38 Fountain Lightning Worth It or Not ?
 

Hey guys -

I am looking to up-size and have been looking for a fun cool boat. I am looking at a 38 Fountain Lightning. Boat is pretty much complete except for a stripped engine bay and transom.

The interior could use a little TLC but I don't mind since I would be replacing most of the vinyl anyway to match a custom paint job.

What motors would have come stock in this boat (twin 500 EFI's)?

The boat is on a nice steel bunk triple axle trailer. What is something like this worth? Is this boat worth the $$$'s in the long run?

Thanks.

You're probably going to have to be a little more specific on year and condition of boat over all to get much help.
Other than that I can't help you much, but good luck!

How stripped is the engine bay? is all the rigging still there? what year is the boat.........with that info, it will be easier to say what it's worth.

with a striped bilge and transom it is not worth a lot,even if you can do the work yourself the parts will cost a lot. you might be better off looking for a complete boat that is ready to run.

Unless it's FREE, run from it. Run very fast.

I think its a 2003 or 2004.

The overall condition is fair. I feel confident it is a solid boat.

The finish and interior are fair, but I would want to do custom paint (or gel) and change up the vinyl anyway so I don't have a lot of concerns there either.

The engine bay is pretty much bare. (no rigging - no motors)

I know the little stuff could add up, but the boat has to be worth something? Its on a nice triple axle steel trailer.

I know fountain is still in business (one of the only ones left) so that has to say something for their boats.

Any idea what the hull and trailer are worth? Any ideas the cost to rig it?

Pictures inside and out would be best, there are many variables. Was the boat sunk, is it a "Sandy" insurance boat? Was it stored outside without a cover? The more info the better

I wish I had pictures, I ran across the boat by accident - not even looking for it.

I am almost certain it was not sunk and not a sandy insurance boat.

I consider the boat in average condition (inside and out) just trying to figure out what to offer him.

I'd start by counting backward from what you could purchase a "running" boat for. The OSO classified have a number of '03 & '04 38 lightning's, most are in the $100 k to $120k range. There are a couple with staggered 525's asking $119K. Thus what the boat you're looking at is worth becomes market price (not asking price) for a similar boat, less all parts & labor to make this one the same. If you have to put $100k of engines & drives, plus an interior, then MAYBE it's a $10k boat & trailer. Most times it's pretty hard to break even on a "project boat" & there's ALWAYS a reason someone turned it into a project...

Honestly I would look to a complete boat. 38 Fountains of that vintage are plentiful. The stripped hull has almost ZERO value IMHO.

Wannabe

I disagree. there are plenty of people that cant afford to go buy a turnkey boat or don't wanna get a loan for a boat. a pair of HP 500 can be had for around 20,000 a pair of out drives can be had for around four to five thousand.searching the Swap Shop in eBay could find the rest of the parts necessary probably another five to ten thousand.so if you bought the hull and trailer for around 15,000 you would only be into it a total of 45-50,000...... sounds like a winner to me.of course that would be doing all the work yourself and not paying labor have it all installed

Engines with exhaust 20-25k
Drives and transom assemblies 10k
Steering 4-6k
Trim pumps and rigging 5k
K planes??? 3k
Misc 3k
Quality Interior Vinyl 5k
Paint job 15k

Thats 60- 70k and does not included any labor.

Where have you been? NOT the same Fountain that built that boat.

Well Reggie isn't the owner anymore but it is the original fountain factory. Has some of Reggie's old employees and you can still get most of the fountain specific stuff from them so yeah he's kinda right.

i have to agree here ..put a pair of 502s in it with a pair of bravo 1s ,i just sold a pair of hp 500 clones with 16 hrs on em for 10.000 theirs a pair of bravos in the swap shop for 3.200 .just cant understand why every time a hull comes up for sale everbody gets scared ..not everyone can afford a 75.000 loan ..most will do it as a project over time .without draining the bank acct ..i see more guys on here replacing stringers floors ect ..anybody ck out the guy who rebuilt the formula ss was he stupid??? no!!! i give that guy credit he did a very nice job and very detailed photos everybody praised him for the job he did ..how come nobody said to junk the boat ???..once again if your a high roller you wouldent think of looking at this boat but were not all rich ..most guys will do there own interior motors drives ect

Agree, just a little drama in between. To the OP, I think it would be a great deal for the right price and IF your handy.

What ever you think its gonna cost.. Triple it , then add another $10, 000.

A few years older, but looks to be in mint condition. Asking 70k http://www.offshoreonly.com/classifi...o57961-en.html

looks like a great option for OP.

you can always buy 24 Baja-ish boats-running 502 bravo for 10k or less when they have rough interiors. then you have motor-transom assy-drive, plus all kinds of little stuff that is missing. and you can resell the hulls and/or trailers for 1-2k or so...so the boat CAN be turned into a runner-driver for 30k. now, you want more than 450hp per side? price goes up astronomically. if this is the boat you want it is worth considering. if you are thinking resale for profit...do cars not boats.

If this boat is the year the OP is guessing, it would also be a staggered boat......which means lots of expensive stuff you are not going to find in the typical donor boat.


If fro some reason you lose interest in the project boat, please let me know. I may be interested in the hull depending on what it is