gottahaveone

have owned a boat before in my past life for about 5 years until the big dee-vorce drill. its been a few years since owning one. live in az and basically it will be a fresh water only boat. have property to store it and enjoy working on them to no end.

now the question ???? i just read fountain declared bankruptcy protection. does this bother any of you?

i have been going back and forth re: formula/fountain. i want speed(when needed) 525EFI's and soon to be wifey wants comfort. she doesnt like gofasts in the sense of a 353 fastech or a fountain 35. she looked at a cruiser pig and liked that idea. well me being me and already been down the very long and slow cruiser pig boat ownership program with a top speed of 44mph, going downhill with a tail wind and a teaspoon of gas and no beer on board is enough to make me want to hurl! and want to slash my wrists !

so a cruiser pig aint happening. im going on 52 and this will be the last "hurrah" for this boy.

so in my infinite wizdumb............i spied the fountain 38 express cruiser. just what the doctor ordered. all the foo foo crap for wifey and just enough ponies to keep big daddy lil bucks happy. 525EFI's are just perfect for me. have dealt with some merc 700SC's and aside from owner sinking boat twice(long goofy story-involving mooring buoy), the 700's built nice ponies but were labor intensive and somewhat cantankerous.

soooo........ i have read pretty much all good about fountains until this chapter 11 deal floated past me and kind of got me thinking some not so good thoughts down the road for me.

the killer to this is i racked my brain about this cruiser pig/gofast dilemma with wifey. just as i come up with the uber solution with a 38ft express, the rug gets pulled out by this chap 11 crap.

im in this for the long haul(ie. until i croak) and really dont want to have to go searching high and low for fountain parts. i have this drill down and already own dedicated 1-ton tow vehicle, and the fact soon to be wifey is ALL OVER getting a boat, i should act when i find the correct one.

final question. can i get the 525's staggered in a 38express for ease of maintenance?

thanks for your help.

gerritm

I don't know if the 38 express is available in a 525 staggered, but are you looking for new or used? New might be problem for awhile, but used, there are a few out there. I am 55 and it will be my retirement boat. I have spoken to a couple of the players in Fountain and it seems that they feel Fountain will be bought by an investment group and continue to make boats. Maybe not in the quantities as before, but they will be around for a long time. I would worry more about the engines, than finding Fountain parts. Most anything that will break beyond the engines can be found in the aftermarket.

Wildman_grafix

Well look at the new post about Fountain

fountain 47 sc

Good boat but not practical to tow regularly because of the width

38fountainecman

newbee

I have owned 1990 Formula 292 sr1, 1986 357 sr1 kamma, still own a 1997 419 fastec (with a blown up motor) and have owned a 06 fountain 38 express cruiser going on two years. the 38 ec is in my opinion the perfect mix of cruiser/go fast. in fact, I get more looks and thumbs up in my 38 ec than I ever did in my Formulas. I also think the 38 EC is a little more solid than the Formula. I really like the foam coring that Fountain puts in the boat. Formula uses a crap load of fiberglass and ame 5000 to get the job done. I have 496 425 hp motors w/ bravo III's. Boat runs 60 mph all day in the florida heat. Recently, I used the bravo 1's from my 419 on the 38 and ran 65 mph (had to overtrim to get top speed, so not the optimum pitch prop). I have seen a tennessee boat run 83 mph with 525's and whipples and I have seen 496's with whipples, but don't remember the speed. I have also seen one staggered 07 for sale in NY a few years ago, but it was with 496 ho's. I do all my own maintenance and for the last two years never really could get response from the factory, so I ended up finding all the parts on-line. Things like circuit breakers, trim switches, etc. I have had no issues with the things that Fountain builds; fiberglass, cabinets, seats, etc. I have an issue with the windshield frame coroding, but that is easily fixed with paint from my local shop. The boat runs extremely well in rough seas to boot (4'to6'), not that you will be doing much of that. I'm 47 and like you are looking to own this boat for quite some time and look forward to doing so. I find there are many 496 boats out there and few 525's. Maybe go with 496's and pro-charge for mid 70's. Also, boat gets 1.4 mpg at 40 mph. I also trailer the boat all over florida and there is no problem with the beam. It is wider than permitted by florida state law, but it is not enforced very much here. PM me and I'll shoot you some pics.

carcrash

I suggest you consider one of the outboard powered 38 models instead, such as the LX or SFC-OB. Its fundamentally easier to work on outboards than I/Os.

