Fountain feedback

[Bering C]

Hello from AK

My first post on this forum.

I have been a lifelong commercial
fisherman and have basically lived on the water most of my life. However all
the boats I fished on whether small
skiffs or Bering Sea crabbers were all basically slow ( we did have a small 23 ft Gnad ( local build ) with a 250 evinrude that did about 40 knots so I am
familiar with high speed boating )

I had the opportunity to go for a ride on a Scarab back in the late 80s in San Francisco Bay and since that day I have always wanted something like that.

My wife and I are thinking about starting a high speed adventure type sightseeing tour in Homer AK on Kachemak Bay.

Absolutely nothing else like it so far.

The plan is
4 passengers
Short 1-2 hr trips around the bay which is mainly glassy calm for most of the summer.
Cruising around at 30 knot or so with a few high speed periods 60-70 knots

I am leaning towards a fountain 42 lightning
but am open to other brands. I like the hull and think it would do nicely and I have not seen a boat like this in AK.

Looking forward to any and all feedback and suggestions

Thank you

 

[Scott Danforth]

welcome aboard.

without knowing which year fountain, or which motors/drives, its going to be hard for anyone to comments. Reggie designed some good boats......

however with high performance boats comes high performance maintenance and high performance part price tags

do you have the facilities to pull motors and go thru them?

the high performance motors dont go 4000 hours like their low performance cousins. some go 2-400 hours between top end rebuilds

depending on which exhaust system, you may be pulling the headers every year or two chasing leaks

they do make a diesel powered version. a lot slower than the petrol versions. however will go a lot longer between failures.

I would suggest the NX series (same hull, different deck ring, however outboard powered)

 

[racerone]

Agreed----Look into fuel consumption / hour for a deep V hull.-----Look into insurance costs for such a venture.-----Local market for such trips.

 

[Bering C]

Thanks for the replies

Yes have mechanical ability to do just about anything needed .power systems, electrical, glass work etc.

I don’t post much ( have a few businesses to run) but i’ll posts boats I am
looking at and will welcome all feedback

 

[Scott Danforth]

Thanks for the replies

Yes have mechanical ability to do just about anything needed .power systems, electrical, glass work etc.

I don’t post much ( have a few businesses to run) but i’ll posts boats I am
looking at and will welcome all feedback

Do you have an automotive machine shop? If not, go outboard

 

[Bering C]

I do not personally own a shop but have close friends who do that have signed on as mechanics when needed.

I fully intend to have a complete motor and outdrive as a spare, we have owned various commercial fishing vessels the last one a 42 ft gillnetter/ long liner so know the value of spare parts

 

[Scott Danforth]

I do not personally own a shop but have close friends who do that have signed on as mechanics when needed.

I fully intend to have a complete motor and outdrive as a spare, we have owned various commercial fishing vessels the last one a 42 ft gillnetter/ long liner so know the value of spare parts

unlike fishing boats where the motors last 4-5 thousand hours between rebuilds. go-fast I/O motors only last a few hundred - yes, average 2-300 hours between rebuilds. the large cam profiles needed without over-lap (reversion) is hard on valve springs, lifters, etc. so is is not uncommon to pull the motors often. about once every 2 years for recreational boating

since you are looking to make money with the endeavor. I highly recommend outboards and live with less performance, however longevity over the mercury racing motors normally in the 42 lightning. most people wont know the difference of flying across the water at 60mph or 90mph

 

[racerone]

Well-----running time of 5 to 6 hrs every day will be tough on those boats.-----Locally we had a " poker run " out on the lake.------One or more owners had to go get their trailers as boats could not take another 1 hr pounding in 5' waves

 

[Bering C]

thank you I have been wrestling with the IO versus Outboard dilemma

From the boat searching I have been doing going high performance outboards will easily double our initial investment.

Our typical tour that we envision will be 1.5 hrs cruising at lower speeds 25-40 knots with just short higher speed runs

pretty much only on glassy calm
days which is most of our summer in the upper bay

 

[Bering C]

I have been looking at a 99 38 sport cruiser with 219 hrs in decent shape

of course I will be personally inspecting any vessel we purchase prior to negotiating.

 

[Alumarine]

Is not "de-tuning" the motors in a go fast boat an option for greater life?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Is not "de-tuning" the motors in a go fast boat an option for greater life?

by de-tuning, you mean dropping in a production 8.2 liter motor vs a Mercury Racing Motor?

then yes.

you just cant order them that way

by de-tuning, if you mean pulling the Mercury Racing motor apart, swapping in a smaller cam(s), lighter valve springs, etc. then spend hundreds of thousands of dollars re-developing the software to make it all run and meet Mercury Marine's approval it would be cheaper to start with outboards on the Fountain 43NX https://fountainpowerboats.com/models/nx-series/43nx/ at about $700k

than a 42 lightning (starting at $560k with the 565's ) up to $1.1M with the 1350's

we are not talking production motors. we are talking hand-built racing motors

these are the motors that you can order with the 2022 42 lightning

base motors - staggered Mercury Racing 565's
Middle motors - staggered Mercury Racing 860's
Middle motors - staggered Mercury Racing 1100 SCI's
top of the line motors - staggered Mercury Racing 1350's

Sterndrive Engines | Mercury Racing

Mercury Racing's sterndrives are known for going the distance. Leading in the industry for power, performance, and reliability. Learn more about why our sterndives are the best in the market.

www.mercuryracing.com

 

[Alumarine]

by de-tuning, you mean dropping in a production 8.2 liter motor vs a Mercury Racing Motor?

then yes.

you just cant order them that way

by de-tuning, if you mean pulling the Mercury Racing motor apart, swapping in a smaller cam(s), lighter valve springs, etc. then spend hundreds of thousands of dollars re-developing the software to make it all run and meet Mercury Marine's approval it would be cheaper to start with outboards on the Fountain 43NX https://fountainpowerboats.com/models/nx-series/43nx/ at about $700k

than a 42 lightning (starting at $560k with the 565's ) up to $1.1M with the 1350's

we are not talking production motors. we are talking hand-built racing motors

these are the motors that you can order with the 2022 42 lightning

base motors - staggered Mercury Racing 565's
Middle motors - staggered Mercury Racing 860's
Middle motors - staggered Mercury Racing 1100 SCI's
top of the line motors - staggered Mercury Racing 1350's

Sterndrive Engines | Mercury Racing

Mercury Racing's sterndrives are known for going the distance. Leading in the industry for power, performance, and reliability. Learn more about why our sterndives are the best in the market.

www.mercuryracing.com

I was thinking cams etc but it looks like it's a bit more than that!