SEABUDDY
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Her hull is designed for big lakes, open sounds, and expansive bays. Her interior is especially “yachtesque” with a dance-floor-wide cockpit in a bow rider configuartion. Exceptional water and pier access has been designed-in, not offered as an option. The new R 5 Cobalt is a customer’s boat. Understanding functional luxury requires study of this boat.

The running surface of the new 2013 Cobalt R 5

Cobalt listens to its customers and then it designs a boat to meet their needs. This Cobalt boat has a 21 degree transom deadrise, narrowed strakes, a sharper bow entry angle, and a careful respect to boat balance. Take a ride, experience how a sport boat can perform on your waters.

A driving push for this boat is the cockpit experience for boat owner and guests alike. Take a look for yourself—Cobalt has done something way different here than others have done in the past. The main seating offers many surprises that delight all onboard. The bow cockpit seating is huge and provides a wonderful place to lounge in the sun on the water. Shade is available for the main cockpit. The on-board storage on this boat is outstanding The head is easy to enter and generously big once inside. This runabout defines “ergonomics” for this class of sport boat. Vinyl, leather, hi-tech fiberglass, custom crafted metal, and a touch of wood accent trim sets an ambiance that few can match, even when one compares this new boat model boat to a classic boat from the 1930s.

The new R 5 Cobalt bow rider, factory boat photo

Cobalt’s new R 5 has a LOA of 25’ 8” with a beam of 8’ 6” and a weight of around 4,900 LBS. She is certified by the Coast Guard to carry 14 passengers or 2,250 LBS of passengers and gear. Cobalt offers a selection of engines from 300 to 430 horsepower.

seabuddy thanks Cobalt for its photos.

This is an 18’ 10” Wildcat model 1967 Correct Craft. She is a center engine (engine box in the middle of the cockpit), shaft-drive, inboard powerboat. Her power is a 318 Chrysler V-8 that makes 235 horsepower. There is seating for five, two in front of the engine box and three on a bench behind the engine at her stern . Her bottom is essentially a flat bottom with a very gentle arc athwartships across her running surface.

Restored classic 1967 Wildcat model Correct Craft inboard ski boat

This Correct Craft Wildcat is a ski boat. She was displayed with water skis and accessories as if she was ready to go. The owner did a nice job with her presentation at the Tavares classic boat show. Correct Craft, Ski Nautique, and Nautique are names that are imbedded in water skiing history. Correct Craft was founded in 1925 and has been the keystone builder of boats for water skiing competition and water ski shows. Correct Craft “owned” this segment of the industry for years, without competitors. Seabuddy recalls here a personal conversation he had with Al Hegg years back about his Century boats and about how hard a time he had getting his Century water ski boat models legalized for water ski competition.

Causing Correct Craft to rise to prominence in water skiing was Cypress Gardens, which opened in 1936. Known as the “Water Ski Capital of the World”, Cypress Gardens was home to many of the sport’s landmark firsts as well as over 50 world records. But it was best known for the Cypress Gardens Water Ski Show, which featured Correct Craft ski boats.

Founder W.C. Meloon started using the Correct Craft brand name for his boat building company in 1936. The Ski Nautique name was added in 1961 when they began producing fiberglass water ski boats using a mold they brought from Leo Bentz. Nautique’s boat bottom shapes really went wild starting with the 1989 models where stepped chines, spray relief pockets, along with a variable planning hull dead rise became standard on their ski boats. Just stick your head under an example to fully inspect a modern ski boat bottom shape.

While this classic boat was made in the Orlando, FL plant, Correct Craft’s current manufacturing facility, started in 2005, includes two private lakes used to test their boat designs. In 2009 Correct Craft celebrated a milestone, having built 200,000 boats in its history

Buy now or wait as more are coming!

Only one of these boats comes with a wood hull and wood deck, this 16’ Runabout is from Maine boat builder, Callinectes Boat Works or www.cboatworks.com . However, most of their customers, after a lot of discussion, go with a wood deck-fiberglass hull boat model. Talk about a classic styled, fun runabout! This boat will knock your socks off!

