Call Brian Orlandi. He is very familiar with these boats. He has straightened out more than one problem hull. Something's going on. This is a very stable and reliable boat at speed and I personally know of four that run over 100 mph. You don't need ballast. http://www.orlandiperformance.com/contact.html

I agree with everyone else that something is wrong. Maybe air in the drive's trim lines? As you go faster and put more pressure on the drive it sounds like it is tucking in. Just something to think about... These boats don't like weight in the bow and don't need it. I'd also consider mounting a go pro back there so you can see exactly what the drive is doing. You can do it in a few spots on the transom, top looking down, mounted on the transom behind the drive, etc. to get a few different shots.

So last Friday I had a chance to really test things out with varying water conditions. I also was able to do a side by side comparison with 3 props, Rev 4 23P, Turbo 1 25P, and a recently acquired brand new Bravo 1 26P ( I sold the original to a friend as others had convinced me the Bravo 1 was the wrong prop).
The results were:

The Turbo 1 was the fastest at 67 MPH, but would blow out on acceleration out of the hole. With the tabs all the way up, the least little disturbance to the bow attitude would start the porpoise. I was only able to run wide open with the tabs up, with no boat wakes, and no more than 2" or 3" chop.

The Rev 4 ran 65 MPH and was a bit more stable than the Turbo 1. I could run it wide open with the tabs up until the waves picked up to about an 8" chop. Then I needed some down tab to keep from porpoising. It would also handle VERY small wakes without porpoising.

The Bravo 1 ran 65 MPH and was by far the most stable of the three props at speed. I was able to run wide open (tabs up) in a 12-18" chop without porpoising, and was able to go as fast as my comfort level allowed in boat wakes The only caveat is that I cannot raise the tabs all the way up until I get to somewhere in the 55-60 MPH range.......So with the Bravo 1, tabs are needed between 25 and 55 MPH.

The sand bags didn't really do much other than slow the boat down a little, so they were removed for the final tests.
The density altitude was 3800' the day of the testing, so I'm sure at closer to sea level, the boat would run 67-68 with the Bravo 1.
The original Bravo 1 that came with the boat, had some scuffs and minor dings in the blades, so I'm not sure if that effected the performance.
Also, I've gotten much proficient and comfortable driving the boat than when I had the original Bravo 1 on it. A lot of the "issues" I was experiencing, I've come to find out, are normal and just required more seat time to become comfortable with the handling characteristics of this hull.
Thanks to all for your input.

Mark

Mark, it's great to hear you are more comfortable driving your boat. I still believe there is something about the setup that is off. You should not need tabs above about 35 to keep the boat from porpoising... I also believe your boat should be a few tics faster with 375hp...

Sounds good! I also run a Bravo 1 prop (30p). My boat is dialed in perfect. I always run a bit of port tab to correct listing except when running near top speed and I can raise the tab as I raise the drive. I only drop both tabs if I'm in really sloppy water on the Great Lakes.

If I recall, there have been quite a few others that have to use tabs in that speed range also. In addition I've received a few private messages to that effect.

Before I bought the boat, I posted the prior owners speed claim of 65-68 MPH, the general consensus I got was that was about right for a non-HO equipped boat....Maybe someone else with a similar non-HO boat could chime in here.

Mark, if you make it to the 1K Islands, my offer stll stands.

Ken

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind

Mark

Cool Mark! every boat is a little different and testing different setup is a great way to learn out a boat. Good you found the prop that works best for you.

Are you still planning to try the short lower? I've only heard positive feedback from those that run them.

As for speed, my stock 502mag powered boat tops out at about 73GPS and there is a fellow in my town with a stock 454mag powered 22C that runs over 70. I've heard of 502mag powered boats hitting 75+ but that's running a 3 blade.
High 60s with a 375HP 8.1L is not that far off I guess...

I talked to Brian, he's done quite a few of these boats with non-centered drives.
What I don't get is...........Why would anyone pay the kind of money they got/get for these boats new, and not be screaming at the dealer/Donzi to fix the issue. I mean if the drive was improperly installed at the factory, it would clearly be a warranty issue. I for one, would never accept this, and would take legal action to make them correct it if necessary. Yet, it seems as though, when they are repaired, it's done by privately owned shops.......I don't get it.
I talked to Chuck at Donzi....He of course said he's never heard of a drive being installed off center.
Equally puzzling is that I've searched all over the place online for any forum post from an owner who had an off centered drive, and had it repaired........Can't find anything, very strange. If anyone else knows of one, please send over a link.

