Fountain Powerboats, Speed Built in North Carolina

A racer builds his own boats

Reggie Fountain was a successful offshore racer before he was a builder, and he founded Fountain Powerboats in Washington, North Carolina, on the Pamlico River, to build the kind of fast, stable V-bottoms he wanted to race. His boats won races and set speed records, and the company built a reputation for hulls that could run hard in rough water and for a factory that tested everything at speed.

Fountain later expanded into fishing boats, applying its performance hulls to tournament center consoles that could get anglers to the fish first. Like many performance builders, it struggled during the 2008 to 2009 downturn and went through bankruptcy and new ownership. In 2016 Custom Marine Group bought Fountain along with Baja, Donzi and Pro-Line and later renamed itself Iconic Marine Group, so today Fountain shares ownership with Donzi.

The 47 Lightning, the 38 SC and today's range

The Fountain 47 Lightning is the classic offshore performance V-bottom in our coverage, the largest of the Lightning series that made Fountain's name in the 1990s, with a long, narrow hull, a cabin and twin or triple high-horsepower engines. Lightnings were raced and used as poker-run and fast cruising boats, Iconic Marine Group revived the 47 in 2020, and the name continues with a redesigned 42 Lightning, which Fountain says will launch in 2027.

The Fountain 38 SC shows where the company's volume has moved. Launched in 2020, it is a 38-foot performance center console on a double-stepped deep-V with a pad keel, powered by triple or quad Mercury outboards, and a quad-engine test boat ran close to 95 mph. It took over from the old sterndrive 38 Lightning as the Fountain 38 buyers are most likely to find, and it spawned the 38 SCX with a larger sleeping cabin, which debuted for the 2023 model year, plus CC and TE fishing versions.

The rest of the current range leans heavily toward fishing and sport consoles. It includes high-performance SCX consoles from 32 to 43 feet, tournament-edition TE models, the 34 Thunder Cat and the 39DX dual console. Many are rigged for kingfish and offshore tournaments in the Carolinas, Florida and the Gulf.

• Lightning, performance V-bottoms such as the 47 Lightning
• SC and SCX, high-performance center consoles such as the 38 SC
• TE, tournament fishing editions
• 39DX, a dual console for family use

Buying a used Fountain

Used Fountains range from older performance boats that need engine and drive work to late-model consoles like the 38 SC that trade near new. The brand has a loyal following in the Southeast, and performance-boat specialists know them well. Value is driven by engines and drives more than by year. A 47 Lightning with fresh high-output engines and documented drive rebuilds can be worth much more than a newer boat with tired power.

Get a performance-boat surveyor and a full sea trial.

• Engine hours, compression and leak-down tests on high-output engines
• Drive, transmission and propeller condition
• Transom, stringers and bulkheads for stress cracks
• Outboard hours and bracket condition on consoles
• Steering and trim systems and any changes during previous owners' tenure