After considering Nordic heavily, I think I've narrowed my search down to these two boats as I believe they'll do better in rough water for the Tampa/Clearwater area. Looking at 2001-2008 models. What would be the better choice between Donzi and Sunsation? Do they both have the same dead rise and offshore capabilities? And also, the Donzi offers twin 6.2L MPI's or a single 496HO (Sunsation is single 496 HO only). What would be best between those two drivetrain options?

You guys have been AWESOME so far and have been very helpful in narrowing down my search and answering my "newbie" questions. This forum is great!

The Sensation is quite a bit smaller of a boat:
4,500lbs (won't ride as nice as the 6,500lbs Donzi)
8'1" beam
24degree deadrise
should run high 60's with that 496 HO

Donzi 28zx
6,500lbs with twin Mag 350's
8'6" beam
22 degree deadrise
Should run right around 70

With the 496 HO in the 28zx, you'll lose the speed unless you do some work on that 496. With the Sunsation, you'll get the higher speed but lose the extra weight which would give you a better ride and 2 motors is nice if you're going off-shore. On the other hand, 2 motors use more gas, you'll have twice the maintenance and that can be expensive, so it really comes down to what you prefer.

Interesting, didn't know the 28zx had a 22 degree deadrise.

I was next to a sunsation mcob at LOTO shootout that had worked over small blocks in it. Guy said it ran pretty good and his gas milage didn't sound too bad.

Something to consider/ shop for?

28zx has a 22 degree deadrise at the transom.

Very few Donzis with a single engine, could be hard to find. If you compare the twin small block setup with a Sunsation/496, as mentioned above, the Donzi might be marginally faster but you'd feel the weight difference when it gets rough.

Service and maintenance on twins is certainly a bit more work but the small blocks get great reports for trouble free boating. There's a few Donzis built with Scorpions (Merc racing engines) which would be great but maintenance costs would be a bit dearer. Not many of the small block have closed cooling whereas all the 496's are closed cooling. Can make a big difference if they were used in salt water, depending entirely on how pampered and flushed they have been.

Good and bad on both sides, what's important to YOU. Both great boats, hard to see you unhappy with either one.

RR

Hmmm. I knew the 496 HO's were closed loop but I thought the 6.2MPI's around 2001+ were too. I really want closed loop for salt use. Does anyone know when the small blocks went closed loop? Or how can you tell if they're closed loop by looking at a picture of the engine bay?

I owned a 2003 ZXO, twin 350 mags. I loved the boat. The only thing I wished for was more storage space. In the cockpit there was next to none (under back bench). Yes there was plenty of space under the seats of the open bow area, but it was only accessible through a small opening as well as an opening under a seat on each side up front. I managed to fit stuff in there but felt I was digging to get what I wanted. As for storage space in the mid cabin, I used that for fenders and personal bags for the day. I did choose this boat over a 2004 Sunsation 288 MCOB. I still feel as if I made the right choice.

Closed cooling was optional. I bought a new Sea Ray in 2007 with a 6.2 and raw water cooled. (It was in stock Vs 9 month wait to order) Used it 14 times in 3 years and tank flushed 14 times! Great engine but it was new at the time. There is a closed cooling kit from Mercury you can fit but if the boat's used already it kinda defeats the purpose.

You can see the difference easily. The 496 has an overflow bottle to one side but I think all the 6.2's use the older style header tank on the front of the engine.

Raw water cooled
[ATTACH=CONFIG]561890[/ATTACH]


Fresh water cooled
[ATTACH=CONFIG]561891[/ATTACH]

Happy shopping!
RR

Closed cooling can be added to pretty much any engine.
I think the Donzi with twins will have the better ride.