I know the history of all the boats. Actually the Fountain came from Excalibur smarty pants not magnum. The AT just looks like a Sonic with an inverted deck which to me is non attractive and the opposite purpose of why decks are raised. I never said it derived from one. Yea Ross is working for AT now. Id say all the step bottom Fountains and Outerlimits are original designs. The bottoms on Fountains are far superior than any AT. Reggies knowledge with the hulls far surpasses anyone in the industry and im not Fountains biggest fan. Its just facts. Back to OL can you go out in the AT crank the wheel over at 90-100 and have the boat carve perfectly?? The OL SV 40 can. Oh wait there's hardly any running the speeds that Fountain, Outerlimits, Cigarette, and Nor-tech are running. Just some facts for yall to look at. There's a reason why its called perforamnce boating.

As far as the deck looking the way it does, it is one of that manufactures identies, good, bad or indifferent... Whether you don't think it looks good, and others care for it...is all personal taste in which makes each company different. +'s and -'s on every boat... As to your comment on Nor-Tech, they have no desire to enter the racing arena. That is not their niche. As to having spent as much R&D on Fountains bottoms, I will agree on that, nobody invests as much time....In doing so, Fountain has lost some credibility in the final product that is being delivered to the dealership which in turns goes to the boat shows. Of all the shows I attended last year, Fountain has gotten sloppy in the attention to OVERALL detail area's, more so than many of the other manufactures. The dealers seem to also over look these items. YES..cost is all relative for product recieved, but Fountains not any cheaper than some of the boats mentioned in this thread. I like all boats, and any person that has an opportunity to be on the water I commend them. Some are built for different purposes, and yes, the OL does turn on a dime, at those speeds, but then again, it is a race boat. Have fun boating, can't wait till spring.:cool-smiley-011:

I don't like the appearance of my deck compared to a 47 Lightning, but the cabin height is 6'3" and to me that difference is well worth the compromise on appearance.

I don't think they have gotten more sloppy. I feel the bar has been rasied. And they have not corrected the issue. Enough to were my next purchase is steering in the direction of a Donzi 38ZRC:(

What Ive noticed is the fish boat series has gotten better and the perf. boats have slacked up a bit. The cruiser series on the 48 looked good, a friend just bought one... but the 38 were sloppy, like slapped together with an abundance of caulk everywhere. The caulk was very dirty and made it stick out...When brought attention to the salesperson, the comment was, but look at the price, we are one of the cheapest in the industry and offer the best boat for the money....I just walk away..ignorance.