Pure Enjoyment

Fountain's 42 Lightning appealed to the racer in all of us.

By Jason Johnson

Even offshore racers covet pleasure boats. Just ask Bill Mazzoni, owner of BTM Marine. The Delray Beach, Fla., driver runs the 40-foot Fountain Team Taboo in the Super Vee class and the 42 MTI BTM Marine in the Superboat class.

By racing two classes, it's safe to say the world champion is gung-ho when it comes to the sport. He's just as excited about the pleasure-boating side, which is why he chose a new 42 Lightning from Fountain Powerboats for his latest poker-run boat.

Powered with staggered Mercury Racing HP1075SCi engines and No. 6 dry-sump drives mounted close together on the transom, Fountain delivered exactly what Mazzoni wanted—a reliable, rock-solid boat that he could cruise in the 80- to 90-mph range.

Mazzoni got more than he anticipated with his third Fountain, which the Washington, N.C., company brought to our roundup. The supercharged package, combined with 38"-pitch five-blade Hering propellers and an updated version of Fountain's trusty bottom, had the boat cruising at speeds of 84, 95 and 107 mph while spinning rpm of 4,000, 4,500 and 5,000, respectively.

And the best part? The 42-footer handled like a dream.

"It's unmistakably a Fountain," said lead test driver Bob Teague after running the boat in rough conditions on Florida's Sarasota Bay. "The handling is very predictable, it carves the turns and it runs flat. It's a 10. How can it not be a 10? It's a 130-mph day cruiser."

Actually, the GPS recall showed that the 42 Lightning had topped 136 mph. Our Test Team didn't reach that speed, but we did hit 128.6 mph on radar with a full load of fuel and in less than ideal conditions.

The boat was a little sluggish out of the hole since it was set up for top speed. With its 380S K-Planes down, the twin-stepped V-bottom took 8.7 seconds to get on plane.

Painted similar to Mazzoni's Super Vee race boat, the blue, yellow and orange 42 Lightning featured Fountain's new cockpit interior with extremely comfortable twin bolsters and a three-person bolster-style rear bench.

Also a new design, the headrests for the rear bench were part of the dual engine hatches, which lifted toward the gunwales on electric screwjacks. Inside the engine compartment, Fountain neatly installed the 1,075-horsepower power plants using Mercury race mounts and powder-painted many of the accessories blue to match the boat's graphics.

Three Livorsi Marine Monster gauges in yellow bezels lined the top of the dash panel to starboard. A SmartCraft SystemView screen, also in a yellow bezel, was below the gauges. In typical Fountain fashion, chrome throttles and shifters were left of the steering wheel.

Fountain didn't skimp in the cabin either. The builder employed well-padded white upholstery for the large V-berth, suspended headliner and U-shape lounge. To port was a galley with a stainless-steel sink and a built-in ice chest; to starboard was a head locker.

Around $700,000, Fountain's 42 Lightning is a lot of boat for the money. It's no wonder offshore racer Mazzoni looked no further than Fountain for his pleasure boats.

Click to enlarge.