New 16' water-jet powered Classic Styled Maine-built Runabout

She is not a reproduction, she is an original design by Glen Shivel and Scott Lambert featuring a soft-riding, semi-vee bottom shape. This boat is easy to look at, quick to plane and fun.  She runs around a lake like she is a classic Riva Junior or Chris Craft Riviera. If you go with a fiberglass hull and a wood deck selection, she is a light weight (1,100 LBS) and about a $49,000 modern boat.

Nice lines and curves for a 16' two cockpit boat

She is a water-jet boat, an inboard, as classed by the U.S. Coast Guard. Yamaha jet boats are best sellers in 19, 21, and 24’ sizes. Sea Ray, using the same brand engine and water jet drive as this Callinectes Boat Works model has already introduced one for themselves this year.

SHH! Scarab, Chaparral, Four Winns, and Glastron will have theirs by this coming Xmas, 2013! They will have one or two models each by then. These last boat builders intend to use the “inboard jet propusion system” from BRP. It, like an outboard from the fifties, has the engine, controls, fuel and jet pumps, exhaust, electrical, propulsion, and cooling systems as a package. It is an easy and one-stop shopping experience for a boat builder to install. Note, BRP has spent $15 million and added 137 employees at its Evinrude outboard factory to bring this power package to market.

Seabuddy has inspected this boat (the one I looked at had the fiberglass hull choice, which he prefers for this boat) and hopes to do a sea trial once the weather warms up in Kennebunkport, ME.

Rumors suggest that the engine color will change for boats

Magnum Marine started life on 188^th street with the “Maltese Magnum”, a 27’ race boat.

Magnum had replaced Donzi Marine in Don’s daily life and in 1966 he went racing in that boat. He won, so naturally, folks wanted one for themselves and a building was built and a powerboat racing legend was born.

Don Aronow wins 1967 World Championship in Magnum Marine 35 vee drive boat

Don also built a bigger and wider boat, his 35 footer, in 1967. That new boat was intended to be kept in a slip in the water. Up till now, all of Don’s boats were for trailered boats. Initially, these production 35’ cabin cruiser boats came with two gas inboard engines. However, a few were raced without their cabin and fly bridge and with up to four outboards or two inboards.

catalog sheet for the Magnum Marine 16 Marauder

He also made two smaller outboard engine powered boat designs. One was a ski boat, the 16’ Marauder. He made about 20 copies of this deep vee, 50 MPH boat design. Another boat was the Maltese Magnum Missile 16’, which was a tunnel hull boat. This boat was said to go 60 MPH with the same size outboard power as the Marauder. A production run of about 30 of these were made.

Magnum also introduced variations on the 27’ hull now. However, this was done under new company ownership. Don had sold his operating company to Apeco, keeping the building as a rental property. One of these variations was the sport deck model in 1968. The other, a cabin boat named the Sedan, came out the next year. A cabin style boat was needed for some racing classes in Europe. The 27’ Magnum Marine Sedan fit the bill for the best racing class there.

Another boat model was the Magnum 28’. This performance boat had a higher, rounded deck line primarily for more room in the cabin. It is a model without side cabin windows nor any deckhouse sides. It should have been a good seller but it was discontinued in 1979 after a six year production run.

It was in 1976 that Apeco sold Magnum Marine to Filippo Theodoli and his wife, Katrin.

They brought out the infamous Magnum 53′ in 1977. She was a two staterooms, wide-beamed, high performance yacht. This model re-directed Magnum Marine into a different kind of a boat company. New boat models were now powered by diesel engines. These new models were to be very high-style yachts that were eminently seaworthy in moderate seas with each having a good turn of speed.

first 53' Magnum Marine

Seabuddy thanks Magnum Marine for their photos and the last one shown here is his favorite shot of this brand.

