in the ocean but that particular day there was so much haze I could not see the actual conditions. (Safety first!) But I did drive around the inlet which I'm sure you know can get rougher than the outside, and it handled great.

More
 

Oh, one more thing, if you read/ research all the reviews and comments of 25 Outlaw owners on this site or any other, they are usually happy with their Outlaw. Most of the time when they do sell, it's only to go bigger and better. ($$$$$ Ie. at least an extra 5 feet and another engine!)

Another
 

I just upgraded from a 232 Islander w/496mag. to a 25Ol with Mag H.O. and absolutely love it. Works well at LOTO and is the king of the small lakes.

And another
 

True, the 25 Outlaw is a lot of boat for the money. :) Nice ride in the rough stuff and lots of room in the cuddy, cockpit and engine room.

hmmmmmmmmmm
 

Well...I think the time has finally come. After the long weekend, I think it is time to take the plunge and upgrade to a bigger boat. I currently own a 20 Outlaw and absolutely love the boat, but this summer most of my water excursions have been down the Jersey shore and I have taken a little bit of a beating.

In any event, I was debating between the 26 Outlaw and the Donzi 27ZR. After some research, I think I am going to pass on the Donzi as I can't justify spending an additional $20k over the 26. Yes the Donzi is nice, but I just can't get away from the Baja. I posted this on offshoreonly.com as I thought this forum would be a little biased. After thinking long and hard about this, I am actually debating on buying a used 25 rather then a new 26. My question is, how different are these boats and is it worth the extra money to buy the 26 or should I stick with a 25 and go the Raylar route. Spend the extra money and put some HP under the hatch. Has anyone upgraded from a 25 to a 26 (I know it is a long shot)

another
 

I was where you ar a couple of months ago, I upgraded from a 202 Islander to a 25 outlaw.
It was a great move, the ride is so much better, my kids and wife love the 25 so much more and its great to have all the added room.
I, am absolutey thrilled with the 25, love the way it looks on the back of my truck, the ride,the way the496 HO roars,the drop down seats, electric hatch.....
In short, I dodn't regret the upgrade and I did go with a used boat w/145

ohhhhhhh
 

Posts: 361
Join Date: Dec 2005
State: Germany
Year: 2003 Baja
Model: 25 Outlaw SST Re: Looking to Upgrade 25 or 26 Outlaw????

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It was interesting to see how the Baja got mobbéd by the Donzi gang! There is no way to be unbiased when you already have bought your way into a boat.
However, as I said on OSO, although the 27ZR is a good looking boat, it doesn´t match the robust practicality of the 25/26.

What I have really appreciated about the 25 over the last two years is that the depth of the cockpit really gives the feeling like you are on something bigger. And again, when the going gets rough, or you find one of those deep holes amoungst the chop, you appreciate every inch of freebord that the Baja hull offers.

The handling of a Baja hull is faultless and foolproof, and I don´t think you can say that about all stepped offshore hulls under 35 foot. The Sunsation section is littered with stories of boats that bit back.

25 or 26? Well I´m biased and have a fast and capable 25 that I´ve done my way, and I love it to bits.
Let me however note a couple of features that I like about the newer 26. The integated liners, tidying up the engineroom and making the cabin easy to keep clean and pristine are a big step. The generous size of the cockpit, with more space behind the bolsters is good. The steps either side of the rear bench are great. It does look much more modern, both inside and out.

You will have alot of fun with a 496 power boat, whichever you choose, but I can garantee you that if you have enough money left over to upgrade to more power, you will enjoy every mile that you add to your Outlaw`s
performance envelope, because it really is a driver`s boat

A few from this site
 

It's a tough call...everyone will tell u Donzi,I agree except for the fact that any Baja for sale is gone in a week...they have a great resale value...I know this,I've had two...like I said,tough call...there's my .02 If driven right the 25 Outlaw can handle some pretty rough water for a 25' boat. I have one on Lake Michigan and I love it. There is really NO comparison between the 25 Outlaw and your 22 Scarab.
I think you will be surprised how well the 25 Outlaw runs the big stuff.
Lake Michigan is an extremly rough body of water and my 25 does great on it. You obviously have to watch the weather beacause a 25 Outlaw is not a 42' boat!
It is a super deep boat with a lot of freeboard for a 25 footer and feels very safe in the rough stuff.
Also it lands really SOFT on re-entry because of the 24 degree bottom and the HEFTY 4800 lb weight.

another
 

I've got an 05 25' O/L and love it. The water here where I boat is pretty rough sometimes, but with the current prop, it handles it really well. Much better than the 24' H2X I had. There are several Baja's in my area, and everyone, including me, is extremely pleased with our boats. You won't be sorry if you get one.

I´m an englishman living in Stuttgart, Germany and would like to introduce myself and my Baja.
After having spent a dozen years of what I thought was adventurous boating I bought a 2003 25 Outlaw. Life hasn´t been the same since! Hey, this is pure addiction. I´ve spent a couple of evenings reading through various threads, and can see that this virus isn´t new and its definitely an epidemic. Wild Card got its name and the F1 number after I discovered the story about the factory entry in Powerboat mag.
The boat came over from Ilinois in early 2004 with only 5 hours on it, although the first owner (name unknown) took delivery of it from Grand Sport Center in July 2002. I bought it in July 2005 with 70 hours on it (scanned the ECU - numbers ok and no bad history) This boat was like new. Everything was tight like a virgin. Its now got 150 hours on it. I did a 110 mile Poker run the day after I bought it and a liquid quarter mile event in september. I used it for four weeks down in St Tropez (where we took the helicopter shots). Ran alongside an Apache called Tsunami several times down there. They and the Cigs (TGs and Glads) were always friendly, waved and were often surprised how fast we were out on the open water.
I´m really happy with and proud of my 25!
Oh yes, its a 496HO and it does the 67 GPS at 4900 on a labbed 25(6) B1. 525EFI coming up!

another proud 25 ol owner. welcome to the board.you guys need to stop buying the 25ol. im running out of people to sell mine to

Can't Beat The Ride In A 25 Outlaw Thats For Sure!!
And I Think They Are Faster Then A Sunation

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I had a 25OL for over three years and used it extensively here in Tampa Bay and the Gulf with little to no problems on most days. You'd be hard pressed to find a better riding 25'er. It's a simple straight vee, 24deg, well balanced boat with a fair amount of weight. Not the quickest, but well-suited for choppy waters. The twin ram tabs aren't great, I always wished they were longer, but they are effective.

For that size they are as good as it gets, everyone I know that has had or has one loves

have an 2002 25 outlaw with 496 ho. i love the boat. i boat on the hudson and it handles the water fine. for the money and size its a great boat