Dana Powerboats

Does any one have any information on these boats? I know the name was bought and a few were being built a couple of years ago.Are they still around?

I'm in the same boat (no pun intended) I have an 85 21' Dana and can find virtually no information about the manufacturer. Hot boat did a review of a model I believe they called the arrow, so you could look in the test archives for that information. From my observations... they didn't exactly build the highest quality boat. I had to refloor mine and am now finding some problems with the transom. The boat is borderline unsafe at any speed over 40 until I get a diverter on it due to nasty bow steer. I don't know if it was just poor rigging on my particular boat, but even if they were still in business I would definitely not look at buying a newer model. From what I remeber about the comentary of Hot Boat's test, the gist was that Dana was trying to produce custom boats that the entry level buyer could attain. Nice gesture, too bad they didn't get it right.
Chris

If this is the Dana I am thinking of, they has a showroom on Garden Grove Blvd in Garden Grove. Don't know where they laid up the hulls but I recall them rigging some boats there. I think they've closed up shop since the early 90's. Maybe someone else knows more accurate info than I am providing. A retired business associate of mine had a 21 footer (I'm guessing) with a BBC/diverter and did not care for it.

gstark, I have the same info. Don't know where they went but, they used to be on Garden Grove Blvd @ Goldenwest in Garden Grove, CA.
Call Greg Shoemaker or Jack Mclure. With their contacts they may be able to tell you something?

Yeah, I have a 21 footer also, which I bought brand new in 98'. At that time it was called the 21SS. It is actually 20'6". They also were producing at that time a 19' they called the Dart(?)They had a small shop in Anaheim off of Mira Loma right behind Hardin Marine which they shared with A-1 marine interiors. The owner Don was selling them out of a used boat place called Boat Emporium, also in Anaheim. The hull looks to be from the same molds as the older models. I agree the rigging left something to be desired, but I have since re-done the wiring and cleaned up alot of other issues and added dual battery setup, hatch-lift, and stereo system. The boat came stock with a Indmar 454 and Legend pump. I have since added a Place Diverter. Your right the boat does seem to have quite a bit of bow steer, but I have ran it to what I beleive to be 55+mph but I don't know that it was unsafe. Of course not knowing what to compare it with who knows? What should I be wary of? I also noticed that even with the diverter, it seems to bury the nose at high speed. Have you noticed similar problems? Is this hull notorious for hook problems? Do you have any info. as to the weight of this hull? Any info. is much appreciated.

HoJoe69,
I'm pretty sure that Dana boat's were built by the same guy that has Dana products, you know, the billet aluminium stuff. I don't know if he's still around.
At Advantage, some time ago, Harry, the owner, would not use the products of someone if they were a competitor in the boat biz. We used Action ind. stuff for our alum. hardware. When Berkeley became part of Hardin, we had to switch to different pumps because of their own boat manufacturing.
Never messed with their boats (Dana), sorry to hear they are giving you guys fits.

Originally posted by HoJoe69:
Yeah, I have a 21 footer also, which I bought brand new in 98'. At that time it was called the 21SS. It is actually 20'6". They also were producing at that time a 19' they called the Dart(?)They had a small shop in Anaheim off of Mira Loma right behind Hardin Marine which they shared with A-1 marine interiors. The owner Don was selling them out of a used boat place called Boat Emporium, also in Anaheim. The hull looks to be from the same molds as the older models. I agree the rigging left something to be desired, but I have since re-done the wiring and cleaned up alot of other issues and added dual battery setup, hatch-lift, and stereo system. The boat came stock with a Indmar 454 and Legend pump. I have since added a Place Diverter. Your right the boat does seem to have quite a bit of bow steer, but I have ran it to what I beleive to be 55+mph but I don't know that it was unsafe. Of course not knowing what to compare it with who knows? What should I be wary of? I also noticed that even with the diverter, it seems to bury the nose at high speed. Have you noticed similar problems? Is this hull notorious for hook problems? Do you have any info. as to the weight of this hull? Any info. is much appreciated.
HoJoe,
What I meant about the handling was that the bowsteer is currently bad enough that I would not want to let my girlfriend (or anyone else that hasn't had some seat time behind different types of hulls) take the thing past 40mph. There is hook on mine and it's pretty bad. I was hoping to work it out this winter but other motor upgrades and interior work are going to prevent that from happening. I'll be installing a droop in the next couple of months and will see what that does to get the boat out of the water a bit more. I would think that with the 8degrees up built into the droop that It should help alieviate more of the bow steer. For the record my hull is probably a little different from yours. I have what is basically a splash of an Eliminator Sport Cruiser. I believe that your boat is probably very similar to something like a Caribbean 20.6 which are good boats(when layed up and rigged properly) Perhaps the reason we both have bow steer is the angle the intake was set in the hull. This could put the jet in a naturally down nozzle attitude, but then I would expect to see some cavitation when it started to buck the intake out of the water. Anyhow, I'll be getting some better pics of my boat up on my site later, but if you have pics and would like to have them on the web, email me at Chris@povertylineracing.com and I'll get you hooked up.
Thanks,
Chris

Originally posted by flat broke:
HoJoe,
What I meant about the handling was that the bowsteer is currently bad enough that I would not want to let my girlfriend (or anyone else that hasn't had some seat time behind different types of hulls) take the thing past 40mph. There is hook on mine and it's pretty bad. I was hoping to work it out this winter but other motor upgrades and interior work are going to prevent that from happening. I'll be installing a droop in the next couple of months and will see what that does to get the boat out of the water a bit more. I would think that with the 8degrees up built into the droop that It should help alieviate more of the bow steer. For the record my hull is probably a little different from yours. I have what is basically a splash of an Eliminator Sport Cruiser. I believe that your boat is probably very similar to something like a Caribbean 20.6 which are good boats(when layed up and rigged properly) Perhaps the reason we both have bow steer is the angle the intake was set in the hull. This could put the jet in a naturally down nozzle attitude, but then I would expect to see some cavitation when it started to buck the intake out of the water. Anyhow, I'll be getting some better pics of my boat up on my site later, but if you have pics and would like to have them on the web, email me at Chris@povertylineracing.com and I'll get you hooked up.
Thanks,
Chris
Chris,
Thanks for the info.!!
Let me know how the droop snoot works out. As soon as I get some decent pics I'll get them to you. Like to check out your boat too! Do you have a site I can see some of your boat?
HoJoe