With rigging underway for the canopied 40-footer Fountain Powerboats is building at its plant in Washington, N.C., for an attempt to set a new V-bottom kilometer speed record and its twin 1,900-hp engines in transit from Sterling Performance in Milford, Mich., the Fountain plant lately has hosted a slew of well-known and respected high-performance marine industry legends. Reggie Fountain, Jr., the founder of the company that bears his name, is leading the project and to that end he has consulted with several industry notables.

Rigging has begun on Fountain’s new kilo boat and its Sterling Performance engines are on the way.

“We had quite a crew here in earlier in the week,” said Joe Curran, the chief operating officer of Iconic Marine Group, Fountain’s parent company. “Mike Seebold, Ben Robertson and Billy Moore were here. We even had (Skater Powerboats owner and founder) Peter Hledin come to the factory to discuss water pressure and water-pickup placement.

“When Reggie rallies the troops, he really rallies the troops,” he added, then laughed. “We had a stream of dignitaries come through here this week.”

As previously reported on speedonthewater.com, Seebold will drive the boat and Robertson will throttle it during the kilo runs.

Curran said that the project remains on track for a February kilo record attempt. “It’s coming along great,” he said. “Right now, we’re going through the verification process with the U.I.M.”

Though boat’s overall length is 40 feet thanks to the removal of its swim platform, its hull was derived from the Fountain 42′ Lightning model.

Editor’s Note: The Union Internationale Motonautique (U.I.M.), powerboat racing’s international sanctioning body. The American Power Boat Association is the organization’s domestic sanctioning arm.

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