will i jinx myself?

sleeper

sleeper

Former LOD President
if i talk about the boat i just put a deposit on, before i actually get it?

let's hope not.

just put a deposit on a '91 Fountain, 27' Fever. Single 502, 415 hp. Crate mercruiser engine (and drive) in '95, and the boost gauge still on the dash is a good indicator why. should be good for 65 mph anyway though. boat has 450 ish hours, motor has 150 or so according to the owner.

nice system (i presume, no batteries in it) too. 3 amps, two of them soundstream. 2 subs, 4 boston acoustic speakers on the back deck, 2 sony's in the cabin, 10 disc changer. no gps though. ship to shore included, but not installed (it hit the guys legs when he was driving).

Still have a lot of hurdles to clear. the deal is contingent on financing, survey, compression check, and a succesful sea trial.

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www.portsideyachtbrokers.com

it's the only fountain they have listed

getting it for 31.5k. the important parts are in great shape, esp. considering the age. it's been rack stored. the gel coat looks great. the gauges look like crap. the seats are fair to good, a few cracks but nothing noticeable at first glance. engine compartment looks great. cabin looks hardly used. comes with trailer.

I hope i can pull this off. i'm probably gonna have to come up with a bit more than $5k over the next month to cover down payment, taxes, registration, etc. Damn state making me come up with another 6%.

don't see too many single engine fountains.

This pretty much means no meets for me this year. no money for st. louis, and no money for carlisle (but i might still make it if a business trip takes me in that direction).
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

Nice boat, I hope you get it, but will you be able to afford to put gas in it?
Boats are like swimming pools, it is best to have a good friend or neighbor with one, so you can get all the enjoyment one and none of the maintenance headaches that come with it.
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

What do you mean, no meets? You'll be entertaining the LOD crew on your new boat!

Good luck.
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

Hey let me know if you put in on lake Michigan,I spend most of my weekends near Michigan city out on the lake.Definetly take it out on the water and listen for drive issues,cause they are big dollars.best of luck.
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

Looks like great fun! Can I come race you in a 21' Cobalt :)

Good luck with it, looks like a blast!
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
What do you mean, no meets? You'll be entertaining the LOD crew on your new boat!
[/div]

ROTFLMAO! :7
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

I'll be listening for whatever i can on the sea trial, but i don't know if i'll be able to tell if there is a small problem. anything telltale i should be looking for? if i find something wrong on the sea trial there will be 2k in escrow to fix it.

the seller says the only thing wrong with the boat is that the oil temperature gauge doesn't move. he doesn't know if that's because the oil doesn't get hot or if the sender doesn't work.
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

Sounds like a nice boat Dave. My next boat may be a go-fast boat. There are a few things that peaked my interest. This guy is claiming that he has only driven the boat for no more that 15 hours per year for the last ten years? That equates to taking it out like 2 times per year for 10 years. If he is telling the truth, there are other things to be concerned about. The worst thing you can do to a boat is not use it. Lots of stuff starts to break when they are left sitting. I also think you can get more boat for the money. I know I live in Florida where the prices are lower, but you could get a similar size boat with twin 454's for thousands less. Have you checked out some of the local publications that sell boats?

I am not saying this stuff to put you down, just trying to point out some obvious things that may have slipped your mind. We have talked boats and I am confindent in saying that you know more about them than I do. If you want to hit some of the popular web sites that sell boats pop in 34695 for a zip code and see what I am talking about with pricing.

If you want me to take a look at some stuff down here for you I would be happy to. When my dad gave me his boat I rented a chevy trail blazer and drove it up to Indiana to pick it up. All trail blazers come standard with a hitch. You know how long it takes to drive down to my area. It may be worth the few bucks to rent a truck for the thousands you will save by driving down here.

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

Florida boats are used in saltwater, year round. There's a reason they're cheaper.

I was looking specifically for a single big block, also. The same boat with twin 454's will do maybe 5 mph more on top end (and that's being generous), and i can't afford the added fuel use, maintenance, and repair costs associated with two big blocks. Not to mention the added wear on my tow vehicle.

The guy was asking 33,500, and according to NADA in this area, with the trailer and the options it has, that's right at average retail. I'm sure i could get more boat if i went with just about any other brand, but there's a reason fountains (and donzis and cigarettes) demand a premium price. I'm getting it for 31,500, so it's slightly under book value.

There have been two owners since this engine was put in. This owner has a family of 5 and his wife is afraid to run fast in the boat. He also uses it on lake michigan, which is about 45 minutes from where he lives. Figure in a 6 month boating season if you're hardcore, 3 months max if you have a wife and kids. Plus, if the wife doesn't like to go fast you're heading to the swimming hole, parking all day, and heading back. So i can believe it was only run 15 hours a year. That's basically once a week all summer, a half hour to the swimming hole and a half hour back.

