Old school Donzi
 

Wondering if anyone could tell me where to find the hull number? I have a 1966 18' donzi with triple hatch engine cover and Holman Moody out drive. Trying to get more info on the boat.:cool-smiley-011:

try looking behind the dash ... might be marked there by a marker pen. Some off the hardware might have #s etched on them.

Behind the dash, up by the forward lifting ring are a coupe of common locations. if it has the original drive/engine we may be able to ID it that way..

old school donzi
 

I will check behind the dash today. I know the motor is not original because it has a small block chevy in the boat now. I dont know about the drive. I'm trying to get all the info before I start the restoration.Thanks for the help.

also check by the backing plate for the bow ring it will be hand written in black marker your number will be something like 18- XXX keep in mind if any thing was added to the dash outside of the original dash plate speedo or depth finder stereo some of the numbers might be missing or cut out

sometimes there was a foil tag on the backseat bulkhead

how many pieces is your engine hatch??

what drive is it an eaton or a volvo??

pics would help

I checked all behind the dash this morning. Unfortunately it has had glass work done prior covering the original glass. I also checked the bow area under the deck, could find no visible markings. I will check behind the seat tomorrow. As for the hatch it is three pieces. The boat presently has the Holman Moody volvo drive but I believe it was originally an Eaton. I will try to get some pics later. Any other help greatly appreciated.

a triple hatch barrelback yes it is an early 18 probably within the 100 or so made it probably came with a 289 interceptor and an eaton drive and when more HP and more reliable engine drive combos came out like the holman moody volvo combo the boat was repowered ( my 67 16 had this done to it)

what color is the boat??? all the triple hatch barrelbacks I have seen ( 3 ) have been all lucan red with a white stripe

The boat is bright orange right now but I believe it was red originally. I believe it would have been a 289 from what I can tell. The original exhaust was wide and lower than the current. All pictures I have seen with the Ford set up are like this. I figure the Eaton drive was probably replaced with the Holman Moody years ago due to lack of parts for the Eaton.

the original eatons were not strong at all and would blow apart or shear the pin and twist off the boat yes the 289 had low wide exhaust exits the 351w had higher tighter exhaust exits

sounds like a great project, if you want some ideas on an orange barrelback check out Scott Pearson's pumpkin on
www.lgdonziclassic.com

what volvo drive is it?? there should be a serial number riveted to the top of the drive that can give us some info as well on when it might have been repowered

old school donzi
 

I will check for the serial number tomorrow. Wondering how rare are the triple hatch boats. I have not found any pictures of one other than brochure info?? I also am looking for someone who might be able to refurbish a steering wheel from a 67 16 ski sport with the center prop logo. Any ideas??

The serial number on the case is 2504203. Hope this it...

volvo aquamatic 250 strong drive lacks trim but iis a strong drive that takes HP well. If you are going to keep that drive
I suggest you get a hold of
Biggrizzly performance props and get a solas prop they are the best prop for a 250 and a classic out there check out www.donzi.org there is a thread on the solas with biggrizzly's contact info


the 250 drive came out in 68 or so and went into 1971 then the 270 came out basic same drive with upgrades to internals

Drive S/N would tend to indicate it was a mid 69 drive..

Check Donzi.net for more pics and info....

Sounds great, thanks for the info.

Old school Donzi...Hull #
 

Guys. Have been all over this boat with no luck on numbers. I did find an old registration that states the hull id as 1834-1. Any info on this number would be great.

Is it a round bottom, or a v bottom??

As far as I can tell it is a V bottom

they are all v bottomsin the front, the area scott is asking about is the keel the early ones were a sharp keel so the hull where the drain plug is comes to a sharp point on the later ones they rounded the keel off another tell tale sign is the inner lifting strakes for the most part on a sharp keeled boat they run all the way to the transom on a round keel boat they stop about 2 feet short of the transom

LOL, thanks Matty, I was a little brief on that question wasn't I???

that's all right i know the winters are tuff on you florida boys LOL


Boatrnut

the number that you had 1834-1 is a little out of sequence

if it is 18-34 it would make sense it would mean it was the 34 hull built and would put it in the 65-66 time frame and as would the tripple hatch

the -1 could be something added by the local dmv that required so many digits in the number

or could it possibly be a "C" they did put the letter c in some boats to represent full Chisholm ownership but that happened long after 66 and it usually was in the front of the string not at the end

or it is 18-341 which is way after 66 so the hatch would not make sense but the drive would???


ok we have tiptoed around this long enuff


we want pics ;) :)

Went over this morning and the strakes run all the way to the transom. The transom is also a sharp v. I,m trying to get some photos but this damn laptop wont except my camera for some reason. Thanx guys....

ok with that info the hull number should be 18-34 cause the boat is a barrelback sharp keel boat the first approximately 230 boats were barrelbacks the first 90 + are triple hatches
so 18-341 doesn't jive that would be 1970's boat

sounds great thanx for the help. Have pics just trying to getum to work

341 was a mid 1969 boat..

300 had drive # 2504189... Built April 69..

Keep in mind we do already know of at least one 1969 barrelback, though I believe it's a single hatch...

Every indication is that this is a 66. I,m not sure what the -1 means but I do know that this drive is not original to this boat. You can see on the transom where it appears to have been filled just above the gimbal housing from what we think was the Eaton drive. I had a 67 barrel back/single hatch a couple of years ago and the hatch area opening seemed smaller. I never did anything with that boat restoration wise so I dont know what number it was. Also the exhaust ports were closer together originally. I really want to redo this boat as original in era as possible knowing that I wont have the correct motor and drive but I plan on using the Holman Moody drive and plan on reinstalling a Ford powerplant. I am moving to Charlotte NC after the new year and hope to have Holman Moody build the new motor. With any luck she will be running the lakes next summer. Keep ya posted...