The custom Fountain powerboat owned by late former U.S. President George H.W. Bush fetched a tidy sum at an auction in Houston, Texas.
An anonymous buyer who placed bids over the phone purchased the 38-foot Fidelity V center console for $435,000 USD at a benefit auction put on by the George & Barbara Bush Foundation.
The event, known as the 2024 Presidential Salute, was raising funds for the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum and The Bush School of Government and Public Services at Texas A&M University.
It was attended by notable figures including former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Peyton Manning, both of whom were keynote speakers. The event raised more than $1 million USD total.
The Fountain 38CC was built in 2011 and features the presidential insignia on the hull at midships, triple Mercury 300 hp Verado outboards, and several custom features for accommodating the former president. It carries an LOA of 38'4" with a 10'6" beam and a 31" draught. According to the auction house putting on the event, the vessel boasts a top speed over 75 mph.
Hardcore boaters and boating historians may recall that the inimitable Bush Sr. had a need for speed and was well-known for testing high performance prototypes with boating icon Don Aronow in the early 1980s, spending much of his downtime with the likes of Aronow, Reggie Fountain, and others in Miami's infamous 'Thunderboat Row.'
The 41st president passed away in 2018 and his beloved boat had been idle ever since. The boat had been kept in Kennebunkport, Maine where the Bush family has a summer home.
The 38CC is actually the fifth of H.W. Bush's boats to bear the moniker Fidelity, thus its name of Fidelity V. The first Fidelity is on display at the Bush Library, while the fourth is still in use in Kennebunkport.
The 38CC is well known among the high-performance crowd, both for its connection to industry icon Reggie Fountain but also its status as a sterling luxury center console. The boat features a positive lift twin-step hull, LED lighting throughout, underwater RGB lighting, high-end JL Audio stereo, touchscreen helm, built-in WiFi, Garmin electronics, and radar. Current iterations are offered with up to 1800 horsepower from quad Mercury 450R Verado outboards with a top speed over 90 mph.
You can check out the boat and its custom presidential features in the video below:
