New To Me 35 Lightning
 

Hi guys. Just purchased a new to me 2008 Fountain 35 Lightning. Absolutely beautiful boat in like new condition and the owner took immaculate care of it from day one. Minnesota to Florida to Minnesota in 3.5 days was a road trip I don't want to soon repeat but that Myco trailer pulls like a dream. Anyways too excited not to tell someone so I thought this would be a good place to start.

I have to upgrade my membership now so I can post some pics. Here is a link to the ad: http://www.powerboatlistings.com/view/41280

Absolutely gorgeous boat. Congratulations! You're going to have a killer summer.

Awesome! Nice boat

Beautiful Ride. Good luck with her.

Beautiful boat

Awesome!

Fantastic... congrats...

Nice! ...Congrats!!

Very nice! Do you boat on the St. Croix River? Maybe I'll see you out there.

Very nice .

Thanks guys! My wife and son saw it for the first in person Sunday and they were in awe. It's a significant upgrade from our 2008 25 Citation with a 496HO! LOL.

Sure do! Just need to get some turn downs figured out now to keep the fish-cops off my back.

I had turn downs on my previous boat, but found I couldn't make them work with a staggered setup. I ended up doing GGB insert mufflers in the tips. It's enough of a reduction that I didn't have any looks last summer. I also drop down to one engine when the noise police are in the no-wake zones.

Great looking boat and huge upgrade from your previous. Enjoy and welcome to the Fountain family.

I understand how you feel, I went from a 25 baja to a 35 fountain. completely night and day and love the boat

Congrats! Your going to love the boat!

very nice

Thanks Kelly O! I can't tell you how many times I have looked at pics of your boat and watched your YT vids. Yours must be a real monster with 600's!

Nice

Congrats on the new ride. Looks great!

Congrats, awesome ride- way cool graphics.....

Sweet. First Fountain I have seen without side rails. I'm jealous.

Thanks! It looks nice and clean but I'm sure I've lost some function not having them :-/

I can live with that though :-)

You may consider adding some push-pin fender holders to each side at the rear of the sun pad. Many docks or boats will be higher than the Fountain at the rear corners, so fendering off the rear cleat will not get the fender high enough to protect your boat. A rugged suction cup mount may work also. Losing the side rails for hanging fenders is the only function lost, boat looks sleek without them.

Hey Todd,

heard you making the trip down while we were down there. We just got back and I had to look it up and see what you got.
Nice choice and nice upgrade and nice mph #'s. Even a boat from here what's the luck.

Have to check it out soon.
If you need ideas on the down turns you may be able to copy something close to my setup.

Have to chat and see what runs your planning

Crazy! Wish I would have known you were in FL at the same time. We are planning the usual outings. For sure talk to you soon.

Those quick pin fender cleats are exactly what I was thinking. Funny - one of the first things my wife said was how nice it will be to not have that back rail to sit over when we are hanging out on the sun pad/transom :-)

Got yourself a great boat. I moved from a 27' Baja to a 2005 35 Lightning 3 years ago. Was a bit intimidated at first but these Fountains are such a blast l was in it every weekend and found it easier to run than the old single drive I'd had before. I also prefer the left hand sticks. Got the thumbs up at my marina, even from the sailboat boaters. Everyone seems to like the sound of twin 525s. Also found it easy to tow and launch with the custom Myco. My only regret is I didn't get the newer version (2007+). Congrats and have fun filled summer.

Beaks baby!!!

Good looking boat!glass dave just removed my rear rail and I was going to do those quick pins fender holder also.

So as I'm cleaning, polishing and looking/learning I have a come up with some questions. On the sea strainers there are dumps that run to the sides of the hull with ball valves. I don't see any pressure reliefs tied to it and I believe the thru hull fittings are below the waterline when not on plane. I am wondering if those valves are just for draining? Should they be open or closed?

My setup is similar in regards to the sea strainer dump. I always ran with it open but always had water pressure problems when running on plane. What was happening is that air was coming back into the strainer when the thru hull was running above the water surface on plane. This would cause sudden loss of water pressure and resultant alarms going off. So, I keep the dump closed and my pressures came back to normal when at rest and running.

Your results may vary, so if you try closing the valves watch that you don't produce too much pressure. I'm running 496's with a single race sea strainer setup. Your 525's may have different pressure requirements and the fact that you have separate strainers on each motor make your setup slightly different.

What did you get out of her for top speed ? I always see claims that it will do 100mph, but no videos or anybody posting to prove it... Will yours hit triple digits ?

It should. I haven't gone for the big number yet but the tattle tale gps speedo recalls 100 from the previous owner.