Sarasota Factory
 

Drove past the old factory the other day after leaving Doug Valentine's shop. So sad to see it this way. Hope Donzi makes a comeback and new management doesn't tarnish the name/ quality.

Well apparently the attachments won't post from my iPad for some reason, even though it said they attached. Guess ill have to dig my computer out.

picts...

Yup....I drove up to those gates quite a bit before. Sad to see a legend in that shape.

How long did they make boats in that location.

15 years.

so sad to see where my boat was built like that. such a strong name and store behind it is one of the reasons i bought my boat. :picard1:

Incredible

fixx
 

ummm i hope you know that they moved from that spot years ago to the fountain plant ?? they are just starting to make a comback,,i hope??

In better times, 2007 when I picked my boat up from there!

Yes they moved to North Carolina in 2010. From what I have heard from credible Donzi guys is that quality and knowledge just isn't there anymore. Most of the Donzi engineers and riggers that knew the boats in and out are gone and its the Fountain guys putting together Donzis now. I've been told you be crazy to buy a new Donzi (and this is by guys that love Donzis). Hopefully something changes.

fixx
 

im one of those guys lol..im on donzi .org a few times a week and i know that the last boats that were built at sarasota were put together with left over parts or mis matched parts in the engine drive combo's.. nothing wrong with the fountain rigging crew,if they can rteas a blueprint they should be able to build the same boat that donzi built..i just cant get over $107,000 for a 22 classic..And thats with the standard 502 mag..

Just wondering what was the last boat built there?

I guess they dont plan on selling to many of them!!!:cartman:

Yea the new price lists are out of control. $910k to spec out our 43 new. Just ridiculous. I also read on a post on here a guy that bought a new 38zr out of the new factory and his exact words were "it wasn't ALL together" which is not the attitude several years ago

Yeah, we drove past the plant last March (spring break) and was jaw-dropped. I had heard that even when they were still building boats there the plant looked like a total dump! Can't believe my beautiful boat came out of that place.

A friend of mine had their 38ZR reworked down at the NC plant and they were totally impressed with the plant people and the attention they payed towards their boat. from the re-gel and fit/finish, they were totally satisfied.

tom

Good to hear! I would hope that as long as there are a few of the original Donzi engineers/riggers on staff that they will continue to make one of the best built boats on the market. I also hope that they retain some of their great styling personnel. I love the timeless paint schemes of the Donzi's of late...hate when boat builders use 30 different colors on one boat.

How come the buildings in the 2 sets of pics are different colors and don't look the same? Are you sure they're the same place?

Tom bought a splash, we just have not had the heart to tell him. Thanks for ruining his Christmas...:lolhit:

You almost have to go there to understand. It's a medley of buildings strung together over a large corner lot. The side that the original poster showed was the main entrance / exit when I bought my boat. That's the 21st st. entrance If you look at the original pics in this thread, 3rd pic, my boat was hanging in the open area straight ahead of the gate when I picked it up. one of the closed garages to the left is where they kept the Orange 38 Comp.

On the other side (Limbus Ave), the buildings look totally different... that's where Tom's pics are from. To be quite honest, it all pretty much looks the same today as it did when I picked up my boat... a few less weeds and a few more boats around, but not much has changed. It looked pretty dumpy then too.

:eekdrop: Doh! Knew something was up...... :poopoo:

My pics were taken from the "side" entrance. If you look at Premier's pic #2, the building on the far right is the tan building my boat was next to. In my 3rd and 4th pic in the background are the production buildings shown in Premier's pics. Hope that helps. :)

Thanks! That looked like it was a pretty big complex. Have a great New Year!

A little background:

7110 21st Street East (the complex with the gray buildings) was a Chris Craft facility for many years. Lots of Stingers and Scorpions were built there in the 1980s. During that time, Donzi was located about a mile down the road on 15th Street East, in a new production facility & office complex they'd built. After OMC acquired Donzi, Chris Craft was moved to Donzi's much newer facility, where it remains today, and Donzi was moved to the older Chris Craft facility.

When AMH took over and resumed Donzi production in 1993, they acquired the rights, some molds, and the old Chris Craft facility. This is where all Donzi manufacturing took place during the AMH years (with the exception of early ZF center consoles built by Pro-Line in Crystal River). The west building housed lamination, and the larger building to the east housed assembly, upholstery, mill shop, wiring, sub-assembly, paint, etc. Offices were scattered about, with a double-wide portable building serving as the corporate office.

The beige buildings on Limbus Ave were acquired later...2006 or thereabouts, and housed CNC, mill shop, prototype and plug shop, warranty repair, and the race shop. Plans were drawn up to turn the east building into office space that would bring all the office and support staff under one roof. This idea obviously never came to fruition, and that building was used largely as storage for boat show fixtures.

We've got some production photos from inside the Sarasota facility, 2002-2010, here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...6328588&type=3

While it is true that the Washington, NC facility is far superior from a manufacturing standpoint - it's located directly on the water, after all - some great boats were built in Sarasota!

I really enjoyed those pictures. Thanks for posting!!!!

If you have any more I for one would love to see them!

Just to think thats how Thunder Row Alley looked like before the high risers went up:bsflag:

Many thanx for the pics and history!!! I'm tempted to take you out for beers and hear more.

tom

Very cool pics and history!

Not sure if you guys have seen this. Someone posted a tour of the factory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWmh1vsjyiM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9RdJJBaeNc

Neat!
Thanks