Factory photo of a 44 footer running fast in rough seas

Wood Rivas seem to seabuddy to reflect Italian passion, smart boat building, and a vision about what a good boat should be. They reflect timeless design, imaginative colors, and top shelf material choices. They are also expensive boats. Usually they ask and bring more money than other production boats. There was one paper of one for sale for $149,500 from a very well respected broker. That one boat-for-sale listing was for a 22’ wooden runabout boat. She was said to have a 220 horsepower 327 Chevy/Crusader/Riva engine. It was an example of the most desirable model of the Riva Ariston series. It was also offered as a well-maintained craft.

Is it worth it? Who knows? Boats are not basics like potatoes. No pleasure boat is. My boat is my hobby. And I do not have the coin in my jeans for a top shelf boat that is a classic wood Riva power boat.

Factory photo of Riva boats

A Riva is also a work of art in many aspects. Look at the hardware. Inspect the windshield. The grace in the shape of the control handles. Look at the fitment of wood if the engine room is open. Study the use of plywood and timber wood through-out the boat. A Riva boat can take one’s breath away if one really looks at it closely and in detail. A Riva looks like a handcrafted, one-off boat, but it is a production boat. A limited production boat that stands close inspect up to the standard of a custom boat is a show stopper.

Riva wood boat with the cockpit seating laid into a sun bed

And, by the way, boating is seabuddy’s passion. I am looking forward to a nice summer on the water. Look for more info and photos from this RIVA book… and seabuddy thanks them for their photos.

Riva Hull under construction in its building jig at the factory

Sometimes it is the second boat design that makes a boat building company. Don Aronow had a craving for a new design for an offshore racer. He had sold his prior design and company (Formula and its 233 boat model) on 188^th Street. He was ready for step two of his plan. Don now made a new company and a new fiberglass boat. The company became Donzi Marine and the boat was a 28 foot deep vee offshore race boat. Don had Walt Walters design that boat, make its running surface a winner, and draw up the plans that caused it to be built.

Don Aronow driving his 28' race boat 008

He and his buddies made and raced several of these fiberglass boats. The most powerful had over 1,100 horsepower in its two Ford engines. That high level of power had to use vee drives at that time. No stern drive (I/O) could stay together, either for pleasure use or racing boat use.

Boat racers were larger-than-life heroes to worship, and they all seemed to come from two addresses: NE 188th Street in North Miami, FL. and Bertram’s Miami address near the airport. Don Aronow’s “Thunderboat Row” started to grow in stature and began to pull ahead of Dick Bertram’s efforts in time. But, not yet. The 28’ while successful, did not strike gold with pleasure boat buyers. Those “Damned Donzis” were heard on the race course, but not in the boat showrooms. It took a lake and bay boat that was nimble and easy to jump in and take off in for a fast ride to make Donzi. Now it was 1964 and that nimble boat really made Donzi Marine.

Jim Wynne with his Wyn Mill II race boat

The Ski Sporter, or Donzi Sweet 16, made Donzi Boats into a company. That model boat was based on a shorten version of Jim Wynne’s winning race boat, the Wyn-Mill II. Wyn Mill II was Jim’s racer as designed by Walt Walters with input from Jim and perhaps others. Walt drew up the plans and it is his name that is on them. A friend recently shared a sheet of those boat building plans with seabuddy. In the past, seabuddy incorrectly said that Jim Wynne designed this racer. These facts, as it was helpfully explained to seabuddy, were incorrect. Jim had input, he was there, but Walt’s name is on the drawings that the boat was built from. He is the designer of record.

(As an aside, the free exchange of facts and the making of boating friends that today’s internet gives seabuddy continues to amaze him.)

That boat’s hull was shortened into a 16’ 71/2” long fiberglass boat. She had the same 7’ beam and 24 degree deep vee hull bottom. These Donzi boats were designed to be small, light, and a fun ride. This boat was originally called the Ski Sporter Donzi and later it was named the Donzi Sweet 16. With its first Volvo engine and out drive set-up its top speed was in the 41 to 43 MPH range. Now one can find Sweet 16s with V-6 and V-8 power. With souped up engines, a strong sterndrive I/O and a special prop, she can deliver more speed than a sane person would enjoy.

