A lot of old hull designs did. Our 38 Bertram Comp has a bit of roundness to the keel. It's also been rolled over. Go figure.

Hull design evolved from mostly displacement hulls. When boats started moving faster (planning hulls) things started getting pointy. But horsepower was needed to push planning hull up and on top of the water.

Old Donzi's and Cigs had soft bottoms. That's what was going on back then

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Saw one of these at the Toronto Boat Show this week. I think it`s a gamble on Donzi`s part that may not pay off. After resisting change for 40 years they`ve done nothing innovative here and a lot of potential owners may say they`ve ruined it. Rich Sutphen recreated their 20 into a beautiful 21 while staying true to their classic design in both I/O and O/B.

Potential owners would say they’ve ruined it by finally fixing an ill handling speedboat hull?

I expect most of these boats are bought for their cache and general all-round performance with stock power. This version probably will not ride as well and still weighs a lot to take full advantage of the pad. Add to that a narrow transom and owners may find it a handful to drive. If it does handle better, you are right, that is great. In today's market I don't think of a 22 Donzi as a speedboat.

Interesting news! I have not been on here for a while, but this news sounds like Donzi took a close look at the 22 Donzi owned by Stan Pike.... and saw some things they could do.
Stan has his running in the triple numbers with a big engine and blower from well know engine builder in mid west.

Can't ruin it when they made it significantly better, from a bad design to a decent one.

They tested it extensively, it handles way better.

High performance West Coast lake boats even prior to that era didn't have rounded bottoms. It really makes no sense what Donzi and Cig did.

Well Sir what constitutes a "speedboat" in your eyes? A certain length hull? A certain size engine?
A certain brand of boat? I have to say Carl's Donzi 22 with the HP525 is a beautiful thing. Sharp
looking, nimble, and does in the 80's. What the heck is wrong with that? Small to mid-sized Bajas,
PowerPlays/PowerQuests, and Formulas were always considered the standard speed boats in
my area. The funny thing was is that when I ran with them my 72 MPH Cobalt bested them most
of the time. Does that make my Cobalt a "speedboat"?