I have heard / witnessed a lot of transom / stringer rot issues with the performance line of Fountain power boats but not so much with the Express Cruiser line. Maybe it is just me but I have never heard of rot issues with the Express Cruiser line. Why is that? Were they made in a different department of the factory?
Also I read somewhere that after a certain year (2006 I think) Fountain didn't use wood for stringers, any truth to this?

I think it has been posted sometime around 2006-2007 they stopped using wood. You may want to ask R3 on Facebook.

He seems to be on there all the time, or just call the factory at this point. R3 has been posting a lot of builds.

Agree with Phil. It was 06-07 they stopped with wood. Also I think the problem isn't necessarily all the factories fault. Cruisers likely get less work done than the performance line. People are always in and out changing this or redoing that. They definitely deserve their fare share for not dealing stuff properly but I also think there is other stuff at work like standing water. That contributes

I know at least 2-3 people around me that had major rot issue on their Fountain 38 EC...had to pull the engines / drives and redo the transom and strigners.. 2 of them are sitting on trailers.

I didn't really think transom/stringer rot is model specific, I just haven't heard of it on the cruiser model. I suppose there are a lot more performance model boats than cruiser models so you are more prone to hear of it.
I did talk to Reggie 3 & he said Fountain used coosa board after 2006, no wood. Sounds like 2007 and newer boats are the ones to buy.

I'd like to say this. Leave a sheet plywood of plywood in your back yard. It will take forever to rot. If it's a sealing issue then air can get to it also. That would allow it to dry. I bet most rot issues have to do with plugs being left in and water sitting in bilges for a while. Unsealed wood doesn't rot fast.

Do you know if that's the case for the luxury edition 38 with OBs as well?

The 38 we saw being repaired had the entire wood bulkhead wall rotted out and did not have ANY glass at all could not believe it the gelcoat was put on right over the wood So it was replaced properly new wood and glass Who knows what other wood is just gel coated over .

Never heard that what year 38?

When we were shopping for 35's, went to Destin to look at a beautiful boat (paint scheme). They pulled it out of the rack, and I got in. It had sand everywhere inside the boat (hmm maybe they were in a hurry to leave last time they went out? [benefit of the doubt]) - opened the hatch, and what looked like rotten water sitting in the bilge. I looked at the salesman, and said I've seen enough and walked.

Why do people leave water in the bilge? Even an uneducated individual knows better, right???