It came from a Fountain ad my boss gave to me the other day...

31' center console, base model, 20 year financing + 20% down $768 / month @ 5% interest

I'm guessing you can get a 35 executioner for not much more than that, I think they are pretty close in price.

All I know is from the ad, I'm not in the new boat market and even if I was I doubt I would be in the 30+ foot range. It was nice when you could get a mid 20 footer with twin engines, like the old Formula 252 SR1

As a Ford employee I feel bad for everyone at Fountain right now.

It really is not fun to have your industry drastically turned on its ear by something out of your control such as gas prices.

Trucks, boats, etc, will go on, but not at the volume/style they used to. I'm not a big fan of Fountain boats but I hope they pull through this. It is not a good sign for the industry though.

What will be left in the end, only very high end customs catering to the rich?

What's the difference between that scenario and now? I make 50% more per year than when I joined OSO 4+ years ago. Back then, middle class people had perf boats too.
Now... if you don't clear $200k+ per year, or are in the marine business swinging deals, you can't participate at a "respected" level.

What does a respected level mean? doesn't that entirely depend on ones perspective, it seems to me for instance that some people admire my 1991 29' off-brand boat, but I guess their knowledge of respectable boats is limited.

In my case I have no use for a boat that cant be easily trailered and launched on my own. A fisherman in the bay has no use for a boat not capable of running over the flats and so on.

I fail to see how the size or cost of a boat earns respect.

I'm not sure what level any of us are really at. My stuff is "junk" It's nice, well cared for junk but it's old. And it's paid for. Is a guy with a $600K boat doing any better? Not when he's pulling an insurance scam to get out from under a massive payment. Kind of like the Lamborghini ads on Ebay- "you can drive this tomorrow witha low monthly lease payment of $2399.00" Yeah, that's what I need- a Lambo payment.

Here's something to bring you back to reality- at the Aronow race, the talk of the week is the old restored Formula 233, "The Cigarette". Do you really need a new MTI to "be somebody"?

Fountain's likley extensive debt to Mercury already made Fountain a Vendor owned company.

From a high of $2.88 earlier in the year to currently 90-98 cents a share is not good.

Third Quarter Financial Results

-- Net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 were $14,222,639, a
decrease of approximately 13.7 percent, when compared to net sales of
$16,475,688 for the comparable quarter of fiscal 2007. Sales for the
quarter decreased as a result of the continued weak retail market.

-- Gross profit for the quarter was $1,101,194, with a gross profit
margin of approximately 7.7 percent, versus a gross profit of $1,374,322,
with a gross profit margin of 8.3 percent, for the third quarter of fiscal
2007. The decrease in gross margin is primarily due to reduced fixed
absorption because of lower sales volume.

-- Operating loss for the quarter was $1,692,338, as compared to an
operating loss of $1,347,621 for the third quarter of fiscal 2007.

-- Net loss for the quarter was $1,966,473, or net loss per share of
$0.45 on a basic and diluted basis, versus a net loss of $3,873,524, or net
loss per share of $0.80 on a basic and diluted basis, for the third quarter
of fiscal 2007. The third quarter of the prior year included a deferred tax
expense.

Winnebago is down 73% this year... Tough times for everybody in the gasoline consuming industry except maybe Toyota and Honda...

I totally agree with you Mark. People were amazed at my $16,000 Stinger with twin sbcs in local waters. Every head turned all the time. I am more of a "quality of character" person myself, I care more about what a person thinks than what they drive.

But here's what I meant: some people here are pretty tolerant of the boatless or people without a Cig, MTI or Skater until they disagree about something. When these moments occur, it is amazing how fast somebody with a superior boat will dismiss you and your boatless/crappy boat opinion because you do not have one of the chosen brands and styles.
It seems sometimes here that respect starts at about 80mph and with about a 35 mistress.

(Of course there are cool people who could care less, and this obviously doesn't apply to them.)

I drove past one of the largest RV dealerships in the country yesterday- I've never seen so much crushed limestone in my life. They weren't even making an effort to space units around to conceal how few they had.

I think they are just thrilled not to have 250 new RV's sitting on the floorplan.