Fountain Boats for Sale

Reggie Fountain

Reggie Fountain grew up in Tarboro, North Carolina, raced his first boat at 14, and earned undergraduate and law degrees from UNC. He turned pro in 1970 and drove for the Mercury factory team with Bill Seebold and Earl Bentz. In 1973 he won 20 of the 31 races he entered.

He incorporated Fountain Powerboats in 1979, starting out in an abandoned used-car dealership in Washington, North Carolina. The company went public on NASDAQ, built boats for customers including King Hussein of Jordan, and by 1998 reported $50.6 million in sales and 331 employees. It also built rigid inflatables for the Navy, Customs and the Coast Guard.

Bankruptcy and new owners

Fountain filed for Chapter 11 in August 2009. Liberty Associates took over through the reorganization, with Reggie Fountain staying on as president and CEO. The relationship broke down, and he resigned in December 2010.

Before that, in 2008, Fountain bought the tooling and trademarks for several Baja models from Brunswick. In 2016 Custom Marine Group, formed by the Ross and Wortley families, bought Baja Marine, Fountain, Donzi and Pro-Line together.

What you'll find for sale

• Performance V-bottoms: the classic Fountain go-fast boats, often with twin or triple big-block engines.
• Sportfish center consoles: Fountain applied its fast-hull know-how to offshore fishing boats, popular for tournament fishing.
• Sport cruisers and express cruisers with cabins.

What to check on a used Fountain

Engines. Many Fountains have high-performance or modified engines. Get the hours, rebuild records and a compression and leakdown test. Ask what's been changed from stock.

Drives. Look at the outdrives or surface drives for corrosion, play and oil leaks. Performance drives cost a lot to rebuild.

Hull and stringers. Fast boats take a pounding. Look for stress cracks, especially around the transom, engine mounts and deck hardware. Have a surveyor check for wet core.

Steering and trim. Test the hydraulic steering, trim tabs and drive trim through their full range.

Water test. Run it at speed, watch the temperatures and gauges, and see how it handles in some chop.

Paperwork. Fountain has had several owners. Check the hull ID, ask about any remaining warranty, and find out whether parts are still available for the model year.