I have owned three of the boats you are looking at.
1996--Baja 32' OS with twin 454-- Nice looking, hard riding in rough water, poor handling in rough water,Very poor quality and reliablilty. Every time I ran it hard something in the interior fell apart. Had to leave a poker run because all of the cabinets in the interior separated and fell down blocking the cabin door. I was always rebuilding or rescrewing something and got rid of the boat within 3 months of buying. Note the boat is running today with a local guy and still looks pretty good.

32' 2005 Sunsation Dominator--twin 496 mag HO's-- Excellent boat and quality-- handles like a sports car. Very good rigging and material. The boat was a lot of fun and Sunsation has the best company customer service. None are better. 2 things we didn't like about the boat were it was not a great rough water boat. We run in a large bay and 3-5 footers are common and you definetely felt it. I had to take it easy. My wife did not like the rougher ride.

42' Fountain Ex--twin 525's--Best by far of all three. The boat handles anything that I can throw at it with no problems. Rigging and quality of material is better than average. I have had no problems with the Fountain part of the boat. A few problems with the Merc engines. Runs 80 plus in 3-5 and is smooth and stable. I never feel out of control. Runs on rails. What the boat lacks in engine size makes up for in ride, I can run faster than most in rough water. Vinyl, bolsters, and interior are all excellent. Don't let anyone tell you the size of the boat is smaller or the beak takes up too much room. All of the benefits of Fountain make up for the few negatives. Most who complain about their size don't own one and wish they did cause they are usually following us and looking at our tailpipes.

The pic is from the fall LEOPA poker run, I brought the big guy's so the Fountains could keep up but it did it only work out for 1 of them but it was a canopied yellow Fountain race boat. As you can see mine is a pleasure boat not a race boat. If I get her trimmed just right I can hit 68 mph on GPS full of fuel and pickles, just be careful if you decide to give me run I might have to open her up and put a wippin on ya.

I am not a Fountain hater guy's I make a living working on boats and get to drive many different makes and models I am just giving you Baja haters a taste of your own BS.

There is not a comment in this thread stating a Baja is chit. Nor any Baja hater comments.

At 68 mph I just don't see you being able to "put a wippin on" too many Fountains.

Mike,

I have a 98' 38 ft Fever, I love the boat. I live in michigan and you know the what the current economic climate is here. I have been kicking around listing the boat forsale. If your intrested let me know I have pictures. I have rack fees due for the year right now. If I sell it now I can move around on a price.

Brian

Thanks for the input guys especially gerritm. It will make passing over the Sunsation a bit easier, because that's one thing I'm looking for is a nice smooth ride for the wife, speed isn't a top priority for me, stability is.

Thanks and keep the comments flowing.

-mike

68? My sportfish cruiser with hardtop, eisenglass, dinghy, etc. can do 70, with stock 454 385 HP magnums. Of course, out on the Pacific, the ocean sets the speed, not the engines. Length matters!

Again, staggered and as long as you can get will give you a better ownership experience.

There are a couple Baja comments if you reread from start but you guy's always give us chit and I would not be joking with you guy's if I only ran 68mph. I run 68 at 4000 rpms my engines make power to 5800 rpms.

Perhaps you should be looking for a 32' Baja Caliber. I see you can take all your male buddies with you.

He would do very well if he could get his hands on one as anybody that worked for Baja back in the day would tell you that the 32 Caliber was one of the best boats Baja ever built.

Now I am starting to see a pattern here... the Fountain guy's have some kind of closet issue about riding with there male buddies.

Paisan link to pics
Bob
http://www.eastcoastflightcraft.com/...ionerMann.html

click on the pic for interior shots