Both boats I'm looking at are temp controlled warehouse stored. The Fountain has a survey but it was done two years ago. The Formula is a fresh water boat with fresh motors just done and wasn't surveyed, but shop that did the motors says its dry.

If it's a fountain with tailpipes that come through the transom, it needs a transom and likely stringers. We have done a TON of these jobs. They're a great boat, totally worth fixing, but unfortunately it's become almost a given.

Tailpipes coming through the transom were not sealed. The wood was not coated. Nothing. This wipes the transom out. The stringers are tied into the transom.

wow. Interesting that they can go bad so quickly…i mean water exposure. most of these boats are likely used for a few hours then stored on land 99% of there life.

crazy

After reading your reply, think I'll drop buying the Fountain even with a survey.

I boat with 2 guys who have fountains, (32 and a 35) and BOTH had to replace their transoms and stringers....

IMO I would not trust a survey from a seller, especially an older survey. Get your own survey and mechanical inspection.

The other thing that leads to wet transoms and stringers on Fountains is how they sit in the water. On the smaller boats, (32' and less) the rub rail is in the water at the rear of the swim platform and allows water to seep in at the joint. This - along with poor or non-existent sealing of the exhaust tips - leads to all sorts of water intrusion issues.

When did Formula start using composite stringer grid system? Is the transom composite on those boats as well?

can only speak for the 2004 fastech we owned…it had composite stringers but a wood transom.

more recent models might have switched to composite transoms too..? Not sure