29 Scarrab vs 29 Fountain
 

Looking at upgrading to a 29' boat . Found a very nice 29' Scarrab 502 XR drive . other boat is a 29' Fountain same power . Fountain is a 97' for 67k and Scarrab is a 95' for 45K .
Fountain needs some minor interior repair , Scarrab has new everything . How do these boats compare for handling , top speed , and quality of construction ?

The 97 Fountain sounds overpriced. There is a 2002 29' Fountain with upgraded 575 in OSO classifieds for 65k. I owned that boat a couple of years ago and it was like brand new when I had it. Next owner did some engine upgrades and added some bling to the boat. A 29' anything with single 502 (415 hp) is going to be a lackluster performer, maybe reaching 70 mph (gps, not the pitot tube happymeter) on a really good day. I have had 4 different 29' Fountains, the quickest to plane, and fastest, was one with a 575 SCi in it. The slowest to plane was one with a single 500EFI - it ran ~73 mph gps, and the slowest was one with twin 6.2's. Our current 29 with a 525 EFI isn't the fastest to get on plane, but is acceptable IMO, and it runs close to the same top end as the 575 boat (within 2-3 mph on gps). Can't speak for the Scarab, but the overall quality of the Fountain is good and comes with a lot of nice equipment like K-planes, mechanical drive and tab indicators, and plenty of gauges. Handling and speed of the later 29's, with the taller step has never been an issue, in my opinion. If you get crazy power in one, they will want to chine walk in upper 80's mph. I personally like the later single engine 29 Fevers, but not with anything less than a 525 EFI.

Fountain is definitely overpriced. My brother has a 29 Fountain w/525...definitely has good and bad points. It's actually a 26 foot boat and it does not handle the rough all that great, but not terrible either. It is painful gettting on plane due to the high X dimension as well.

We had a 22 Scarab before our current boats. I really liked that boat for what it was.

I would not upgrade from a 27 Fountain to a 29 Fountain. You are hardly going to notice any difference.

That said, wait one more year, and upgrade to a 31-35 foot boat.

Great point. I didn't notice that.

Me either. Not that much difference between a 27 and 29, although I would choose the 29 over the 27. I had a 35 Lightning twin step amongst the 29's and I would take another 35 twin step in a heartbeat, given the right circumstances ... those being not having to tow it 50+ miles everytime I wanted to use it, and a nice 4 door dually to pull it with, and a 40 X 60 pole barn, or other reasonable storage to keep it. I loved the 35. Right boat, wrong time and place. For now, another 29 meets my "needs" ... but I would much rather have a 35 :D

Ditto.....and IMO, BOTH are overpriced in todays market. Heck, I'd think about selling you my 1997 32AT for 67k and its about 6feet longer that a 29 Fountain.

If you want to stick with a single, check out a 28 Pantera ot 28 AT. Both are a lot bigger than a 29 Fountain.

I have a 94 Scarab with twin 350,s I have had great luck with this boat! Its for sale for 31k.

I had a 29 scarab for 11 years and my buddy had a 29 fountain I took many rides in. My 29 scarab had a 509cid whipple motor and his 29 fountain had a 502efi. The scarab has more free board and handled the gulf of mexico way better than his fountain did. He even admitted it, but his fountain would take my scarab out of the hole big time, but I would eventually catch him. The fountain just felt shorter in the rough stuff. There is a board memeber on here who bought my scarab that could shed some more light on the scarab.

There both great boats, but personelly I felt safer in my boat with the free board. Good luck on what ever choice turns out to be.