Baja/Fountain trouble?
 

Just read this from Fountains own accounting/auditors-

Fountain independent accounting firm, Gregory & Associates, included a letter in the boatbuilder’s Sept. 29 annual report that raised doubts about Fountain’s ability to stay in business.

“The company has current liabilities in excess of current assets, recent losses from operations, negative cash flows from operating activities, and has significant debt compared to the underlying equity,” the accounting firm said in the Sept. 16 letter accompanying Fountain’s annual report.

“These factors raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the accounting firm said.

This is never good, no matter how they deny the conditions out there.

This just makes my mind spin even more. I will be at Fountain Sunday, I will report back asap!

P.S. Ill be taking my camera too!

This deal stunk from the beginning and everyone involved knew it.

Reggie AND his employees didn't really want Baja and admitted to as much, but when they basically were given the molds - they didn't have much of a choice. What they obviously got was a way to spread out their overheads and sell some more boats. I'd have to imagine it's hard enough to sell a boat right now domestically, let alone a high priced performance boat, so having Baja in the portfolio makes sense to diversify. However, I'm sure that not many anticipated some of the recent market conditions.

Can you say Baja/Fountain by Brunswick? They have been, and will continue to be the true benefactor in all this. Add in the perfect storm of a financial crisis which will kill many boat builders off (potentially including Faja), and you potentially get Brunswick completely controlling the market with their two performance boat companies under one roof.

And most important of all, I'm guessing they would not (or since they sold Baja) already no longer have their liner liabilities. (Not positive about this, but some of the guys that are selling could fill us in on the legality portion of the liner issues and what's still covered)

Brunswick stepped up and did the right thing in regard to my 405 issues. Their attention in getting things resolved was very much appreciated!!:Score-101010:

It fell on Brunswick because they owned Baja when I bought in '06

WOW, lots of hating from someone with only 6 posts

Like to know mwhere you got this info?? "Reggie AND his employees didn't really want Baja and admitted to as much"

Please give your background so everyone can understand your credibility and where you information comes from.

WILL:food-smiley-007:

I have asked in other threads a number of times, what was the liner issue with the 405? It seems like something huge happened, can anyone shed some light? Some of the old Baja guys said they would comment, and I never got anything.

Ive heard the linear system in the smaller boats worked well though. True?

I always assumed Brunswick would get Baja back when they assumed ownership of Fountain when everything was said and done. I mean at this point, Brunswick has a lot tied into Fountain with their bail-out from a few years back.

Whatever happens, I hope Fountain continues to exist. The go fast boat scene wont be the same without the beak boats...

Pretty simple

On paper it looked good but they broke the very first 405 built within two weeks doing testing and hull validation and the head of Baja did not want to accept that they had a real problem and pushed the project forward because the orders were coming in for the model.

Last April into May it looked like a grave yard in Bucyrus with all the broken 405's.

I know four guys with original model year 30 OL's that got complete new boats from Baja / Brunswick to replace the hulls with failed liners adn from what I hear there were a LOT more then just the four I know of.

I know fo two guys that had bad 35 OL's and Baja / Brunswick took good care of both of them. One got a full refund and one got a 36 Outlaw in replacement that a dealer had in stock.

The liner looks good on paper. The liner looks great in the boat but unless it is installed correctly it can fail and crack and you have a serious structural problem.

I know a lot of guys with 30's and a few with 35's that were done right and they are GREAT boats. There was just a bad learning curve and the upper management at Baja was too worried about $$$$ instead of quality.

Will

With all due respect it is obvious this person was a Baja employee. Put yourself in their shoes and see if you don't have some hard feelings.

I have 5000+ posts and I have some hard feelings toward the former Baja upper management, toward Brunswick and toward Fountain in the way that all three handled this issue.

I proud to be a Baja B4 Fountain owner.

Dock

Bingo! We have a winner!





Give that man a prize!



BAJA WILL, how long have you been a Fountain dealer?

