I gave up on fertilizing the grass, spend all the weekends down at the boat. I would rather look a the water than the grass anyway. :D

Found another 38SC for sale here in MD. 1994, lift kept, 502 MPI's. Might have to go see it since its only about 30 minutes away.

With the same money you can get a bigger cruising boat.Fountains are quite expensive.

Give me some details after you look at it and rule it in or out.

I talked to the guy I know, he said they are still on the fence, the wife and daughter are making some noise about not wanting to get rid of it. He also said that the $4K the marina will want for the seasons high and dry might be a determining factor too, so I don't know what the deal is yet.

He did mention something about high 60's though, so he's in a reasonable range for a 95 at least.

sport cruisers are the best. Trailable, standup cabins, fast, relatively fuel efficient, and that unmistakable Fountain ride!

and then a brown mini van, an ugly girlfriend, then testosterone replacement therapy and he could be the guy on Enzyte commercial!

a 38 Donzi and a 38 Powerquest both have very big cabins, so does a 40 Hustler Fiore........the PQs especially can be had for a great price.......IMO if you cant get it done in one of those you should kick your old lady out or forget "performance" boating and buy a cottage.......IMO

.....we hang with some cruiser guys and this one couple has this 38' Sea Ray and his wife goes on about how "how am I supposed to put my whole house in this little space!!!".......one time my wife said to her "Debbie, you should try seeing how much you can leave at home instead of seeing how much you can bring with you"

has anybody ever been in a step 38 Scarab....????

I just wanted to hear that,you are quite right.I still like more of Fountain Lightning than EC.

My favourite would be 38 Lightning with Cummins QSB5,9L 480hp diesels and with #8 Arneson surface drives.

There was a BT near me for sale last year, 440HP Yanmars with surface drives. VERY nice boat, supposed to get 2 mpg a 50 mph cruise.

Pj and treads, what do you think would be a fair price for a 91 looks real clean. Has the staggered engines, but they have mismatched hours too.

There was one on another thread recently that had an anchor locker leakage issue with potential rot under the V-berth. I hope that is not the one you are talking about. Shogren recently sold a similar vintage 38 sport cruiser for 49K but I think this was unusually low. It had matching motors and Shogren is a dealer with a great reputation in our area. They seem to thoroughly check boats they sell even if they are just brokering them.

Was that an early 90s model with carbed 502's? If so a friend of mine bought it. Haven't seen it yet but it sounds like it is spotless.

Do you remember where it was located?

I called Fountain yesterday. For the most part they claimed this was a fairly easy issue to remedy and there was a very slim chance it had any negative effect structurally on the boat.

Depends on the hours (and how mismatched). My line of thinking is that if you have one with 100 and one with 600, you are on a countdown to needing a motor. Could be wrong but I just get an uneasy feeling about it.

Where in the county are you? there is a 1992 in NJ that will be going in the mid $40's range this spring.

jmeng-yes
Pj-NJ I think
Also, Fountain did not glass the top of the wooden stringer along the keel nor the underside of the plywood under the fiberglass cabin floor (I've seen it). Depending on the leak it could be a huge problem.

Underside of the plywood I am aware of (from other same year, same model Fountains), but the top of the stringer I hadn't heard. They claimed they are ALL encased.

Is this the one up in Canada?

I've seen several with no glass on the top of the center stringer along the keel, under the cabin floor. Additional problem is the other three sides are glassed which acts as a bowl to keep the water in, immersing the stringer. This is a poor design. If you watch the Fountain construction DVD's, they claim high density foam coring as early as 1990, but they neglect to mention the uncased marine plywood stringer along the keel.

Not doubting you, I think the surveyor will be taking a look at it next week, putting a value on the repairs.

IMO fountain sport cruisers are still the best overall performance boats. Just have to be sure you get a good price and can readily correct any problems.

Treads yes the one in canada, got some pics looks to be in nice condition. Guy's asking 69 and dont wont to include the trailer. I'm thinking 50u.s. with trailer I dont think he'll go for it though. Looks more modern then the 95 in del.

pj I like the sound of mid 40's any contact info on that one?