I personally know of two and possibly three. I don't want to drop names and risk stigmatizing someone's boat (mine was not one of them). The reason they weren't covered by warranty is because the problem wasn't discovered in time. Owners spent a lot of time prop testing, etc. Some would finally figure it was a normally bad handling hull design and sell them. Brian discovered the alignment issue.

Just seems odd that customers would spend over a year trying to diagnose a problem like this, then not pursue it through the manufacturer when the culprit was finally determined. The factory wouldn't have a leg to stand on in this case (IMO)

Leg to stand on what...if you know what I mean. Anything broken ? Way I see it is if they want to provide customer service on this or not.

Edit in: I'm saying this more of regular statement than anything. I'd be po'd too...even if these boats where cheaper.

Donzi customer service and warranty was very good. Probably still is. Problem is that I don't know of anyone who caught this problem within the 5 year warranty period.

I didn't realize the boats had 5 year warranty's.....That makes it even harder to understand why they wouldn't of had it fixed under warranty.

You guys do realize that Donzi isnt Donzi anymore... Its been thru a few different shell game owners, its now Fonzi by baja or something like that.....

But they never went bankrupt and they never stiffed a buyer and as far as I know, all warranty claims were taken care of even during hard times.

Mark,
Are you still researching ways to improve the handling of your boat?
Are you planning to have others evaluate it?

Said this before, I think the handling that you've described is not the norm...

In your shoes, I'd have an experienced boat rigging expert check the drive & engine mounting as well as the steering.
If all good, maybe try a short lower unit.

Good Luck with what ever you decide to do...

Yes, I'm still not completely satisfied with it.
The boat is currently at Performance Marine in Lake George. They're going to check the rigging, drive installation, and try out a shorty lower unit they have on hand (before I spend the $$ on one) to see if it improves the handling.
Seems to be a mixed bag on the shorty........Some say it will improve things, others say it will make it worse.....We'll see.
In speaking with Jason Saris (the owner), he thinks that because the drive is so deep on this boat, the drive being off centered slightly could cause problems...If that's the case, the shorty could improve things.

I saw your Boat @ Performance on Sunday. Jason and his son should be able to find the problem.

Those guys build/rig and race boats so I'd say your boat is in good hands.

Has your drive been discovered to be off center?

My boat handles great with the deep drive and the rev 4 prop. I think it would be faster with a shorty but thinking the money would be better spent on external ram steering.

Don't know yet. They were supposed to check it out yesterday. I'm waiting for them to call me back.

Performance tested it with their Imco -2" shorty and determined that was the fix. I drove it myself (before they ordered a new lower for me). Unfortunately, the day I tested the boat, Lake George had 3' + rollers and washing machine boat wakes, but I was able to determiner that with the shorty installed, I could raise the tabs above 50-55 without porpoising. The boat also turns much better.
I got the boat back last Friday with my new lower installed. I can now run wide open with no tabs and trimmed out. Johnny Saris put a good hour on the boat while they had it, and his evaluation is that the boat now performs as designed. He had the boat at 69 MPH (GPS) @4600 RPM's on a 91 degree high humidity day, The best I've seen so far is 68 (GPS), but my lake is 1700" feet higher than Lake George. Not sure how accurate the Livorsi (non-GPS) speedometer was (can't hook it up with the IMCO), but the most I saw with that was 65 MPH on a cooler day, so I got a nice bump in top end......No doubt the boat will run 70 mph closer to sea level, or on a cool day.
I have to say though........Trimmed out, with the tabs all the way up, the boat is a handful in any kind of rough water (unless going into the wind), or boat wakes as It wants to get airborne every chance it gets. I found that I can run 65 mph with just a touch of tab, and the boat is much more stable, and less likely to go airborne in rough conditions.
I'm still running the Bravo 1 25P, so I'm thinking that a prop that plants the stern in the water more, might be a better choice.
OBTW, they measured a 502 that resides in the area. The prop was an 1 5/8 higher than mine (before installing the IMCO)

Is your bride back in the boat with you now?

Congrats now go enjoy it.

Ken

Great news. A lot of us run Imco -2s on these boats.

Great news!
It sounds like the newer boats with wider spread strakes like and may need the shorty or higher X.
You may want to revisit testing a few different props. alternatively, you could have the B1 labbed for more bow lift rather than stern lift so you don't have to trim as high for max speed.