Hey everyone on here either knows me or seen me post since forever, I don't like for people who are "one post wonders" talk chit. I proudly put my name, business, my location, on my posts. I am just giving the man or women a chance to validate themselves??


I personally have met with Mr. Fountain and he is happy to take on the Baja line, especially since it was given to him??

Hell we would have taken it for that deal.

Sincerely,

WILL:ernaehrung004:

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!:evilb:

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.

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.

As for my comment on "one post wonders" I am sure you understand, if you have ever read into general discussion, normally are the biggest smack talkers and never identify themselves. Examples, Triple digits, Nuspeed, the jackass who claimed he was a car dealer? If you follow OSO on a daily basis I am sure you understand.

Thank you for clarifing, yes Brunswick has been the pain here, as a dealer I can tell you they have pissed us off.

As for being a Fountain Dealer am an extension of the Fountain super store, so basically 5 months, I will be handeling the sales and service into VA.:ernaehrung004:

WILL

So how do you think it will be till we see this new logo? And dont tell me it cant happen. No one would have ever believed Baja would leave Bucyrus.

Good luck Will and I mean that. I hope it goes very well for all concerned. However after seeing what Reggie did to the local Fountain dealer here about three years ago he proved that you are only as good as what you can do for him right now and what you have done means nothing.

My view on this is "survival" this is Reggie's ONLY concern and he's not going to care who or what resources he uses to do it. I also agree this is Brunswich's main concern now as well with all the liner issues Baja was having I think Brunswich dumped Baja to free itself from a liability. Now Sea Ray has been left with that nightmare and Brunswich continues to cut the fat as we've seen with Mercury just recently..

That logo is great.

I agree, who knows, anything can happen in life at anytime. Hell after I dranks so much last night I was surprised I was alive this morning.

Doc, Thank you, here in VA beach being so close to Fountain we have come to an agreement, that we are an extension of the superstore, basically any deal that goes through here is the same as the Superstore (for Fountain).

WILL

Which models had the inner-liner problem? I have a 2005 275. Should I be looking for problems?

Your boat is all stringer. No liner.

The main concerns were the first two year models of the 30 Outlaw and ALL the 405's.

The 23 O/L was kind of a turd too.

Thanx for the reply. That`s a load off my mind.

Greg I have heard some very interesting things in the last few weeks.

Could we see Baja by ????

Could Baja be built in ???? in the future

Who could have seen this enonomy coming and the close of Baja as we knew it.

Anything is possible. I wish Fountain the best of luck but who knows what the future brings.

I do not want to start anything but I have heard from a GOOD source that Fountain has built there last Baja.

I would prefer to see it go back to Baja period. Just not the same

Dock, read Brians post below yours. I have heard that Fountain may have built its last Baja for several different reasons. I cant tell you this is a fact, but I have heard it from 3 completely different sources. Should be an interesting year. Maybe the Miami boat show will have some answers?

All that rework and press and they are done? Interesting. Come on guys, spill what you know. Is Bucyrus going to be back up and running?

I'm pretty sure your source and mine are the same.

I do not see that happening anytime to soon, unless someone with "millions" to spend makes a offer on the plant in Bucyrus, and aquires the name/tooling from Brunswick (only) if the deal with Fountain goes bad?

Obviously we would all love to see Baja come home to Bucyrus. I dont see that happening even "if" someone happened to buy the name. There are probably much better places closer to the water than the old Baja factory.

In a fantasy world, I would like to see someone with a passion for boats and boat building similar to the brothers at Sunsation, NOT some corporate monster. One thing that always bothered me about Baja was the fact that we had a President that flew in for a couple hours every few months (Dave Olsen doesnt count, he came in way too late). Then, the Vice President of the company was a sailboater (and a jackass as you probably already know by now) who couldnt give 2 sh*ts about building performance boats.

When I get some $$ I'll buy the name & we'll have some killer stuff!