Also, (you probably already know this but) you should really buy a "strippee" if possible -- less equipment is far better than more, as everything on a boat will break and will need maintenance. While you make it clear you don't mind working on stuff, if this is really your "last boat" you will own it after you retire -- money becomes a lot more valuable then, and fixing stuff costs money (even when your labor is very free).

Can't imagine why you'd need electronics in AZ, and electronics are getting cheaper and cheaper all the time. So avoid getting electronics.

You might need AC, which requires a generator. But again, I'd go simple, like get a Honda generator from WalMart, rather than a built in anything. Get one of those "put it on top of a hatch" portable ACs.

Simple, simple, simple.

carcrash

Also, if you buy a boat with nothing in it, and you put all the stuff in, you'll be forced to do it in a way that you can actually get to all the stuff.

When a builder builds a boat, they can and often do install stuff "on top of" other stuff, so things may be impossible to fix.

gottahaveone

hey thanks to all of you and i read the post re: hustlers possible buyout of fountain.

i thought about the external motors, i thought about 496's. everything i have read from all sides of the fence from owners, and from my amigo phil bergeron(bergeronmarine) here in az. pointed me on a quest towards 525EFI's.

i am ONLY doing this once. financially i am not worried nor care about payment per month. it will be my 2nd home write off. family here has 3 cabins nestled in the cozy woods and all they have become is a prisoner to home depot/lowes with upkeep and thats the only place they go EVER! and they poo themselves every forest fire that goes ripping thru forest.

me.........i kinda want to have the ability to go from bartlett lake here 30 min away. to rooselvelt lake 1hr 45 away, to lake powell(uber wet dream) about 6-7 hrs towing.

at bartlett i would get a slip for the summer months then pull out and bring home after shakedown cruises. have area alotted in fenced backyard and it will sleep about 8feet away from my head and a benelli M-2 vang comped 12ga shotgun. it will be plugged into house for shorepower and most maint done about 20 feet from ice cold beers in refrig. also wolf/weimereiner will become the uber guard mutt and pee on my nice shiney wheels, while pulling perimeter guard duties. LOL.

with the last boat(4-skin pig cruiser with omc 460), the drill was the same at home. very very functional. almost like house was built for it.

anyway during tenure with last boat i joined the uscg aux flotilla 10-11 and became a crewmember just shy of coxswain. more fun than i can tell you as well as alot of work on very hot days dealing with goofy blowbote regattas. but none the less i learned a hell of alot and it wasnt bad getting paid for my expenses. typical drill was tow boat to lake fri night, do uscgaux duty saturday, sat night drink cold ones to excess, putt putt around sunday and either leave at lake in dry storage or tow home. drag dead ass to work monday kind of thing .

i realize this 38 is a tad bigger than my 26ft. so towing isnt really on the top of my fun thangs to do, so wherever i go after rigging and shakedown it will be staying.

at powell i will have to drain all water out of drives and engines water heater water tank due to possibility of winter freeze at 4400ft elevation. but the ultimate goal is to have it at powell and spend a minimum of 2 weeks at a time 2-3 times a year. i have spent 3 weeks at powell in the summer and it was almost a forced march. it gets hot. but powell will take you at least a lifetime to learn all of it and it is the place to be come sept oct early nov and come spring time.at powell i have a choice of outside or inside dry storage which would include me buying full boat cover and securing very well against inherent winds.

im very saddened by the news re: fountain inc and really hope they can come back. bergeron stated if ya wanted to go fast buy a fountain, if ya want creature comforts buy a formula. and thats pretty much been echoed here and elsewhere.

ive been racing off road off and on bikes , buggies,trucks for years and most recently a porsche 911 in showroom stock. the speed thing is kind of not on the wish list anymore. some reliable beans when ya need it, comfortable for the wifey, air cond/heat and i'll be in pig heaven.

one other note re: outboards. thought about this,like the idea, but since being a diver for 34 years, i need the poop deck space for ingress/egress diving and that shot the idea all to hell.

its really coming down to this fountain 38EC(no freeking brainer) or formula 33PC or chaparal 330(wifey's view of the world-what a dork!). and as mentioned....................i dont want another pig bote!

heres my e-mail if anyone sees a above average to excellent condition formula 38EC, with 525EFI's, air-cond/heat/genset.

thank you. [email protected]