Fountain Yachts for Sale

Reggie Fountain grew up in Tarboro, North Carolina, took undergraduate and law degrees at UNC, turned professional racer in 1970 and won twenty of thirty one races in 1973. He started building boats late in 1979 in a disused car dealership at Washington, North Carolina, on the Pamlico River, with first year sales of $515,000. The company grew through the 1980s and 1990s on the back of his own race record, passed $50 million in sales by 1998, and became known for a very fast, very deep vee hull with a pad running surface.

The corporate history since then is messy and a used buyer should know it. Fountain filed Chapter 11 in 2009 and again in January 2012, production of the brand was suspended in 2011, and Reggie Fountain himself left at the end of 2010 after a falling out with the new owners. Baja Marine bought the assets in October 2012 and the parent was renamed Iconic Marine Group in 2016. The practical upshot is good: boats are still coming out of the original Whichards Beach Road plant at Washington, so factory parts and knowledge survive, which is more than most out of favor performance brands can offer. On an older Fountain the survey should concentrate on the transom, stringers and engine hours, because these were bought to be driven hard, and the current line of 32 to 43 foot center consoles suits an owner who wants to run offshore fast rather than slowly.