Fountain Powerboat 32 Thunder Cat a singular high performance boat.

The Fountain Powerboats brand, strategically acquired in 2016 by Iconic Marine Group (IMG), is one of the most prestigious in the world in the production of exclusive high-performance boats.

Fountain Powerboats has never been a normal pleasure boat manufacturer because it has produced and sold some of the most expensive motor boats in the world to customers who have been the most important celebrities and personalities in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. His boats satisfy a market niche that has a great passion for very personalized projects without nagging too much how much they come to cost.

This thanks to its founder the American offshore champion Reggie Fountain Jr. who has been able to transfer all his experience accumulated over the years, piloting the fastest offshore motorboats in the world, in the design and construction of singular very high speed boats, sport cruisers, sport boats and sport fishing boats and last year was the 40th anniversary of the birth of Fountain Powerboats.

The company founded in 1979 in Washington, North Carolina, near the banks of the Pamlico River, grew rapidly in the 80s thanks to the meticulous attention that Fountain dedicates to the quality of its boats using the most advanced materials possible to always obtain the best performance.

His company was one of the first in the nautical sector to use laminates that came from aerospace activities, marking a turning point in the design and performance of boats. At the end of the 1980s the company had more than 100 employees and sold expensive boats to customers all over the world.

At the beginning of the 90s Reggie Fountain introduced a revolutionary design for its boats the Positive Lift Hull, a new type of backdrop that increased acceleration, improved handling and agility in corners and reduced fuel consumption.

This innovative design has remained over time the distinctive element of Fountain boats since its initial development. Since then, all Fountain motor boats have been designed and built with the super-ventilated positive lifting hull, which guarantees a more efficient and safer driving on rough waters. Clearly over time his projects have continuously improved, even if they always seem the same for untrained eyes. Fountain checks every single boat it builds and if necessary make small changes that it considers to be improving and then verify its effectiveness, thus learning more and more about each boat made.

In the mid-1990s, a recession negatively affected the company’s fortune because many customers no longer had the opportunity to pay such high prices for a boat. In addition, a series of industrial court cases related to some company mergers canceled afterwards by the courts has severely tested the commitment and talent of its owner.

Fortunately, the lawsuits did not bring any losses for Fountain Powerboats and the Company has resumed its production rate and since 1998 sales have exceeded 50 million dollars and have shown no signs of slowing down.

The Company’s ability to carry out particular projects aimed at improving the performance, functionality and design of its boats place Fountain Powerboats in a distinct class as Ferrari and Lamborghini are for the automotive world.

The Fountain Powerboat today is one of the three brands of high performance boats together with Donzi Marine and Baja Marine which is part of the Iconic Marine Group (IMG) group that is revitalizing the brand by hiring the best professionals in the various sectors while always keeping the expert and talented collaboration of Reggie Fountain.

Unfortunately in March 2019 Joe Curran, former operational director of IMG died absolute protagonist of the recovery of the three brands of the group one of the most experienced in the sector. In this regard, in memory of his late friend Fred Ross, managing director of IMG, he released the following comment:

“When Iconic was formed, Joe was my first hired,”   “I couldn’t have made a better choice. Joe’s passion for boating was evident, his talent and experience in so many unrivaled areas. We will miss Joe as the leader and engine of Iconic, but more than anything else, we will miss him as a friend. “

However Joe Curran has been replaced with an equally experienced and talented Jeff Harris who is the current chief operating officer of the group. Harris spent his 40-year career in the maritime industry at Fountain Powerboats, where he was one of the first employees hired by founder Reggie Fountain.

With a loyalty of customers dating back to the 70s, Fountain Powerboat currently builds three types of boat ranges where there are different models. Like the Bluewater where we find fast fishing boats from the heights to face the sea without fear, the NX range are luxury sport boats with a new type of center console and built with accurate refinement, finally the range of high performance boats. In this last range we discover the 32 Thunder Cat, a sports catamaran, designed simply to go fast that can cross long stretches of sea in a few minutes, a dayboat built only for the pleasure of racing on the water. In fact, the design of the catamaran does not offer cabins or other services, but only serves to run and compete strictly seated for safety reasons.

This “sport cat” is 32 feet long approximately 9.76 m and 10 feet wide and 2 inches just over 3 m all has been sized and built to achieve a balance that makes it stable at speed.

Iconic Performance Group says that the center of gravity and the position of two 60-gallon fuel tanks ensure that the boat remains stable at full speed

The new Fountain 32 Thunder Cat has been designed to make navigation simple and with a speed that can exceed 120 mph in calm waters, with fast and intelligent curves, with separate accelerator and gear lever.

The two hulls and the catamaran deck are made of a composite infused in a vacuum bagged process, and the fully armed boat weighs only 5,400 pounds equal to 2,449 kg. From stern to bow, great efforts have been made to ensure that it will maintain its compactness and to use the most powerful and available engines today.

The entire cockpit of the command post is covered with a fabulous upholstery and is protected by a transparent impact-resistant windshield with 2 enveloping seats that can be adjusted forward and immediately after another 3 for passengers on an ergonomic lowered profile bench with reinforced space with ample space. for the legs.

The forward seats of the pilot and co-pilot are reinforced with carbon fiber and are covered with narrow padding and covered with a color coordinated with those chosen for the cover of the passenger compartment, with the stitching patterns made with fussiness at the highest levels. The circular rudder is that of the Italian company Isotta made with leather and polished steel.

All instrumentation is visible with a 16-inch Garmin 7616 in the center of the dashboard and a 12-inch Garmin 7612 in front of the co-driver’s seat. The digital controls are from Mercury Racing Zero Effort. A complete JL sound system is installed on the boat

Powered by a pair of 400 HP Mercury Racing 400R outboards, the 32 Thunder Cat can be launched with ready acceleration and unparalleled curves at a maximum speed of 120 mph equal to 104 knots. Of course, other engine options are available on request.

The special feature of this boat that makes it special and fun is its vocation to sail in absolute tranquility without stress for the boat and the driver between 80 and 90 mph at speeds of around 5000 rpm with low fuel consumption.

The price of the boat for this model with two engines is around 400,000 dollars which does not even seem so expensive for those who require high performance from the boat to buy.