New (to me) 16' OB Donzi
 

Bought this boat back before Christmas. This thing was all original 1978 - I'm not sure it had ever been washed or waxed.....

Not a cream puff, but something for my kiddos to learn on and enjoy. Came with an 82 tower of power, but after fiddling with it for a few weeks, I came to the conclusion that the crankshaft was stripped out and I wasn't going to spend any more time on it.

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Short shafts are hard to come by so I decided I'd just buy a Bass Boat, keep the motor and ditch the boat. Well this popped up on CL for $1,000 including trailer!!! Texas lake motor and basically brand new aluminum trailer! Told the guy id come get it immediately. Guy insisted on proving to me how well it ran and it fired right up!!! Sold the boat for 400 so was net $600 into the trailer and powerplant - possibly the greatest boating related deal ever had. It even has the Sea-Star hydraulic steering on it......
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I guess they only made 176 of these OB 16's, so kind of rare. Finally got it out some today. Runs great - rewired, threw some new gauges in it, deleted the oil injection on the Merc XR6-150. I'm used to bigger boats, so I was really happy with how well this thing runs and takes moderate water - expected it to be like a jet ski (since it's not much bigger than modern 3-seaters), but it really rides nice. It's probably a little small long term and a 20' will probably prove to be a better size in a couple years but with the kids only 6&8 they don't take up much room. I've also come to the early conclusion that this thing will likely prove to be less maintenance than the tiger.....
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40 year old cushions are dry, hard and ill-fitting, but that might be a project for next fall......

Extreme-Marine is making me some Marine Mat for the floor......

Kick ass Eric!!

nice little boat
if you ever want to sell let me know

Thanks man!
Looks a little silly on my 20,000 lb lift when the bunks are longer than the boat, but I think we are going to enjoy it......
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I will - I think we will keep a couple years but once the kids start wanting to wakeboard and ski I think it's going to be too small for that. Would be a perfect Creek cruiser if it was just my wife and i though!!

What a great find! I am pretty tickled on a triple axle trailer for it though :lolhit:That is gonna be a lot of fun for you guys.

Haha - that triple axle was my father's - I just borrowed it to bring it home, but it did look ridiculous!!! The trailer under that Bassboat is what's under it now....

Saw that on SnF.
What a great little boat.
Hope your kids know how lucky they are!

You know, ​​​I think I'll copy and paste this over there!

I've been looking for a boat to get my grandson started --great find!

Finally ran this by myself. It is squirrelly as hell at 50mph. I’ve never really felt a boat walk like that...... scary.....

To the point that you don't want to send the kids out by themselves???

I would put a governor on it to keep it in the mid-40’s that’s for sure. Luckily kids are a few years off going by themselves. They just turned 7&9 in the last month.......

Very cool!

Love those lil booger’s.

If you ever need any help coming to terms w/an OB I’m happy to help.

Thanks for the feedback. Found a real clean sweet 16 locally but will pass for a novice boater.

we are coming to terms with it pretty nicely! We have burned more fuel in it this summer than my Tiger!!

Well, don’t discount the fact I might just be incompetent. I’m also not sure how much better the Sweet 16 I/O’S run.

I’ve seen videos of 16 OB’s running at higher speeds that look a lot more stable so I’m going to play with it again. It runs fantastic at a medium to fast cruise.

Not sure how the IO Vs OB version of this compares on the internet but in real world, I’d bet heavy on the OB.
Based on being 500 lbs lighter on a 16’ boat.
Hello?
McFly?

Yrs ago, I had an OB customer talking to me about building a powerhead for him for his 16.
He had been at it a while and was already running low 80’s.

Lost contact and know no more than that.

I think as an OB set up right, it would be a weapon.
But it would take an OB driver to get it there w/o the driver stroking out on the way there.

Personally,I think I could make one run low 90’s fairly easy.

For Seaford to make it work w/the kids....,, here’s your chance to teach them responsibly??
Show them what it will do.
Enforce in them, race vests (not ski vests) are mandatory and they plug in their kill lanyards or don’t go out???

From everything I’ve found the OB only weighs 1100 without a motor so it is LIGHT. There is no doubt with the right driver and a big modern motor this thing would haul the mail, but I’m just interested in creek crawling with it and letting the boys putt around so I think it’s perfect just as it is!

Talked to a guy yrs ago that had a stout JohnRude one one that was running low 80’s.

At 16’, it would not like a new, heavy 4 stroke.

Set up and driver would make it a waaaaaayyyy fun ride.

Not sure how to turn it down for your kids though.

From what little I know, the kids will be all over the learning Vs the trust thing.

Good stuff!