HyFive578

Congrats!! pictures!!!!

dykstra

Congrats!!!!

zz28zz

Congrats. Nice boat.

LKNCOBALT

Thanks guys! I have a small confession to make... I have been out on the new Fountain 5 days so far since I got it 10 days ago

I can't believe how well it rides and it for sure passed the Memorial Day lake chop from hell. It ran 50 mph like nothing over just about any type of water. Boat gets lots of looks and positive compliments.... all except from other guys driving their boats while their girlfriends wave and ask them "what kind of boat is that?" lmao.

For anyone who was wondering, these boats are super sensitive to the trim and tab settings. Its amazing how they jump on top of the water and level out. So much speed can be gained by setting the trim and tabs correctly, and I am by no means an expert yet.

Parking with twins, well... lets just say I have some alone time around a dock practice necessary before I pull up to the local hot spot and back in. As of right now I would probably bounce off a $300k cruiser and then take out a gas dock all while my buddies bail off the boat and 100+ people scramble to put the beer down and grab a phone to video the embarrassment. The latter I will do my best to avoid.

In summary... I could not be happier with my purchase. Love the twins, the ride quality, the sound... all of it. Thanks again everyone for your input. I may have to change my name now.

ttuton

Glad to hear you enjoy your purchase and are doing it frequently! You will love docking with twins once you get used to it!

HyFive578

Docking with twins is actually much easier than a single once you know what you're doing.

I don't know if this is available where you are, but if you can, hire a captain for an hour or two and have him teach you to dock and then go practice. It will be the best few hundred bucks you ever spend. If not, then a knowledgeable friend with a twin engine boat would be good too.

Also, make sure your trim tabs are all the way up when you are docking.

4bus

Are you using the wheel to dock like a single? Try using the engines against each other with the wheel in the center position. Drive it like a bob cat. When making a tight turn against the wind I sometimes have to add throttle to the engine in reverse to spin it, but for the most part it is a cinch. I never use the wheel off plane, much easier with the drives

young

Congrats on the purchase. Your gonna love that Fountain. We do!!

LKNCOBALT

Thanks for the input on docking. Went out yesterday evening. Had 2 friends with me who had me covered with the dock lines and fenders. Took my time, spun it around and SLOWLY backed it in. Got a bit crossed up at one point, and remembered DONT TURN THE WHEEL, pulled forward and made a few people float and wait at the marina. Backed her in nice and slow right on the money. Two sets of people came up to me afterwards (one of them the captain of the impatient ski boat that had to wait on me) and said "nice dock job". I hope I can continue to better my skills.

What I learned:

Don't turn the wheel

Best control is using both drives almost at all times

One drive in reverse does almost noting but mess you up if the the other is in neutral

Make small adjustments and go back to neutral, let the boat slow down and sort out.

Everyone seems to watch even if you don't want them to.

I need a cold beer once the back in job is complete...

zz28zz

On my boat, if I need to do a 180 in a tight spot, I'll put one eng in rev and the other one in fwd. The eng that's in rev will need a little bit of throttle or the boat will move fwd since the props are more efficient going fwd. With a little practice,you can spin a twin around in a really tight spot and look like a pro..


If you're into simulators, I found a software program called "BoatMaster V2" online that pretty accurately simulates docking/manuvering a single or twin eng boat. It's a free download and lets you open the program 5 times before you have to pay. Has lots of variables you can set including wind and current speed/dir. You can use spring lines and anchor lines to pivot the boat. I spent hrs using the program this last winter. It says it may not work with Win7 but I had no issues.