I have a car for sale that a guy is offering to trade me a 2001 Fountain 35 executioner, single step hull with what he says are 502's but the pictures look more like 496 to me. He said it was winterized and put in his garage 7 years ago and he hasn't had time to use it. Cockpit interior is nice, he started to redo the cabin but didn't finsish. Since a test drive will be out of the question, I'm just going assume the worst and that the transom is wet and I will need to part it out. I'm only asking $22,000 for the car, so on paper it seems like I would be getting the better end of the deal IF the boat doesn't actually need much to get back on the water. However if the hull is bad or a motor is bad, It would likely just turn into a part-out or selling whole to somebody

I can't help with value, not many comparable sales to look at. But the boat has some history, this will help in the case of buying OR selling.

These were one of Reggies first designs so here is the history of the Hull below. The boat does not look as good on the trailer as it does in the water because of the raised rear deck housing the power. But in the water its a sexy beast. Also some of the graphics don't capture the lines well enough as this example :





Here is the story of only one boat manufacturer spin-off I've been assured is accurate.....

1. In 1966, Harry Schoell designed and built a full-height 28' deep vee raceboat for Aronow. Don gave him the rough idea, based on his Wynne Walters design of the 28 foot Donzi, which was over 9 feet wide and Don knew he wanted narrower next time, so...here comes the 28 X 8. Don also took that boat design and cut it down vertically, to make the Magnum 27'. Plus Don took the 28' Schoell drawing, and blew it up 1.15 times to make the Cary 32'.

2. In the 1970's a Ferrari racer named Jean-Claude Simon from France moved to Miami and bought Cary. The Cary Boat Company still had the 32' mold from Don's expansion of the 28'.

3. Around 1978 Bill Farmer owned Excalibur Boats and negotiated with Jean-Claude to use the 32' mold, Farmer then created the 31' Excalibur from this design.

4. Reggie Fountain and Gary Gabrecht used the 31' Excalibur Mold as the basis for the Fountain Executioner. In 1978 Fountain contracted with Bill Farmer and Don Able of Excalibur Boats in Sarasota, Florida to use Farmer's 31' V-bottom mold to build boats. Reggie was still selling insurance at the time. “They built the first 12 to 18 boats for us,” says Fountain in a previous interview. The conventional V-bottom 10 Meter Executioner was also the first Fountain built by Reggie Fountain in Washington. But, a legal letter from Jean-Claude shows up demanding that every advertisement and all public relations they do, MUST contain the phrase....."Designed by Jean-Claude Simon". So, Reggie very aptly sidestepped this, and the "new" 10 Meter Executioner was born. The 10 Meter Executioner was two feet longer than the Excalibur-built 31-footer. The added length came from extending the boat’s nose, (the famous "beak"), as well as adding an integrated swim platform. Fountain says he also modified the boat’s hull. Sandpaper on the running surface netted a speed increase. Handcrafted putty strakes improved handling, and further modifications on the stern drive height improved acceleration.


So, Reggie copied a Harry Schoell, Aronow modified, design to build the first of his Fountain Powerboats.......

How's that for interesting. I guess that makes every Fountain out there a spin-off of the Aronow/Schoell design ????

This is the article source : https://seriousoffshore.com/threads/...ffshore.21304/

easy to tell the diff stock 496 is closed cooled the stock 502 mpi or carb is not, what trailer is under it ?

EDIT I wouldn't assume you're getting the better end of the deal without a sea trial........