I still have the Turbo 1 25P that I purchased. Going to try that out this weekend. With the Bravo 1 lower unit, it had waaaay too much bow lift. Maybe with the IMCO it'll be more reasonable. With it trimmed out, you couldn't see over the bow!!

My same experience with Turbo 1's on small boats. Scary !

My experiences with props on my 22 Donzi has been quite different or maybe I just like a different ride. Order I'd rank props that I've tried on my 96 22C- Merc Rev 4, Turbo 1, Mirage, Bravo... The Rev 4 is by far my favorite...

So, snave8, what are the results of trying different props with the shorty drive??

Hydromotive Q4...

So Mark... I just purchased a 04 22 Anniversary and expierenced some of the same issues you described. Is you outdrive a Bravo 1 X? mine is. After reading several forums on this site and others I tried to run my tabs down at about 25% which is a 5 count. That seemed to take care of my problem so far. I have ran the boat with 2people 25% tabs down trim at 1/3 or better 70mph gps and I am running a Mirage + 25p at 5000 rpm. Since I boat in northern MIchigan I have run out of time this year to do anymore testing. I have a buddy who has an 09 22C 496ho same set up as mine running a Rev 4 prop with Zeiger power steering that came with the boat from the factory. I drove that boat and HUGE difference. You can take your hands off the wheel at +65mph. Now, he is running a lot of tabs too but hitting 72-74 mph gps. I am thinking that I might look into the power steering and also would like to try his Rev 4 in 25P next season. Anyone have any input with power steering affecting how these boats handle? At 70 mph it wants to drift to port and is very hard to bring it back even with port trim down a bit more.

So the boat runs 69-70 MPH GPS pretty consistently now with the Bravo 1. At a lower elevation, I'm sure I'd be into the low 70's. Handles WAAAAAY better all around.
In order to run wide open with the tabs all the way up, I need to trim it all the way out, which is at the halfway point on the gauge. If I leave the trim down at say 1/4 on the gauge, and no tabs, I get a mild porpoise.
I can run approx 65-67 mph in rough water with a bit of down tab and the boat handles great.
I tried installing the Turbo 1 prop that I have. The Imco Shorty I had installed has a 1 1/4" prop shaft, so we had to go with a merc solid hub kit. When I installed the turbo 1, there' was waaaay too much slop. I could literally move the prop side to side on the shaft, so I took it off without trying it.
I'm not sure why....The flo-torq hub I used with the stock lower unit worked fine with both props, but with the solid hub kit, the Bravo 1 fits properly, but no way on the Turbo.........Anyone have an idea why??

Mine is a 496 (non-HO) with a Bravo 1 drive. Dimensionaly, I believe the Bravo 1 and Bravo 1X are the same.
It's apparent from reading other posts and my experience, every one of these boats performs differently, and there appears to be no ryme nor reason to it, although I'm sure there is.

I'd say it's more the different drivers

This may sound dumb, but the solid hub I have has 4 strips of rubber. Is it possible the little rubber strips are missing giving you the slop you are mentioning in the turbo prop?

[QUOTE=scottdonzi2004;4481444]So Mark... I just purchased a 04 22 Anniversary and expierenced some of the same issues you described. Is you outdrive a Bravo 1 X? mine is. After reading several forums on this site and others I tried to run my tabs down at about 25% which is a 5 count. That seemed to take care of my problem so far. I have ran the boat with 2people 25% tabs down trim at 1/3 or better 70mph gps and I am running a Mirage + 25p at 5000 rpm. Since I boat in northern MIchigan I have run out of time this year to do anymore testing. I have a buddy who has an 09 22C 496ho same set up as mine running a Rev 4 prop with Zeiger power steering that came with the boat from the factory. I drove that boat and HUGE difference. You can take your hands off the wheel at +65mph. Now, he is running a lot of tabs too but hitting 72



External steering pistons and full hydraulic helm is the best steering system and recommended for boat that go 70+mph.
I have a 1996 22C with stock 502 and Bravo drive. She has cable steering and the gimbal is still tight. She has no ill handling issues and she tops out at 73mph on GPS spinning a 25p Merc Rev 4. I run tabs full up unless I have an unbalanced load or need to keep the nose down in the rough.
External pistons and hydraulic helm are on the list of upgrades if I decide not to sell.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one.

Nope, the 4 strips are firmly in place....First thing I checked.