Intro and newbie (Fountain) question
 

Hello - my name is Tom, I'm a boataholic, and have abstained from boating for 5 years.

(the crowd says, "Hello Tom" and then boos him for his abstinence)

First I want to thank this website and the folks here for the info I've been mining for the last couple of years.

Me? I'm an engineer by trade and gearhead by choice. I love motorcycles, boats, airplanes, and racing. I personally think the greatest gift that God ever gave to Man was the internal combustion engine. And one day I'm going to create a line of women's fragrances that will have the aroma of such things as the exhaust smell of a 2-stroke burning Blenzall or a V-8 burning VP or Turbo Blue race fuel. Yes....my wife thinks I'm crazy. Anyhow........

I've pretty much grown up around boating and the water. My Dad took me to boat races as early as 4 years old. As for boating experience, it ranges from helping my Dad build a 15' outboard runabout (Glen L Marine Designs) at the age of 6 to a 35' inboard cabin cruiser to a 19' outboard to a 52' sailboat, to.....well, you get the picture. The only boat I've not had the pleasure of piloting is the one boat that I have promised myself I would purchase for my 55th birthday and that is an offshore style performance boat. And I'm right on track to make that happen next year. YEA ME!!!!!

As I continue to narrow down my choices there's an odd question I have that I hope you guys could answer for me. Actually, I think I need your opinion(s) more than an answer.

Every power boat that I have ever piloted, and many of todays performance boats, has the throttle and/or shift on the right side. However, that is not true with the controls on a Fountain. Which leads me to my odd question. Am I just being prejudice due to experience that I would not like the left hand control setup found on a Fountain? It honestly looks like it would be awkward. Obviously I've never piloted a Fountain, so maybe I should reserve judgement.

Where this is going is that I like the way Fountain's look, how they perform (from what I've read), and their quality but I don't want to rule out Fountain boats as an option based upon their left hand controls. So.......

Would any of you care to opine???

TIA

Just like anything.. You get use to it.:drink:

Hello Tom. I have owned a 15' outboard, 19' Searay, two 21' Novas, a 25' nova, 27 Formula, and a 33 Formula. All had right hand controls. I am now the proud owner of a 42' Fountain and I love it. I have about 20 hours on it so far and still find my right hand reaching for the sticks. Is it a problem? No. I am a little concerned with guests on the boat that could easily bump the controls while walking by. If it happened at the wrong time, it could be bad. But I sure do love that boat.

You won't even think about it after a few minutes..
No different than driving from the rt side, vs the left side as in your car.

I agree, took about 30 min to adjust to the throttles , don't really see a lot of diff at this time, great boat's and really perform well, good luck with the present!!


RHC

:food-smiley-007:

I run a donzi that has left hand controls, then the same day, I will hop in my center console which is right hand controls, never once have I missed anything due to it, it will become natural to you, does not matter which side they are on. Do not rule out a boat because of it.

I have owned boats that have had LH steering and RH steering (opposite of cars) foot throttles both right foot and left foot (on a drag boat), right hand throttles and left hand throttles. It takes mere minutes to adjust to it. Not a factor at all. Funny how nobody ever brings up the fact that most boats have the steering on the right the very opposite side of cars. Is it a factor? Not at all.

I think you'd get used to it. The nice thing is when docking you will rarely use the throttles so you can just focus on the shifters.

Welcome to OSO and the offshore scene - you'll enjoy!

Much thanks to all of you that responded. Some good points that I had not considered.

As an aside - I must tell you it's a bit intimidating to post here for the first time and I don't mean that in a bad way. Not only are there many of you that have been here awhile, but it's pretty obvious that you have been around the performance boating scene for some time and know your sh!t. It's my sincere hope that one day I get to meet some of you at a poker run or summat.

