Intro and newbie (Fountain) question
 

Hello - my name is Tom, I'm a boataholic, and have abstained from boating for 5 years.

(the crowd says, "Hello Tom" and then boos him for his abstinence)

First I want to thank this website and the folks here for the info I've been mining for the last couple of years.

Me? I'm an engineer by trade and gearhead by choice. I love motorcycles, boats, airplanes, and racing. I personally think the greatest gift that God ever gave to Man was the internal combustion engine. And one day I'm going to create a line of women's fragrances that will have the aroma of such things as the exhaust smell of a 2-stroke burning Blenzall or a V-8 burning VP or Turbo Blue race fuel. Yes....my wife thinks I'm crazy. Anyhow........

I've pretty much grown up around boating and the water. My Dad took me to boat races as early as 4 years old. As for boating experience, it ranges from helping my Dad build a 15' outboard runabout (Glen L Marine Designs) at the age of 6 to a 35' inboard cabin cruiser to a 19' outboard to a 52' sailboat, to.....well, you get the picture. The only boat I've not had the pleasure of piloting is the one boat that I have promised myself I would purchase for my 55th birthday and that is an offshore style performance boat. And I'm right on track to make that happen next year. YEA ME!!!!!

As I continue to narrow down my choices there's an odd question I have that I hope you guys could answer for me. Actually, I think I need your opinion(s) more than an answer.

Every power boat that I have ever piloted, and many of todays performance boats, has the throttle and/or shift on the right side. However, that is not true with the controls on a Fountain. Which leads me to my odd question. Am I just being prejudice due to experience that I would not like the left hand control setup found on a Fountain? It honestly looks like it would be awkward. Obviously I've never piloted a Fountain, so maybe I should reserve judgement.

Where this is going is that I like the way Fountain's look, how they perform (from what I've read), and their quality but I don't want to rule out Fountain boats as an option based upon their left hand controls. So.......

Would any of you care to opine???

TIA

Just like anything.. You get use to it.:drink:

Hello Tom. I have owned a 15' outboard, 19' Searay, two 21' Novas, a 25' nova, 27 Formula, and a 33 Formula. All had right hand controls. I am now the proud owner of a 42' Fountain and I love it. I have about 20 hours on it so far and still find my right hand reaching for the sticks. Is it a problem? No. I am a little concerned with guests on the boat that could easily bump the controls while walking by. If it happened at the wrong time, it could be bad. But I sure do love that boat.

You won't even think about it after a few minutes..
No different than driving from the rt side, vs the left side as in your car.

I agree, took about 30 min to adjust to the throttles , don't really see a lot of diff at this time, great boat's and really perform well, good luck with the present!!


RHC

:food-smiley-007:

I run a donzi that has left hand controls, then the same day, I will hop in my center console which is right hand controls, never once have I missed anything due to it, it will become natural to you, does not matter which side they are on. Do not rule out a boat because of it.

I have owned boats that have had LH steering and RH steering (opposite of cars) foot throttles both right foot and left foot (on a drag boat), right hand throttles and left hand throttles. It takes mere minutes to adjust to it. Not a factor at all. Funny how nobody ever brings up the fact that most boats have the steering on the right the very opposite side of cars. Is it a factor? Not at all.

I think you'd get used to it. The nice thing is when docking you will rarely use the throttles so you can just focus on the shifters.

Welcome to OSO and the offshore scene - you'll enjoy!

Much thanks to all of you that responded. Some good points that I had not considered.

As an aside - I must tell you it's a bit intimidating to post here for the first time and I don't mean that in a bad way. Not only are there many of you that have been here awhile, but it's pretty obvious that you have been around the performance boating scene for some time and know your sh!t. It's my sincere hope that one day I get to meet some of you at a poker run or summat.

FWIW - my manufactuer choices have been narrowed down to (in no particular order) Fountain, Formula, and Velocity. My wife tolerates my go-fast hobbies of cars and motorcycles because we have reached a compromise. If I buy a sportbike, I must also have a bike that she feels comfortable on - hence my FJR1300. Same for cars. Anyhow....although I would love to chose a boat purely for performance, it must adhere to our compromise. For that reason, I believe we are leaning towards Fountain & Formula - easy (it seems) to go relatively fast, yet still have some creature comforts. I think we also would like to stay in the 33 to 35 foot range.

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts. I'm completely open to other's perspectives.

And thanks for making me feel welcome. :drink:

Tom