American-Made Marketing Badness
When it comes to new high-performance boats, American Custom Marine owner Michael Knoblock is a devout Nor-Tech man. His full-service dealership in Kimball, Mich., is among the strongest members of the Cape Coral, Fla.-headquartered company’s brawny dealer network.
The 40-foot American Custom Marine Fountain V-bottom will be back in action this summer. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
Like any legitimate dealer, Knoblock takes trades of all kinds, which in turn he sells if he sees the value in them. Truth be told, the guy just loves fast boats.
So when a 2011 model 40-foot Fountain came across his path in 2024, Knoblock kept it and created something wild. He restored the canopied V-bottom inside and out and repowered it with dual calibration Mercury Racing 1550/1350 engines. Then he took it racing with his friend Matt Soper, who earned an Offshore Powerboat Association Bracket 400 Class World Championship in 2022.
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