Thats the guy, the one I talked to last week from NJ. He has it listed for his Dad. The colors are bad, plus it has blower motors that are supposed to have 100 hours with beefed up internals upon rebuild. (remember the one I am talking about now...?)

Dad paid around $55K for it last year, used it once (yes, 1 time). The guy even mentioned that his Dad had considered donating it for the tax deduction. (must have it like that). They readily admit it won't be selling for $49K, just indicated he would be very open to reasonable offers.


Call Andrew @ 970-819-0684

(or) this new one that is out of our price range, just listed today :(:

http://www.offshoreonlyclassifieds.c...o22109-en.html

I remember now. mustard yellow and Home brew blower motors, no thanks 2 negatives only blower motors I would consider are stock mercruiser sc. I want to boat not wrench. I thought you were talking about the boat you talked about in post #44 your buddies. Anymore info on that one.

I checked that new one out, not much changed from 1991 to 2002 except for stepped hull. Interior is the same.

I was wondering why you didn't already know about that one. Figured I would speak on it anyway. Just some baaaaaad decisions on that vessel. (all by the previous onwer) If it were stock(ish) power with white upholstery, it would probably be sitting in my side yard already at this point.

My buddies boat is still up in the air. His wife is claiming that we are all going to Canal Day (weekend event here). That would indicate they are dropping the coin to get it cleaned up and paying to keep it high and dry at the same place this year.

HE told me that he wasn't sure what they were doing, told me he would like to "clear" 60K after the broker. I'm not sure weather that is even realistic considering it's condition and this beautiful market. I know he owns the boat outright, no issue there, just don't know if he is going to be able to let it go for what it is REALLY going to be worth in the big picture.

Another note on that blower motor one. The sellers son claims you can unbolt the blowers/intakes, get a "high rise" or, tall deck or whatever you call it, add a new carb, sell the blowers and only have around a grand in it at the end. Not sure if he is accurate on the numbers, but with everything being built for the blowers, I suppose there would be some reliability going back to NA.

Flying out to Ohip to meet up with the Surveyor, Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

We shall see, that's for sure. I just hate to let it go un-investigated. Cheap trip to find out.

Make sure he has a moisture meter.

Oh boy does he have a moisture meter, PJ just remember its his job to pick that boat apart. I can almost guarentee when he's done you wont want that boat. That dont mean its a bad boat. We walked from are last boat after his survey but ended up buying it anyway. It was a great boat. I have a link to an article about surveyors and moisture meters you have to know how to interpret what he tells you. Also remember a brand new piece of marine plywood is 14% moisture which is considered damp by the surveyor.

Before you walk away from it you might want to get a hold of glassdave. He is an awesome fiberglass man and he wont rape you. I priced a transom and stringers from him, with him derigging and rerigging the boat and it was very resonable. Lets say around $5000 but of course thats a rough idea.

Pj with your buddies, if he decided to sell no need for a broker right now, cause we both are looking at them. We would all benifit on no broker.

If those motors where truely built for blowers I think they would have a low compression and probably wouldnt make much power without them.

We'll see. I arrive in Columbus at 9:55 AM on Tuesday, if it was meant to be, so be it. If not, I continue my search.

This is the one at Boat Boys right? I'll keep my fingers crossed and whatever else I can cross for ya. :D

Yup. Many times reduced, still not sold. I'm going to have to see for myself what the deal is. I go out Tuesday morning.

WELL, here is the abbreviated version of my day yesterday.

First and foremost, the surveyor (Paul) is extremely thorough, very boat "smart" and generally seemed to be a nice and honest guy. I learned more about fiberglass and boat structure in 4 hours than I ever though possible. I wish I could use him on a retainer for the next one we find.

