bajawill thanks for having the employees at fountain backs. seems like a lot of haters on here.

I was simply agreeing with Dock.

There are so many different versions of the deal, I dont think anyone knows what to believe. hydr0_scrm2 said "Reggie AND his employees didn't really want Baja and admitted to as much"...........I dont know about Reggie, but I do remember hearing quite often that the Fountain employees were not happy about taking on Baja.

But back to my original question, how long have you been a Fountain dealer?

Fountain Employee,

Welcome to the Baja section and thank you for your reply. I can promise you that I have nothing but respect for you and all the other good folks working with fiberglass and resin to bring us these cool toys. My comments are not directed to any of the Fountain employees.

If you look back on post prior to the Baja Fountain merger you will see that I had always shown respect toward Reggie. I have a lot of friends with Fountains and have driven the 29, 35, 38 and the 42. My neighbor has a 32 and loves it. They are a very nice boat and I'm sure you take a lot of pride in building them.

However the problems with Baja hurt a lot of people that took the same amount of pride that you do in your job and left them in the unemployment line. Then Reggie acted like he may possibly keep production in Bucyrus and he did not. Then he has stated he will create 250 new jobs and with this economy that will not happen. How many folks from Baja did he offer jobs to in North Carolina? You can count them on one hand!

Add to that what Reggie did at the Jacksonville Firefighters Poker Run a couple of years ago now with Cat Killer and my respect for him went out the window. He brought a race boat to a poker run and tried to race the pleasure boats and made a video and promoted it as Cat Killer. Well I will just leave my personal opinion of Reggie right there.

Good luck to you and to the future of Fountain & Baja.

Dock

Will,

I understand your thought process on the post and don't want you to think I was blasting you. You are a straight up guy and I do appreciate your passion for the new product and wish you a lot of sucess with it.

Dock

thanks dock, i know you are not a hater just honest. lol anyway i hope he new baja will live up to everyones standards. next question- does anyone know much about the baja center console?

Great looking boats and I loved the lines especially the 340.

They rode very well but Baja just did not understand how to market them. Also I heard from a dealer in Florida that they had issues with the live wells on the Baja CC's.

Fountain and Donzi simply ran circles around them supporting the teams.

I want to see both companies survive. We all make jokes & poke fun at Reggie, but when it comes to the end of the day there isn't one single person here who wants to see a boat company fail. Really, any business fail.
Love them or hate them, lets hope that Baja by Fountain stays around for a long, long time.
We all need to get through this BS happening with our economy. A business failing ain't good for that no matter how goofy the owner of one company can present himself to the public.
We all know it is showmanship, play on Elvis!
PS, if you are a disgruntled Fountain employee, feel free to send me anything you decide needs "ran off with" from your employer.

BajaWill, first off I do respect your posts on here and hope the business continues to be good to you. It is definitely the greatest industry in the world to be a part of!! I do have some differing insights though - whether you believe them or not.

I apologize if I'm a "1 post wonder." Unfortunately I have never seen any reason to post in the past as late comer to the boating scene, but when I feel maybe I could add to the discussion I chime in. Of course nobody HAS to read my ramblings lol.

Yes I am a former employee and I'm really not bitter at all. I have a great new job and no worries about employment even in this economy (trust me the last 6 months at Baja were NOT fun). I can't imagine how bitter those are that worked for Baja for 20 years or more.

Believe me I want Baja to do good - the brand holds a special place in my heart like everyone else in here and I want that to continue. When I was growing up in OHIO Baja's were the hottest boats around and continue to turn my head everytime I see one to this day.

Reggie was definitely quite cordial when he came to Baja (some of his other people not so much). Whether anyone believes it or not he did indeed express that he didn't really want to buy Baja but the price was too good to pass up (his words not mine).
(4 mil. borrowed FROM Brunswick without principal payments due till 2020 - canceled without payments entirely if they meet all their agreements according to SEC docs seems pretty appealing).

I have no bitterness toward Reggie, his employees or Fountain Powerboats. The ONE thing that bothers me is that Brunswick ran us into the ground leaving no other options and then Reggie (defaulting on a loan at the time) miraculously is able to "purchase" Baja from Brunswick.

My OPINION is it all came down to two companies not making much money, but one had liabilities with liners that weren't going away, the other did not. In the end I believe (once again MY opinion) Brunswick will be holding both companies, of course better than the alternative. I realize it's corporate America at it's finest but it doesn't mean we can't believe it couldn't have been different.

My opinions may not hold any weight at all but I enjoy having one lol. Sorry for ruffling anyone's feathers or giving a contrasting point of view. This is just one man's experience and opinion my friends.

Also - Dock and TeamBaja keep the stories coming they are quite entertaining!!!

How about telling us why you think Bill Regan was such a great vice-president? Just limit yourself to your favorite 10 things about him.

Didn't Poker Face sustain some major structural damage after the Chicago poker run?? I thought I had read someplace that it had to go back to the factory to basically be rebuilt.