Long Term Strenght Of Fountain Hull
 

I have always been a fountain fan, and am looking to possibly buy a 29-35 ft late model 1990-1995.

The only one I have riden in is a 1994 32 fountain. Since then I have been hooked.

BUT. This same boat ended up having some significant problems. It was a freshwater boat and it almost sank once from having too many people on the back of it, but that was fixed. THEN the guy moved to Florida were he kept it at his waterfront house on the canal. After about 6 months of running it in saltwater, the hull basically deteriorated to the point of not being able to be fixed (the hull not just the transom). He went to fountain and they basically told him that he was SOL and he would have to have the entire hull replaced. This guy ended up with a serious loss, which he could afford - but I can't

Has anybody ever heard of the entire hull deteriorating like this on an older fountain. What could cause this.

Are there any other flaws that I need to be aware of in buying an older fountain 90-95

I only heard of a red 40 icbm with stringers rotted, the owner said happens it was a 88 to 90 hull. but it seems to happen in all brands of boats depending how there stored left uncovered. there was a red one at the boston boat show with the new stagger 525s nice deep cockpit . it felt deeper than any other fountain I have been on.

Dont think this is a fountain only issue(rot in some part of the boat) but with that said I had a 90 that was rock solid when I sold it last year..any boat can have a issue depanding on its life history but the problem you quoted above I had never heard of a complete hull failure!

as evrybody knows I have a 89 29 Fever:rolleyes: ...... when I first picked it up in 01 I blasted around for a couple of weekends straight......drove the chit out of it, all kinds of water, you name it ...... the third weekend I went on the local Rice Lake Poker run, again all kinds of water, lots of air , TONS of wash machine....... basically flat out for 115 miles, an effin' riot....... the weekend after that we dropped in at Whitby on lake Ontario and went for a run up to Toronto and back for the day....... completly airborne every 5 to 10 seconds for the 70 mile round trip (was actually worse on the way back)......

After I got home I thought "Hey, I should go around and check for loose bolts and stuff seeing I just got this boat" :eureka: went over the WHOLE boat ........ found ONE loose windshield bolt!........thats it!!.......and people look at me funny when i say Im keeping it.........doug

I have never heard anyone speak of a rotten transom in a fountain. Im getting ready to remove the gimbals on my 1995 I will look.

i once looked at a late 80's, 29 with twin 350's..nice boat..nice ride...however, the bottom of the hull was blistering...the owners said it happens in brackish water...seemed sketchy...
i walked away...far away..

if the boat is kept in a wet slip its not good for any powerboat, yachts have special barrier coats to seal out water, so blisters dont start, Fountains have a great layup with quality materials used on the build, but owner abuse can ruin anything, get a survey and make sure they use a moisture meter on the transom and hull to check for problems.

there was 1 board member a few years back with a 10 meter that had a rotton transom but repaired it.

Water saturation can happen to any hull, it's usually caused by sub-standard after market rigging, as in cutting a hole through the hull for a depth finder, holes made in the stringers and not sealing them can cause the wood to wick in the water. same goes for the transom. what ever boat you chose to buy, have it totally checked out. good luck.

Thanks alot - I figured it was just a one case scenario, but I had to ask before I buy.