96 Donzi Classic 22

[ryoken]

oh, and you don't HAVE to do the joint bellows when you do the exhaust one.. if the joint one is nice and clean rubber, no cracking, I'd leave it and just do the exhaust, vastly easier.... it'll have grease in the bottom, but if there's no water, technically,, it's good..

if it's the slip style exhaust, it's stoopid easy..... if it's double-clamped, it's a little bit trickier, plus you'll want that bellows expander tool...

 

[dhcomp]

Thanks man! i'll do some studying of your responses as i continue to prep in my head.

Re-did all my trailer bunks this weekend, and built aluminum/carpet replacement for the trailer fender steps. Should we sweet.

 

[ryoken]

well, one more while on lunch here... your biggest issue is not having a yard arm... without it, drive install/removal can be a pain.. that bravo is about 175 lbs... (alphas only weigh about 90 but they suck cuz it's a 3 handed clusterflug with the shifter arm.. ) bravo's are easy, it's just gettting the spline to engage, and hooking the shift cable into the latch.. but it's a heavy SOB...

removal isn't that big of a deal, trim up and remove speedo hose if so equipped, trim down, pull the trim pin, 6 nuts, pull out drive a couple inches, disconnect shift cable latch, slide it till the shaft comes out.. plop it on the ground.... install without a yard arm, you're gonna need two people, and even than it can suck a bit...

 

[dhcomp]

well, one more while on lunch here... your biggest issue is not having a yard arm... without it, drive install/removal can be a pain.. that bravo is about 175 lbs... (alphas only weigh about 90 but they suck cuz it's a 3 handed clusterflug with the shifter arm.. ) bravo's are easy, it's just gettting the spline to engage, and hooking the shift cable into the latch.. but it's a heavy SOB...

removal isn't that big of a deal, trim up and remove speedo hose if so equipped, trim down, pull the trim pin, 6 nuts, pull out drive a couple inches, disconnect shift cable latch, slide it till the shaft comes out.. plop it on the ground.... install without a yard arm, you're gonna need two people, and even than it can suck a bit...

That pic and emphasis is super helpful. I’ll build something I can put on dollys.

 

[ryoken]

keep in mind, physically installing it, you may still need to manually jostle it around off of your cart, another pair of hands will be useful... it's not a "oh, it's close enough, shove it in" kinda deal... there's only a small window of angle and height where it will go on.. and drives vary from one to the other on how hard they are to install depending on a few things... it may have to be adjusted height-wise and angle-wise while you try to get the splines to engage.. that's what makes the yardarm so valuable, it not only goes up/down, but tilts left/right and front/back... and maintains that as you slide the drive back in..

oh, don't ever glue any rubber gaskets, o-rings in... some idjits use weatherstrip adhesive.. marine grease and press in... and don't replace the 3 o-rings on the input shaft of the drive.. make sure they are there, but leave em.. trust me on that.. you'll have a hella time getting the drive back on with fresh ones..... sometimes i actually have to take a big ole hunk of 12" x 12" lumber and drive the lower on to get it past fresh ones...

 

[dhcomp]

Hey Paul,

where is soundown available? Only a couple places i can find online, with inconsistent pricing.

Assuming i'm looking for the IVF products.

 

[ryoken]

Hey Paul,

where is soundown available? Only a couple places i can find online, with inconsistent pricing.

Assuming i'm looking for the IVF products.

i've always gotten it thru our dizzys, mesco, kellogg, etc..... but i see jamestown sells it.. i've bought stuff online from them before... https://www.jamestowndistributors.c...ptWOC4sZfK_PO5xp96RwLJE-E92jCcXxoCYO0QAvD_BwE

 

[dhcomp]

i've always gotten it thru our dizzys, mesco, kellogg, etc..... but i see jamestown sells it.. i've bought stuff online from them before... https://www.jamestowndistributors.c...ptWOC4sZfK_PO5xp96RwLJE-E92jCcXxoCYO0QAvD_BwE

Copy. Thats about the only place I could find it too. $$$$$$$

Read that the stuff west marine sells is rebranded Soundown, but its not any cheaper.

I'll keep it on the list and do it right when the funds come available. I'm a bit behind after getting hit by taxes.

 

[GWeakland620]

I was excited to see some Donzi pictures...

 

[dhcomp]

I was excited to see some Donzi pictures...

Goal is to pull it out of storage around the 1st, and get it prepped for it's first run of the season on the 13th, weather pending!

 

[dhcomp]

check with your local fire guy, iirc they just weigh em... they ain't cheap new usually..

i usually run 2 to 1/0 in gas apps depending on what was in there... it definitely varies from boat manny to manny, and obviously the amp draws, etc.. dizzle i'll run up to 4/0... same rules apply as elsewhere, beef doesn't hurt, other than wallet and user-friendliness.... make sure you nut up and get a quality tinned marine cable like Anchor...

Is Anchor the way to go, or are there other "acceptable" cable manufacturers in your mind?

Picking up the boat from storage on Sunday/Monday. My credit card is smoldering after the parts buying action of the last few days. But I also got lucky and won $100 at west marine on a door prize give away. That was a score, because that place is useless otherwise!

 

[ryoken]

it's what our suppliers sell... I'm guessing there are other "tinned" marine cables out there... and i've prolly used them, Ancor is just THE brand... but that's what you want, high thread count, tinned stuff...

 

[dhcomp]

Copy. It’s close enough to coming home I’m going to check the existing sizes before I oversize everything. Cables are expensive! Haha

 

[dhcomp]

So, we dove in head first. Got a bit of a bump in pay at work, so we went full bore on the project list.

First, I pulled the drive tonight with the wife. Overall, after watching a few videos this winter, it wasn't bad. Without a real stand, I was glad to have the extra set of hands.

Bellows looks good, u joint looks good. Drive and shift bellows look near new, exhaust has some minor cracking, and is clearly older. Will be fine for this season.

Also put a new anode kit in while i was in there. Old ones were unknown type, and not looking great. Was also missing the one behind the prop. New mag kit went in easy.

Next is stereo, dual battery, and insulation.

Ancor wiring showed up, but my negative showed up as 8 gauge rather than 1/0. Shipper mistake.

Stereo is going to be a Alpine PDX-V9 amp, Wetsounds 808 speakers, and a JL 10w6 sub in a sealed box. I love nice stereos, and have had great luck with alpine PDX amps, wetsounds speakers, JL subs. The Wetsounds speakers showed up today, and i was blown away by how large an 8" speaker is. 6.5 lbs each, totally dwarfs the clarion stock ones I pulled out.

Need to reinforce the structure under the bow storage tray, and keep the sub box from breaking it. Have a plan though, should be easy to put some angle clips and a bit of PT 2x4 in there to tie it all together.

The drive removal was the main thing making me nervous. I'm sure there will be other challenges, but glad to have that one behind me!

 

[dhcomp]

 

[ryoken]

the oil drain brings the stooopid on them.... one of Mercs 19% bad engineering... did you reinstall yet?

 

[dhcomp]

the oil drain brings the stooopid on them.... one of Mercs 19% bad engineering... did you reinstall yet?

Yep, all back together. Which part of the oil drain are you referring to?

 

[ryoken]

the lower plug being behind the prop... that's the only bravo that has that...

 

[dhcomp]

the lower plug being behind the prop... that's the only bravo that has that...

Ah, got it.

Guessing access to that is why the anode behind the prop was gone.

Excited to get some stuff done this weekend.

 

[dhcomp]

I feel your pain, Paul. Can barely move after a weekend of stereo and power work. More pics in a bit.