Advertisement

Go-Fast Blast From The Past: Fountain 42

The first step-hull production Fountain hit the market over 20 years ago.
You can recognize the early stepped design on this Fountain 42 by the smaller size of the steps. The manufacturer introduced larger steps in 1999. Fountain

Since Reggie Fountain always liked to try to create a buzz every year heading into the Miami Boat Show, it seems appropriate to recognize his first stepped production boat, a 42-footer that he introduced in 1995. “In the early 1990s, we had to trash an existing 42 mold, come out with a prototype boat and keep fooling around with it,” he said recently. They tested the prototype for at least a year before letting Boating magazine test the first stepped-bottom 42 and while Fountain couldn’t remember the exact speed, he said the steps made the boats 12 to 15 percent faster than non-stepped models and the design element was implemented on the whole Fountain sportboat line.

Advertisement
Advertisement