1990 Donzi DL-190 Rebuild

atv_freak

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
39
Short version of the story: Never should have bought this "Lake Ready" boat... especially at a lake ready price! Anyways... I'm trying to move on and I need to decide what to do. I had a leak between the Gimbal housing and the Transom.


So I assumed I had a rotten transom... got the engine, out drive and Gimbal housing removed and this is what I'm dealing with.



It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be (then again I don't really know much about all of this). It's rotten in the middle but then gets solid up above and below... wet but solid. I've got a fan running on it now to hopefully dry some of it out.

Do I have any options other than a full replacement for the transom?
 

mickyryan

Rear Admiral
Joined
Apr 18, 2016
Messages
4,210
any idea on source of water? was the gasket bad on the transom housing or water coming from somewhere else ?
 

ondarvr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,527
You can turn the fan off, drying it out isn't going to make much of a difference. You'll be doing some work on the transom in the very near future.
 

Vintage Rider

Seaman
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
62
In the immortal words of Dirty Harry, "how lucky do you feel?" If that's the worst of it you could probably put it all back together and go boating for awhile, although it would probably be wise to watch your bilge, stay close to shore, avoid rough water and don't see how fast it will go. On the other hand, you've already done a fair amount of the work necessary to redo the transom. If you don't fix it now you're going to have to redo everything again later.
 

atv_freak

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
39
I think it was the gimbal housing to transom seal. It was drooping down as you can see in the first picture. I tried putting sealant around the housing and it stopped the leak unless I put upward pressure on the out drive. I could open a gap between the transom and the housing by lifting it up (I'm assuming because of the transom issues). Is there anything that I can try short of a full transom rebuild? Even if it was just for a few seasons or something...
 

ondarvr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,527
I think it was the gimbal housing to transom seal. It was drooping down as you can see in the first picture. I tried putting sealant around the housing and it stopped the leak unless I put upward pressure on the out drive. I could open a gap between the transom and the housing by lifting it up (I'm assuming because of the transom issues). Is there anything that I can try short of a full transom rebuild? Even if it was just for a few seasons or something...

Not really, just do it right and forget about it. Most any short cut will cost almost as much as doing it right, and take almost as long.
 

atv_freak

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
39
Not really, just do it right and forget about it. Most any short cut will cost almost as much as doing it right, and take almost as long.

I know, I know... I'm just want to find a magic wand somewhere...:lol:

Does it matter where I drill into the stringers (top, sides, etc) and motor mounts to see how deep this problem goes?

If it is just the transom that needs to be taken care of, then I think I'll tackle it. But if it is a total gut job, then I think I'm going to part out the running gear and whatever else I can and start over! :facepalm:
 

atv_freak

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
39
Alright I decided to tear into the boat this week... the wife and kids left to visit some family for the weekend so I had some time to work on it. So I'll start from the beginning with the pictures.

Built a hoist to get the engine out. That all went pretty smoothly.


Even had some "help" from the little ones (3 and 1).

Finished getting the rest of components out and discovered the rotten transom, engine mounts, and a good portion of the stringers (pics in first post above).

Deconstruction time!







Look at this awesome floor fix!


Looks like the floor has been worked on twice! At least the first time it looked like they tried to do a good job, but failed in the execution of it.


There was four layers of glass on the floor, but it had delaminated so it just pulled up like a bad vinyl floor.



On the plus side, this made tearing the floor out extremely easy!
 
Last edited:

atv_freak

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
39
So at this point all of the old fixes are out and I have access to most of the foam from the ski locker back.





Most of the foam that was touching the hull was very wet and there were some strains of wetness that went through the middle, but overall the foam was dryer than I expected. So far I have almost 3 big black plastic bags worth of foam removed.



The way this boat was constructed surprised me... none of the stringers are tabbed to the hull (except in the bilge). It looks like they were tabbed to the original deck maybe? There is a bunch of fiberglass with a radius at the top of the stringers. So the stringer and deck were put together in one process and then put into the hull as an assembly?



I was planning on digging out the wood, leaving the stringer fiberglass and doing a pourable composite so I didn't have to completely rebuild the stringers. But with this construction I'm thinking that is no longer an option? I mean I could still do it, but I'm guessing I would need to tab the system to the hull and at that point I might as well start from scratch.
 

atv_freak

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
39
Thanks for weighing in Woodonglass, you're pretty much iboats royalty! So next question is the hull supported enough on the trailer? It's got two bunks on each side. From what I've read, if the cap stays on it should be ok the way it is?
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,924
LOL:lol: I'm certainly NOT royalty!!! Just an Old Dumb Okie trying to help. Support depends on how the trailer is configured Post some pics of the side and bow so we can see how it sits on the trailer.
 

atv_freak

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
39
Today consisted of a trip to Harbor Freight for grinding/sanding supplies in anticipation of my safety gear getting delivered tomorrow and removing the gas tank.

Emptying the 17ish gallons of existing gas using the fuel pump attached to the battery.



Removed the bulkhead in order to get access to the bottom of the tank. The drain must be clogged because there is a bunch of standing water underneath the tanks platform.



Tank is out!





Now it's Friday night pizza time!
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,924
I'd recommend building some supports to sit on the trailer frame and up against the chine. Bunks are good but you need a bit more support further out.
 

atv_freak

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
39
Well the Tyvek suits and full face respirator came this morning... I don't think I've ever sweated so much in my life! This time of year is a terrible time to wear those things! But not itching afterwords is worth it!
 

atv_freak

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Messages
39
atv, I applaud your decision to forge ahead and fix this boat.

Thanks Thomas... I think this decision could probably be classified as ambitiously stupid! :lol:

I'll try to get pictures up this evening of where I ended up yesterday. I'm pretty happy with how much I got done while the wife and kids were away for the weekend. Unfortunately, I came to the conclusion that I'm going to need to pull the cap off... I was hoping I could get away without removing it. Go big or go home I guess!
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,924
I like the fact that you have a full face Respirator! You're making great progress!:rockon:
 
Top