Fountain Powerboats Tests All-New 43NX

With everything else currently in the works at the Washington, N.C., factory, including a 42 Lightning sportboat with twin Mercury Racing 1550 engines and a full line of 34- and 39-foot center consoles in production, the team at Fountain Powerboats managed to roll out another new model this week—the quad-engine 43NX performance center console.

The team at Fountain Powerboats took out the all-new 43NX center console for its first sea trial earlier this week on the Pamlico River in North Carolina. Photos courtesy Fountain Powerboats

Drawing inspiration from Fountain’s first new model in years, the 39NX, and featuring an all-new hull design adapted from Fountain’s popular 38 Sport Fish Cruiser—one of the best-performing hulls in Fountain history, according to Iconic Marine Group COO Joe Curran—the new fully infused 43-footer, which is powered by quad Mercury Racing Verado 400R engines, offers an especially nimble and efficient ride for a 12-foot, 3-inch wide boat that weighs 15,800 pounds minus fuel and passengers.

“The 43 is a real nice boat—we need to tweak the props a little, but we’re pretty sure we’ll be at 75-plus mph when the boat is dialed in,” Curran said after testing the boat this week and running 72 right out of the box with 22.5”-pitch Mercury Enertia Eco XP three-blade propellers, five people on board and a couple hundred gallons of fuel. “We set out to build a 38 Sport Fish Cruiser on steroids and it checks all of the boxes. I mean we never even put it in the water before this week and the thing runs fantastic.”

Curran, who is ecstatic over the progress Iconic has made with the Baja Marine, Donzi Marine and Fountain brands over the past year, including dialing in the production lines and digitizing many of the older hull and molds at the factory for inventory purposes, said the new 43NX is as loaded as it gets.

“The 43NX has a larger, deeper cabin than the 39NX—it has a large berth, a U-shape settee, a nice galley area and a separate head locker with a shower,” Curran added. “We’re really reaching a different style of boating with the 43—it’s almost a cruiser in a center console format. The boat’s standard features include three display screens, a triple-wide helm, radar, a diesel generator, air conditioning, rod holders, grab rails, a dive door and more.”

Check out the slideshow above for more images of Fountain’s new 43NX.

He also said the boat, which still has some interior details that need to be finished, is going to be available in several configurations to meet the varying demands of customers who use their boats for different purposes and in different parts of the country. For example, the transom can be equipped with seating across the back, a pair of 50-gallon livewells or a full tackle/bait station.

While he admits things could change, Curran said the plan is to take the 43NX to the Fort Myers Offshore New Year’s Fun Run on Dec. 29 along with the triple-engine Donzi Marine 41 GT and the 38 Sport Fish Cruiser Fountain introduced at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, then take the boats to the Joey Gratton Memorial New Year’s Day Fun Run in Sarasota on Jan. 1.

After that, it’s back to work prepping the new Donzi 44-foot catamaran, which is expected to be on display at the Miami International Boat Show with several other models from Iconic Marine Group.

“If you see me at an event—that’s my day off,” Curran said with a laugh. “We’ve been working very hard over here, but we’re having fun doing it.”

Fountain Powerboats Tests All-New 43NX

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