Hey everyone, I am going to look at a 2002 Fountain 29 early next month and while looking at pictures with my wife she was curious how you got on the bow of the boat. I found another thread on this forum and it appears you go into the cabin and out of the hatch to get to the bow? We have had a baja 272 that has steps to get up to the bow and my wife really enjoyed that functionality. Is there another way to get up to the bow without going through the hatch and without possibly breaking some bolster seats by stepping on them too much?

Also, do these boats have anchor lockers at the front of the bow?

After reading up more on the 525 EFI. Is there a way to tell if I have the CMI headers that tend to leak on these engines while I am out there? I dont really want to get the boat and have to replace headers right away.


Thanks in advance! Looking forward to sea testing this boat at LOTO next month.

Don’t know about bow access. All headers will leak at some point. The better version for the 525 has the outer tubing ending just short of the header flange.

Access the bow by stepping on the passenger seat, then the dash and over the windshield. A 2002 will have a decent size anchor locker up front. Just make sure the drain is un clogged...

Some 2002 29s are the old style Fever. They do not have an anchor locker and getting over that windshield is not easy.


The 29s with the frame windshield are much easier to cross.

How many scanned hours on the engine > the cool collar design on the headers is less prone to cracking leaking at the flange area