FWIW - my manufactuer choices have been narrowed down to (in no particular order) Fountain, Formula, and Velocity. My wife tolerates my go-fast hobbies of cars and motorcycles because we have reached a compromise. If I buy a sportbike, I must also have a bike that she feels comfortable on - hence my FJR1300. Same for cars. Anyhow....although I would love to chose a boat purely for performance, it must adhere to our compromise. For that reason, I believe we are leaning towards Fountain & Formula - easy (it seems) to go relatively fast, yet still have some creature comforts. I think we also would like to stay in the 33 to 35 foot range.

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts. I'm completely open to other's perspectives.

And thanks for making me feel welcome. :drink:

Tom

I also came from a right handed throttle and now own a Fountain and like others have said you forget about it after a few minutes. Love my boat though.

Can't go wrong with a Formula. Very nice boats and will offer a little more comfort over a Fountain of same size. That said, I'm on my 2nd Fountain and love 'em. The stance of how it sits in the water is what initially made me choose a Fountain.

If you want to go fast..between the formula and fountain, hands down the fountain will be faster on equal power.

35 fountain is faster and handles much better, period. 35 fastech has a lil more room and is a little more plush if u will.

+1

I Was in the same place you are, my wife really wanted a cruiser, but that wasn't happening. Coming out of a Cig with zero creature comforts the Formula is a whole different boating experience. If you plan do a lot of weekending on the boat, the Formula is probably going to be more comfortable. We couldn't be happier with ours.

The Fountains are excellent boats, and power for power will usually be faster than a formula.

I have a soft spot for velocity's, as I grew up around them. They are much less mainstream than the Fountain or Formula, which I find cool. Very efficient hulls.

Go check them all out in person before you spend any money. There are enough boats for sale out there that you should have no problem finding a few to sample.

Good luck with your search, and have fun!

I too find the Velocity attractive in that you don't see many and I like having something different. I've been to their factory in Sanford and it was a great experience. It was a Sunday (we were heading back home) and just stopped to mostly drool through the fence. Surprisingly, folks were there getting boats ready to tow to the Miami Boat Show. Kenneth Hohwiesner introduced himself and proceeded to give us a tour and was just super nice. He got very talkative when he realized that I understood composite construction (I work for an aircraft company). That personalness alone was almost enough to make me not consider anyone else's boat. Anyhow.....

The wife is in love with this listing on here:

http://www.offshoreonly.com/classifi...o36652-en.html

And why???? That's easy - the boat is BLUE!! And everyone knows that the only color for a boat is blue. LOL.... She cracks me up.

Tom

Where in Georga? Do you work for Gulfstream by chance?

That fountain looks like a super nice ride :cool-smiley-011:

If the "compromise" is important than I would get the formula. I have been on a couple and they offer a great cabin area in my opinion.

Wow - great guess. Yes, I work for Gulfstream. Been there 25+ years now. Great company and (naturally) the best aircraft in the world. :)

Tom

I have right hand throttles but left hand drive. I thought it would take some time to get used to, but it didnt.
Not a Fountain though.

They are some GREAT airplanes. We operate a few of them ;)

. . . I'm in Flight Ops Tech & Compliance at NetJets. :drink:

Well it's very nice to meet you sir! :drink:

Now get back to ordering more! LOL....

Tom

Hi Tom,
Welcome to the board. Like others have said I also have had both right hand and left hand steering and right and left throttles as well as foot throttle. My current boat is a Hallett 270T with right hand throttles and before that I had a Sea Ray 400 that had the throttles on the right and shifters on the left (my wife wanted to try big boat boating), but the 20 kt cruise speed just didn't get it for us. Prior to that I had a Fountain 35 Lightning. I loved that boat! you get used to the throttles on either side very easily. One plus to the left hand throttles is if you are letting someone else drive the boat and they are not used to the ocean you can easily stand next to the helm and throttle the boat while hanging on to the grab rail there.

I am very sure that my next boat will be another Fountain, but it may require keeping the Hallett to keep my wife happy, she really likes that boat.
David

:ernaehrung004:Welcome to the Board

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4s6H4ku6ZY[/YOUTUBE]

Tom, welcome. Did you make it into the video? :lolhit:

Left hand controls will not be a problem. Just switched over this year. Love it.