I'd prefer to see more like 50 hours a year on the engine, and have the guy tell me he ran it balls out at least for a minute or so every time he took it out. But this boat was rack stored, and looks it. It didn't spend a whole lot of time in the water or in the sun. The oil was changed once per year, which amounts to once every 15 hours or so. If i had to guess, i'd say it was used far less than once a week and run for a few hours each time. Which really isn't bad for the motor, at least not with good oil in it, in fresh water. If it really has only 150 hours on it, i don't think i really have to worry about the rings getting up into "uncharted territory" in their bores when i really run it hard. Even if it's never seen high rpm, there shouldn't be enough wear on the bore to snap a ring when it finally does see it. And the guy did look younger, and had his son with him. He did know how fast it went top-end. I think (kinda hope) he was sandbagging when he said he hardly ever ran it hard.

There are currently 3 27' fountain fevers, in that age range, listed on yachtworld.com nationwide. This one is the cheapest, and the only one with a single stock engine. I do not want to get into a blown motor, i cannot afford the gas or the maintenance.

I was looking at a lot of formulas in the 25k range online, but a fountain is definitely worth the extra 10k. it's about 3 feet longer than the formulas i was looking at also, and has pretty much exactly the motor i want.
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

Dave;

Sounds like you a stepping up. Great Boat hope you will be happy with a single screw as they can be very interesting to dock. Make sure your'e taking a boating coures from your local power squadron. I have seen too may idiots get their boat and head for the lake and have no idea what the rules of the road are,know how to navigate, or know how to read a chart, and wonder how they got in trouble out in the lake. Remeber there are two great days for the boat owner (The day he buys the boat, and the day he sells the boat), also a "Boat is a big Hole in the water for you to throw your money in". If you get to Put-In-Bay this year I'll meet you over there as its just a short distance from my place.:p :p
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

Have you checked out the boat trader mag? Just another place to look as well. Most of the performance boats down here are closed loop fresh water cooled. If the anodes are replaced regularly, the outdrive wont be affected by the salt water. Sounds like a nice boat anyway. Surprised you are against twin screws. I shure would hate to get caught dead in the water on a 6 foot lake Michigan chop. Those waves are far worse than anything we see in the gulf.

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

I just can't afford twins, really. I do most of my boating in lake st. clair, the boat comes with a ship to shore, and my dad gets unlimited towing from boat us (which is good for me, too) so i'm not really worried about getting stranded. I've been all over this lake in a 10 ft dinghy with a 9.9 outboard :). Plus, i plan to be as diligent about maintenance on this thing as i am on my car. So i'm not really worried about getting stranded. Since there is very little performance advantage, and a major cost disadvantage, i'd rather have a single. Really, twin 454's would only get me about 2-3 mph more, and would cost about twice as much to feed.

I took the power squadron class when i was 12. I was the DD on my dad's boat from the time i was 12 until the time i was 16. He had a 34' silverton at the time. My dad got his first boat when i was 9 or 10, and i'm 25 now, so i wasn't lying on the loan app when i said 15 years of boating experience. And at least 13 of that involves time behind the wheel. I had access to a 50+ mph jetboat for a couple summers too.

I know what you mean about people that get the boat and head out with no experience or training, though, i've had to take evasive action for a few of those people. It's rediculous, really, because on our lake there are two things to remember. Look at the graphic of which side has the red light on the bow and which side has the green light, and remember green means go and red means stop when you encounter another vessel. That and red-right-returning are the two main things. Our lake is small enough for point-and-shoot navigation, if you know where the shallow spots are (gonna have to get refreshed on that), and i have a GPS anyway. I have pretty much forgotten how to navigate with a chart, though. But that shouldn't be hard to pick back up.

This boat should be cake to dock. Outdrives and outboards are easy, i'd say just as easy as twins. The single screw straight inboards are the ones that suck. The only steering you get in reverse is prop walk.

I've been looking at boattrader.com on and off for about 9 months. Looking at Formula's, mostly, this age range for about 10 grand cheaper. I think the price difference is worth it for the image and quality of the fountain.

This boat was powerboat magazines full-sized boat of the year in 1991.
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

Don't forget the people under wind power get the right of way, bla :B
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

I would swear that sail boaters hold secret meetings where they get together to find new ways to mess with all the other boaters. It must be the highlight of their night. Like, hey lets all leave port at the same time and go in oposite directions. Then when the poor power boat guy finally figures out how to get around us, lets all switch directions again.

Btw Dave, I was wondering about how well they use the interior of those larger go-fast boats. How many average adults does it hold comfortably outside of the cabin. I have been kicking around the idea of getting one about the same size as what you are looking at.

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

It has seats for 5, and i guess you could have 1 or 2 standing if you're going to take it easy. So 5.

Cabin isn't very big either.

Still waiting on financing, i hope i didn't jinx myself...
 
RE: will i jinx myself?

Awesome boat - take a good look about 4 inches in from the transom from the gunnel down to the bottom of the hull, that's where you will first see the signs of stress cracks on offshore boats. I also boat on Lake St. Clair and with the water being up this year it looks like more folks are interested in buying I have a deposit for my 33 Sea Ray.
 
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