Big Thunder Marine Shows Off New Fountain 38 Lightning, Donzi 35 ZRO

Last Saturday morning, a full crew from Iconic Marine Group in Washington, N.C., and Big Thunder Marine in Osage Beach, Mo., climbed into a cruiser and two “soon-to-be-debuted” boats for a quick photo shoot on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks en route to Captain Ron’s in Sunrise Beach. The drivers of the all-new Donzi Marine 35 ZRO and Fountain Powerboats 38 Lightning soon realized as they made the long no-wake-zone-enforced idle toward the site of the 28th annual Lake of the Ozarks Shootout that the boats were about to get an incredible amount of attention.

The new Donzi 35 ZRO and the new Fountain 38 Lightning on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks. All photos courtesy Iconic Marine Group

Ordered by Big Thunder Marine, the V-bottoms were on display both Saturday and Sunday at the docks in front of Captain Ron’s. Big Thunder’s Ed Champion even ran the 38-foot Fountain in the top-speed Shootout on Sunday and, thanks to its twin Mercury Racing 565 engines, reached 93 mph at the end of the one-mile course. Champion said he expects the boat, which is for sale at a retail price of $428,872 without a trailer, to run 95 or 96 mph with the right setup and conditions.

The mid-cabin open-bow (think family friendly) Donzi 35 ZRO, which has a retail price of $278,393 without a trailer, is powered by a pair of 430-hp MerCruiser 8.2 Mag HO engines and can run faster than 80 mph. The 35-footer boasts a simple yet striking Cabernet-colored paint job and an ultraclean interior package throughout. The Fountain has a beautiful in-house paint job featuring a complementary color selection of Ford Police Blue, Ford Police Silver, Chrysler Black Metallic and Toyota Barcelona Red.

For more images of the twin Mercury Racing 565-powered Fountain 38 Lightning, watch the slideshow above.

“It’s exciting to be able to showcase our new 2017 models from Iconic Marine Group—both the Donzi 35 ZRO and the Fountain 38 Lightning—at our hometown event,” said Jeremy Anderson, general manager of Big Thunder Marine. “From our standpoint, it’s important for us to be ‘Big Thunder.’ We know Bob Morgan and Big Thunder meant a lot to people around here. He helped bring powerboating to this lake, so for us to be able to help bring the iconic brands of Baja, Donzi and Fountain back to this lake is gratifying.”

Beyond the nostalgic feeling, both Anderson and Champion were encouraged by the response the boats received throughout the Shootout weekend.

“We had Donzi guys coming up to check out the Donzi and Fountain guys coming over to get a closer look at the Fountain, and most of them said how excited they were to see the brands alive again,” Champion said. “Some of the old-school Fountain people, the ones used to the throttles on the left and a standard interior, were surprised but they seemed to like it.

Check out the slideshow above for more images of the new Donzi 35 ZRO featuring twin MerCruiser 8.2 Mag HO engines.

Champion said the 38-footer, which featured a newly designed interior from the team at Waves and Wheels in Osage Beach, ran nice all weekend.

“It’s a great boat for Lake of the Ozarks,” Champion said. “The power is a great fit for the boat, and we all know how well Fountains run in the rough.”

Anderson said he’s also excited to see the next boat coming from Fountain—a 38 Thunder center console powered by quad Mercury Racing Verado 400R engines.

“These are in-stock boats—we want to be a stocking dealer so that customers can come in and see the boats,” Anderson said, adding that the dealership has a couple of Baja Marine models in stock as well as a Donzi 22 Classic. “That way we have one here that you can touch and feel. And if you don’t like that particular one, we can order you one.”

Anderson added that the company is close to finalizing the details on its new showroom location, but that the news will have to wait for another day.

Big Thunder Marine Shows Off New Fountain 38 Lightning, Donzi 35 ZRO

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