If you plan on re-rigging the boat anyways I would say go Fountain. Like I said before I am not a Fountain fan, but they are fast hulls. I would not recommend one for a lot of ocean use though in the 35' range.I ran a new 35 lightning off San Diego on a pretty calm day and IMO it handled the water poorly. You could probably pick up a used one pretty cheap and re-rig it, or you might be able to buy a blank hull.
Client has vetoed the "Fountain" hull as he does not like the style.
I am really interested in your project, and want to hear how this comes out. Good luck, and have fun with it.
Its a strange situation and I am not sure anything will come of it.
But the guy is for real and he does want to do the deal.
So i am willing to do the leg work to try and put something together.
And in all honesty, it would be just plain FUN to put something like this together as a mid-winter project when we are slow anyway.