Classic fiberglass Donzi Marine boat cockpit

Gar Wood is known in classic boating as the man who won five straight years if powerboat Gold cup races. Garfield Wood was the first man to break 100 MPH in a boat. He was also the owner of Chris Craft boats for at least five years. He invented the famous “Baby Gar” line of boats with his designer, Nap Lisee. With Howard Lyon, he put boats on Broadway in New York City.

Gar made his money from his inventions, patents, and non-boat building businesses. He spent it on boats. His Miss America series of race boats cost him a fortune. His two boat building plants (the original Algonac Chris Craft plant and a bigger one that he scratch-built in Marysville, MI.) He financed his son in a start-up fiberglass boat building business after W. W. II.

note the opening windshield on this classic Gar Wood Cabin Cruiser

Seabuddy shows in these two photos one of Gar Wood and Nap Lisee’s more popular designs. This is not a race boat. She is a family boat. A pre-war Gar Wood 20.5 foot long Streamline Cabin Utility. This 1940 classic wood boat is richly restored. She is powered by a Gray Fireball inboard engine of 160 horsepower. She has a straight shaft, center located engine drive system. This is a classic wood boat. She is a mahogany planked cabin cruiser that is bright finished. This style was a best seller for Gar Wood brand boats since they invented it in 1936.

Gar Wood was born in 1880 and died in Miami in 1971. His last invention that made Popular Mechanics magazine was an electric car and that car write-up was published in 1967. He never stopped inventing.

restored 20.5 foot Gar Wood 1940 cabin cruiser

This is one of about 134 fiberglass 17 foot Century Resorter examples made for the 1968 model year. Century was still within its transition from wood boats to fiberglass boats. They also made 61 wood hulled examples of this boat model at that time.

bow view, note the added-on wood spray knocker

Resorters are utility-style, walk around, single cockpit boats with a center mounted inboard engine that have a fore deck with a high windshield (most likely an automotive rear window, which was popular at this time) and a small aft deck. Seating was in front of the engine and across the stern. The engine box dominates the cockpit space while the transmission and straight shaft propeller drive with its separate rudder is hidden under the cockpit floor. This boat has a 210 horsepower Chrysler V-8.

engine box and rear seat in this Century Resorter

This is really a wood boat design that was re-tooled into a fiberglass boat. Over the years, Century often made 170-180 wood examples of 17’ Resorters each model year. So, at 61 wood boats for this year, one can see the wood boat sales rate falling off. BTW, Leon Slikkers (of Tiara Yachts and Pursuit Fish boats)  is rumored to have made the tooling for some of the fiberglass Centurys.  These fiberglass ones were only a year or two into production at Century Boats, at the time this boat was made.

Resorters came in different sizes, 15’, 16’, 17’, 18’, 19’, and 21’ over the years. Collectors champion among themselves for their favorite size as cockpits, seating comfort, engines,   and handling performance differ. Some mention a “Fun Factor” with certain ones. Others sight the freedom of movement while presenting a high style, one that all Resorter models Century Boats offer.

Windshield and dash of 17' Century Resorter 1968

Century Boats started in Milwaukee in 1926 with a 14 foot outboard wood planked racer runabout with a step in its bottom. Next, a 12 foot outboard and a 17’ footer joined that 14’ model, named, Kid. Century moved its boat building plant to Mansitee in 1929. 1930 saw the first year of inboard powered boats. As far as seabuddy knows, the 15’ Palomino and Roan models of 1961 were the last outboard Century runabouts.

transom of 17' inboard runabout Classic Century Resorter 1968

One of the top boats at the Classic Boat Show

It is not about twin engine outboards on a classic boat. It is about fine art on the water in seabuddy’s book. Ventuno is Italian for 21 I am told. To me, this boat looks like an early 1950s fiberglass outboard boat. But, she is still being finished and she was just a gleam in the mind of Gary Mac Norris in 2005.

frame work started

Construction started the following year as a chalk line on a shop garage floor. Gary, like most artists, knew what he wanted. He bent a thin flexible section of wood into a more defined outline. Then he made the wood framework. So the boat would come off the building frame, that was covered with visqueen.

beginning of composite hull balsa core

Now the hull was started over the framework. Sheets of balsa wood scribed into 21/2 inch square blocks and set on a cloth like backing was applied over the form. That balsa was shaped and sanded into the final contours of what Norris had imaged in his mind.

