Sent 05 Ex to RF Powerboats
 

Since there is no RF section for on OSO for Reggies new company..I figured this would be the best place to post this thread. After numerous bad luck experiences with "rigging experts", and lack of interest/response from Fountain...we have decided to send out 05 42' Ex to RF to be dialed in. Wyatt has been very professional and through in his follow up and communication with us, and they got started on the boat as soon as it got to them. Tyler Crockett is finishing up 1000hp 540's for us and they should be shipping them to RF by the end of this week. I dont know what Reggies plans are for new boats...but so far I would highly recommend them to any Fountain owners out there looking to update, re-rig or get that last MPH out of their hull. I say this with cautious optimism..as we don't have any results yet, and I cant speak as to the finished product. But what I can say is that they have communicated with us from the day the boat got there, provided a very detailed estimate, and have been honest with their opinion of how the boat will ultimately perform....which is a good start, considering all the problems we have had to date with other shops. Engines by Tyler...rigging and dial in by Reggie...Keeping my fingers crossed.

How Is Their Pricing?

A little more than what I expected...but the up front communication and detailed estimate was refreshing. In my mind I guess paying someone who invented the hull, and would know every trick there is to know about dialing it in a little more money will be worth it....we will see.

what kind of speed expectations with t-1000's?

We are hoping for 120+. We have IMCO SCX uppers and lowers, so I know we will lose speed from that alone...drives are set up as 1:5-1 now...but with new power we are sending a set of 1:35's to RF to see how those work. I talked to Wyatt today and he felt that if everything was right, props, spacers, RPM's, slip...etc that 120ish would be attainable. SCX's just rob speed...plain and simple.

Have you spoken to Wilson Marine out of Stuart Florida? They set up and ran the Fountain Worldwide boat and are specialist in lower unit blueprinting. I spoke with them a few days ago and they are currently working with a customer on a fix for the hydrodynamic drag on the SCX lowers.

No but I will pass info on to RF. Thanks for the info!! Wyatt is going to try to clean up the lower unit, sand, trim skeg, and satin finish it...its pretty rough when it comes from IMCO, and see if that helps. I spoke with Dave @ IMCO a week ago and he said they have tried several variations and have had little success...I will call Wilson Tomorrow.

Sounds to me like you're headed in the right direction. There's NO ONE better to help you better, than the guy that built the boat. Reggie's accomplishments speaks for itself, nomatter what anyone else says about him. Great choice !!

Keep us updated. :drink:

Spoke with Wyatt this morning...he is calling IMCO today to order 1:35 gears and .5 & 1" spacers for SCX's. Things seem to be going well.
Tyler is putting second motor on Dyno this afternoon...will post numbers tomorrow. The first motor was 980HP @ 5600RPM and 1125ft/lb Tq @ 3400 RPM.

great to here you braught it to the master, Im at a 1060 each 555 ci 1.36 sportmasters scx uppers . shaft height is approx .5 above bottom of hull 18 inch shaft centers , want to here more details on yours .

What kind of mph are you getting?

only been out on 2 short runs nothing over 70 yet ha ha, waiting on new hering 6 blades should be done the end of this week , the props I have now are just spares and to big and need more tuning , hopefully meeting up with eddie young at the ozarks to break out the laptop also waiting on ggb muffs , to dang loud it just pounds , has been a slow operation . the lake nearest to me is not very speed friendly , small bays and heavely patrolled .

1060HP & sportmaster lowers??? Yikes!!! I hope they hold together for you! I know most guys who buy the SCX's go with either the SC lowers or Sportmasters...but Im just not sure I want to be rebuilding/replacing lowers every 20hrs.

RF is taking measuement today on propshaft height to get a benchmark on where to start with spacers. They want to try the new Herring 7 blades. We will see.

I was thinking of the scx lowers but was unknown as far as drag and props being max 16 inch dia ? your right the next weekest link. jeff at hering steered me away from the 7 blades and said the 6 would be a better choice , we will see .

I also tried to get ahold of brian forehand a couple of times in a couple week period before I ordered them , but he would not return my calls hmmm , must not be importent enough .

Brian w Fountain?

yes thats the one , he is supposed to be so helpfull but he doesnt return calls

Tyler had the exact same problem with Brian....so thats why we went to Reggie.

BTW...I just got off the phone with Reggie Sr. and he walked me through step by step with what he wants to do to the boat. His professionalism and attention to detail is spot on, and what we have been looking for for the last 4 years. He also told me that both him and Lil Reggie will be doing all the dialing in and testing on our boat, and that Lil Reggie is working on a custom water pickup/sea strainer system that will be similar to what is in the Cat Killer!!!!

I could go on a 6000 word disertation on all the issues and problems we have had with our boat and I honestly think it was as a result of people not giving a $hit about the product they turn out. I truly feel that Reggie still takes an enourmous amount of pride in his boats...and thus far the Fountain family has made this particular experience MUCH better than anything we have done to date. The whole Fountain Crew at RF deserves serious "props" for customer service and follow up. I cant wait to see what the finished product will do!!

