Beware of this Fountain for sale!!!
Platinum Member
10-16-2003, 12:50 AM
#15
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Does it come with that trailer? 
10-16-2003, 01:55 PM
#16
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Since I work for Pier 57 and know the whole story behind this boat, I thought it would be a good idea to reply to this thread. The boat was originally bought by David Woods (owner of Pier57) at the Miami Boat Show in 1994. It was David's first Fountain and the third stepped bottom 42 to come out of the factory. The boat originally had triple 500's. The original graphics were Indy with red and grey stripes. David had owned the boat for about 6 months when it sank at his boathouse. It sank because the lift it was kept on malfunctioned and the ass end of the boat dropped into the water while the bow was 20 ft in the air. The water was coming in through the side vents, and the bilge pumps coudn't keep up. It was completely submerged. It was then sent back to Fountain where it stayed for a year. While it was at Fountain, they completely redid the boat. They installed all new cockpit and cabin interior, changed the paint from Indy to Custom Indy and changed the stripe color to purple and lipstick. The boat also had new triple 650's installed. David then started Pier 57 Boat Sales and kept the boat until April 21, 2000 and that is when Bill Harris purchased the boat for $235K. We financed in house $85,230 that was to be paid back by monthly payments within 1 year. We had a security agreement with Bill on paper, and were lien holders on the boat. He never maid one payment on his loan. He brought the boat back to us in April of 2001 and wanted some custom work done to the boat but at that time was undecided on what he wanted done. He also said he was going through a divorce and was going to settle up on the unpaid balance on the boat when we completed the work he wanted done. In July of 2001 he contacted us and told us what he wanted done. He picked the boat up on July 21, 2001 and gave us two checks one in the amount of $94,144.94 which was the unpaid balance on the boat with interest and a check for $48,810.25 for the service bill. This was a Saturday when he picked it up, and contacted us on Monday and said the boat sank. He also said that he had stopped payment on both checks he had written us. He then hired two guys to repair the boat. It was said, but never confirmed that the line running to the air conditioner that was taken out by Pier 57 was not plugged properly. The funny thing is that we had water tested the boat after the service was completed and we specifically checked the line that was plugged. He had also run the boat all day Sunday at his lake in Georgia and it did not take on any water. Bill stayed in touch with us until December of 2001 when the boat was completed by the guys he had hired. After that, we tried to get our money from Bill and he would never return our calls. After a period of time, the phone numbers and address's we had on Bill were not valid anymore. We had heard from several different sources that the boat was seen on several poker runs, and at a few lakes in Georgia. The boat was never seen again until we got a call on June 30, 2003 by a gentleman in Georgia that said he had just taken a boat in for some work that looked like the one we were looking for. He sent us pictures, and that was the boat. Bill Harris had completely stripped the boat and sold everything off of it. He had even changed the hull idenification numbers on the boat. He had sold the hull to a man in Georgia, and that is the one that took it in for some work. The guy that bought the boat had no idea that there was a lien on the boat. We contacted the sheriff's department in that county, and they picked the boat up for us. He have been to court over this whole deal, and we own this boat free and clear of any liens. I have all the paper work stating that what I hve just said is true. And about the statement "the boat only needs to be rigged" is true. If we do not sell it within the next several months, we are going to have our guys that rig our race boats to rig this one. I hope this clears up any confusion on this boat.
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10-16-2003, 04:37 PM
#19
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yeah, unfortunately for people like cashbar and others, bill harris is not even bill harris, let alone jeff harris. so the story i heard is not complete and trust me, i tried to correct the things which seemed skewed to me due to the fact that bill harris was telling the story. anyway, the advice was good at that time: steer clear of that boat. it was suspicious. now that it has all been properly explained by matthew, it's all cool. thanks matthew. one thing remains though: it's a lot of money for basically just a hull that's been to the bottom twice. one last question: is the guy who bought the hull from bill still seeking something in court? if yes, it's not 100% clear yet. as for rigging, i guess it depends on your definition of the word "rigging". it looks like a bit more than rigging to me though. it's more like building back or rebuilding...
10-16-2003, 04:47 PM
#20
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I believe the guy that bought the boat from Bill Harris, paid Bill in cash, and does not even have a bill of sale on the boat. The judge in Gergia maid the ruling that the boat was not Bill's to sell in the first palce and that we own the boat 100%. I heard the guy was going after Bill to collect his money, but it will be hard considering Bill has left the Country. You are right, everybody's terms are different. I guess if we don't sell the hull, we will "rebuild" the boat.
