Posts

Donzi Blackhawk on E-bay

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Interesting E-bay find. Donzi only made 40 of these back in the day. In collaboration with Mercruiser they had a twin prop surface piercing outdrive quite the toy. Unfortunately they became tough to fix later and many ended like this with a regular Bravo. These were around $55,000 new if I recall so trading around 12k seems a deal before the 2008 collapse I remember seeing them stil getting in the mid to high 20's. See it here on EBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/1995-Donzi-classic-22-Blackhawk-/123598153819?hash=item1cc706285b%3Ag%3AuK4AAOSwx0FbkEvD&nma=true&si=elhlIItzsrK8BcPXZaezzc%252FVwrs%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

OMC Quiet Rider

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If you go walking thru a boat show today you will see a number of new boats with outboards hidden behind covers. The  Searay 370   is one of the best known example of this. With Twin Mercury outboards hidden under fiberglass cowlings forward of the transom, it looks like a sleek express cruiser with a secret. Of course this idea isn’t new. People have been trying to hide outboards basically since outboards were invented.  You will notice a small addition to the Mercury in the Searay above, a fresh air vent to keep the engine well fed with clean air. I have seen this in a few homemade wooden boats and a handful of modified sailboats thou of course without the nicely molded OEM cowl. Why you might ask do people want to hide their shiny expensive outboard. Well for one lots of people don’t like the look of them hanging off the rear of the boat. They also tend to handle differently then inboard boats due to both their prop design and extreme aft placement. By movi

Bahn camper works. Moving campers into modern construction.

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I have been interested in RV's for a long time. Over the years I have noticed they tend to built incredibly cheaply with a few notable exceptions (air streams, certain fiberglass campers, bus conversions). The most common build is basically stick built with sheathing hung on wood framing. you also then have some with aluminum framing. You have also had a number made with fiberglass, much  like how a boat is constructed with a top and bottom section molded and then bolted/sealed together. One of my personal favorite types of RV is the truck camper. Having a removable living section and a truck to tow some other toy like a boat or ATV seems ideal. One issue these campers have is that weight is a major issue. Pickups have limited payload and truck campers often push the limits of these payloads. These would make them ideal candidates for lightweight composite construction with cored composites. While there are fiberglass camper builders out there making outstanding products they

Oddities and Oddballs Chevy Avalanche 2500

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If your into cars (well trucks I guess) you likely know that GM offered 2500 versions of the Suburban and Yukon XL. Most of these heavy duty people haulers were bought by government fleets for everything from security to Fire and Police command cars. Whats a little less known is that the open backed Suburban better known as the Avalanche also had a 3/4 ton 2500 version during it’s first generation. Oddly, enough the first (and possibly only) one of these I have seen in person was actually the first Chevy Avalanche I ever saw in person. Back at the time of its release I was working at a marina, and we were having some grounds work done and the owner of the landscaping company showed up in a brand new Avalanche 2500, towing a Bobcat skid steer of all things. I remember  walking up to it thinking that’s an odd load for a new fangled truckUV to be towing. Then I saw the 8 lug wheels and made a mental note to crack open AOL and look it up at home that night. Even thou it’s often r

Home made electric boat

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Came across this little guy in Marblehead MA last year. Looks like a conventional little fiberglass dinghy. A simple rope and pulley arrangement controls the rudder to a little wheel. The neat part is there appears to be a Optima AGM battery ahead of the thwart and cabling leading down to what I guess would be a trolling motor or similar electric pod drive. Would love to be able to find out more about it.

Book review Nature of boats by Gerr

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Lets try a new feature for today. Book review of Dave Gerr’s book, Nature of Boats. Well just to be clear before we get into it I love this book, I can grab it flip thru it and always find something worth re-reading. The book is really more a collection of past articles that N.A. Dave Gerr has written over the years for various publications (many seem to be from his excellent column from Offshore Magazine. Which sadly no longer exists. ) The book covers topics such as boat construction, design , stability and performance. It also features a number of drawings from Gerr’s own designs.  The book’s short articles allow for easy reading while providing a wealth of information, This helps avoid the book feeling over technical (boring) that some of the other books touching on basics of boat design can be. I personally love to read Gerr’s view of performance power and sail craft as well as his well though out alternatives, Li

Boat yard on the CT river

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I drive by here once in a while and look at what’s left of a small working boat yard along the CT river in Cromwell CT. Based on the old sign it appears it was once called the Adams Henry boat yard. When I first came down here about 10 years ago the track for the marine railway extended across the road into the water. ( the track still appears to be there but the road was paved over a few years back. It appears the boats were winched up the track on a car with custom built cradles. The cradles were then shifted sideways onto the concrete walls in the yard.  Looks like you could fit a couple dozen 25-35’ boats in there. A neat place for sure. There is a house on the front of the property but I never see any one in the boatyard. I’ve asked around but so far no one seems to know any history on the place. So for now here’s a few pics showing the yard and the rails where the enter the water on the opposite side of the road.