Excellent , keep up the info on your project , up here the summer is going by so quick , and still waiting for stuff and final tuning . good luck and keep this thread going . hard to find comparable boats, power,drives ect please give somore details on the engines .

:boat:

Sounds great! Did the previous owner have your boat in TX?

No...we are the original owners. We bought it from Ducky's out of Pennsylvania in 05...Not sure if they are still around.

Our graphics are pretty common...there was one identical to ours on our lake in Southern MO (Table Rock Lake) for a few years. Imagine my surprise when i saw a "twin" of our boat going down the lake only a few months after we took delivery of ours...lol.

Thanks! Engines were originally 525's with Whipple 3 liter blowers on them. After 2 years of fighting engine coolant spewing issues (and about 12 other problems)...we finally removed the closed cooling and went with open cooling. Last year we had a pretty bad meltdown on the Stbd motor and decided to go with dart 540s. Tyler is putting together the second engine now...we kept the stock 525 heads..had them ported and polished..and they flow as much as they can....the increase in cam spec is maxing them out. Next step would be to get a set of Dart Heads to help it breath a lil better. Im not sure of the new cam specs.....Maybe Tyler can chime in on the detials of the new motors.

Glad to see interest in this post...I will keep everyone up to speed as the build nears completion. We are hoping to be testing in the next couple weeks. Tyler is shipping motors to RF and will be on hand to do install and tuning.

Pair A Dice 2001 42 Lightning did 117-118 with Merc 900SCs. With your updated bottom and extra ponies, I'll guess over 120, maybe even 125. Keep us posted. tnks

It should run 120 mph, the biggest limitation or loss of speed is the drives. The scx lowers rob quite a bit of speed. I'm gonna rework them and they should be ok.

Why not arnesons?

The customer already has the imco scx drives. Changing to a merc 6 drive or arneson would be very expensive.

thats why I was holding back on the scx lowers, kind of uncharted waters , did not want to so called reinvent the wheel untill there is more scx lowers on this type of boat .

This is why I read forums, great info... Keep us up on the Progress...
Pete

Thanks Pete...I rarely post on forums cuz they typically turn into a cock measuring contest where self professed experts want to tell you how to rig/run your boat, car, motorcycle, truck, wagon, space shuttle, weed eater, or food processor.

I figured there wouldn't be much of that on this thread since Reggie himself is rigging the boat along with Lil Reggie and Wyatt. I have been pushing throttles on Fountains for over 15yrs..but I am in no way an expert. My brother and I own this boat together and have made NUMEROUS mistakes and several bad decisions along the way...if anyone can get it right....Its gonna be the RF gang.

I appreciate the positive input from all you guys. My brother and I are stoked about going down to meet Reggie and his sons in a couple weeks...Ill keep everyone posted.

PS..Tyler is supposed to chime in tonight on engine specs...stay tuned!

Regards,

Eric

Thanks Eric,
Well everyone can say what they want, but you are in a rare position. I am also a die hard Fountain fan. Wish I had the opportunity (and funds) to be doing what you are. Let alone the chance to meet the King...( not to forget Tyler too..)
Keep us posted.
Pete

Oh I didn't say we had the funds...lol. The costs for doing what they are doing seem to be fair....at first I had some sticker shock but once I sat down and went through the estimate...it all seems in line.

:coolcowboy:VERY cool read!

Things are going well. Reggie PM'd me and said sea strainers are being fab'd and custom water pickups too. Tyler is making full dyno pulls on second motor tomorrow...and we hope to have both engines to RF by end of next week. 7 blade Herrings on on the way.

Gonna have to probably raise drive up on transom...Reggie Jr and Sr say it needs to be higher to go FAST FAST FAST!!! LOL. Spacers for SCX and 1:35 gears are coming from IMCO. Keeping fingers crossed for 120MPH.

when you go out on test run be sure and get some video footage, would love to see and hear her runnin strong!

Good luck. Would be nice to see some pics of the RF shop too.

+1

HEADS HEADS HEADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

I just got back last weekend from Tyler's shop. One of your motors was finished up and Dave was building the second one when I was there.
I took a 4.0 whippled 8.2 to 1 540 down for a tune.
Using a little less cam than you ( 268741) but using AFR 357cnc heads, the increase in torque and hp over your current set up made the heads the obvious hold back on your motors.

We compared the dyno sheets side by side and there was a nearly 150hp difference and almost the same diff in TQ numbers.

Discussions led to the call you got from Tyler in regards to heads.

You can go less cam ( easier on the valve train ) and make more power with just an out of the box head swap.

980 is nothing to sneeze at for sure but the power is sitting on the table, you just have to want it :)
Good luck with the project. I look forward to seeing the numbers when its all done.

Agreed....but if you had any idea as to the $ that has been poured into this boat over the last 4 years...you would probably puke..lol. We had to stop the bleeding at some point. At this point we are going to go with what we have...and look into a head swap next year. The stock 502 Heads that we have only flow like 330 I believe and that obviously isn't enough to match the cam...I guess we can call the head swap Stage 19 of the build...:drink:...lol.

Thank you for the input!!

I believe there are some on RF's Facebook page.