That being said, the fist two hours or so of the inspection had me very worried. Not how you would think though! He had already shared with me his comparable sales which were in the 74-85K range. The outside of this boat is AMAZING, very few gelcoat imperfections, the graphics (pain) was just about totally flawless also. One could really tell that it had been cared for (cosmetically). Moving on to the bilge, the motors are super clean, no fluids in the bilge, no concerns there. He begins to place the moisture meter around the center stinger and it pegs (had been seeing 10-20 numbers elsewhere with little concern overall). Uh, oh, little wet. Maybe still noting to get too upset about. We continue on with the cockpit area, all looks very good, vinyl is 99.5%, only one single tear on the drivers seat. original fountain bound carpet in great shape.

Next, the cabin. I get right to it, leading him up to the V-berth area that I had already been warned about. What a friggin mess, huge amounts of wood rot, likely coming from the anchor locker up front, BOTH of the tubes that are supposed to drain directly out of the side of the hull up front are disconnected (one totally missing). Both the of the vent fittings (similar to gas tank vents, only plastic) weren't even caulked onto the side of the boat, they were both able to be removed by hand. Poking your finger in those holes revealed a really moist situation right there.

No need for the moisture meter in the cabin, there were several places where his hammer just poked right through. So much for Fountain (and other dealers) telling me not to get too concerned. The center "keel" stringer which can been seen at the access hatch directly next to the head was a treat too. Totally soaked, and whoever it was that warned me about the keel being OPEN at the topside was absolutely correct. Why in the world they would glass two sides of a piece of wood this important and leave the top open is beyond me.

Anyway, end of this lovely story has the surveyor putting a SALVAGE value on the boat, which in his opinion is about 20-25% of the average retail.

Boat Boys was really honest and helpful also, parking the boat in their facility and offering help a few times. No complaints about them for sure, the bank is pretty much screwed on this one.........


Back to my search for a decent SC, I guess realistically I need to get back to a 92-93.

50g's US eh?........just so you know the US and Canadian dollars trade even now.

Pj: I wonder if that center stringer is going to be an issue on all of them? Man thats to bad. 25% of 75k is what like 18k glassdave probably could fix it for 20-30k Then you would know what you got.

Pullmytrigger: I seen that today dollar trading @ 1.0167

Dunno, I am making a point of looking at at least two to three more in person before I condemn the whole model as a my choice. Thing is, the cabins are SO nice, inviting, makes you want to sit down and relax in there. Very much different from most boats I've been on.

I think I'm going to take a look at the mustard yellow blower motor one this Sunday, just for the heck of it.

That, and maybe the 94 in Delaware.

As far as having someone "fix" it, that scares me. I know I'll know what I have, but what about others, as in when I go to sell it. I'm figuring that can't be good for resale values.

I just want one that isn't rotten and moldy, shouldn't be that much to ask......:( I'm telling you, from the outside, that boat was an absolute cream puff.
(does that make me gay to say that):grinser010:

That keel stringer is the same in the bigger lightnings. I called Fountain about it but they couldn't explain the rationale for classing the sides but not the top. Makes no sense to me. Keep looking. In this market you shouldn't have to buy a boat with problems and worry about fixing them.

Thank you (and agreed).

As I've said, I'm poking around with my current boat all last week, cleaning up, tying up some loose ends, new stereo, speakers, fuel filter changes, etc. Just going to go about my business of running my boat this summer and keep my eyes peeled.

Something will pop up here eventually I suppose.

How much of the info from the survey are you/did you share with Boat Boys. Guess if they take that info back to the bank, the bank will be surprised and or not agree.

Does a broker need to disclose this info after being made aware of it? I would think so.

Put it this way, the BANK payed for the survey, I was invited to attend and was allowed to sit in for the verbal from the surveyor to Dave at Boat Boys.

They have one other interested guy, supposedly a fiberglass man who isn't worried about the damage.

I want something that I can get rid of if need be, and not have to lie about or worry about what the next surveyor will find.

Paul is supposed to be sending me some pictures we shot during the end of the survey, they are brutal. The amount of water that was allowed to sit in that hull, and the rot that developed is downright amazing.:(