Then several layers of epoxy saturated fiberglass mat/cloth over that made the outside hull finish. Then, the boat was taken off its building frame and the epoxy fiberglass layup was put on the under (or the inside) of the hull.

twin Mercury outboard engines on 21' custom fiberglass runabout boat

Thus, this art boat is a composite boat. A boat hull and deck of a sandwich of epoxy resin, fiberglass cloth, and balsa wood. OH! And lots of custom tricks to get that super glossy smooth finish that stops everyone’s eye when they see the boat.

custom touch shows the levle of finish

There are lots of custom touches on this classic boat. The dash is machine water cut engine turned metal from the aluminum mock up Gary gave to an aircraft builder. No stock seats fit in the narrow cockpit that was in this art design, so four had to be bought and cut / narrowed to fit. One of the top three boats at the Tavares Classic Boat Show, IMO.

Hand made dash and Windshield

In the early 1960s an office, shopping center, and apartment builder / developer from New Jersey started a boutique boat building company. He built race boats at first. He liked rough, open-water offshore powerboat racing and built a boat company to build a winning boat. That was the 28 foot race boat.

Names that come to mind for this era of offshore boat racing are Jim Martenhoff, Odell Lewis, Pete Rittmaster, Forest Johnson, Jacoby, Brownie Allan Brown, Bill Wishnick, Red Crise, Sam Griffith, and Carl Kiekhaefer.

It was 1964 when Don Aronow made his first production Donzi Marine recreational boat. It was the Ski Sporter or “Sweet 16”. Jim Wynne, Brownie, and others were involved in the 110 Hp 4 cylinder powered 16. The boat made the company. It became a viable, small production Miami boat builder. Much of that design was adopted from Jim’s Wyn-Mill II race boat that also was powered by a Volvo car engine. Wynne had a business deal with Volvo.

He first had had Ray Hunt design him a 17’ boat. This boat, Wyn-Mill, did not do the job. But this size boat seemed to be right. Wynne then, himself, designed a 17’ boat named Wyn-Mill II. With that boat he then went out and set eight world class marathon power boat racing records with it.

Donzi Marine 18 Classic

Most of the difference between the two boats was in the running strakes location /shape and also in the chine location. The relocation of the chines made this second design a truly different boat design from the first Wyn-Mill. A 17′ fiberglass boat was made from the race boat wooden plug of the Wynn-Mill II. This boat was then put in the water for some prototype fine-tuning by Don Aronow. Once Aronow sold his prior Formula boat company, Aronow found himself with this rough test boat, so, it went back to his Donzi Marine boat factory.  This boat was shortened somewhat and it is that shortened Aronow tested hull that became at least a third boat design and that became  the Donzi Sweet 16’/ Donzi Marine Ski Sporter.

Now, the world was turned upside down in small boats, with this Don Aronow Donzi Marine Sweet 16, first powered by a 110 Hp Volvo engine. Bigger engines and higher speeds came later.

Classic Donzi Marine fiberglass 18

Next up was the introduction of  14’ and 18’ variants of the original Sweet 16.  That brings us to this boat, the Donzi 18.

By the way, Donzi was still making less than 50 boats per year within a boat building factory leased out to Teleflex, but owned by Don Aronow. It was in 1985 or so, that another new ownership of Donzi moved it from 188^thst and within a Don Arorow owned building on the east coast of Florida, to Sarasota, FL on the west coast of the state. There the production was expanded with more models and to about 350-400 boats per year, from 16 to 43 feet in length.

Seating in a stock Classic Donzi Marine 18