Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Capt. Dan wrote:Bamaman, we need to talk!
I am looking at a Bennington 24 SSRX. Looking to set it up at a tritoon, 150 hp. How is yours set up? What kind of numbers are you seeing? Any pix posted? Would love to see some underside shots if you have them.

Nobody has seen any pics of Bama's toon.. I don't think they make flash bulbs for his 1962 camera anymore....

Ha ha, now that's funny. I recently helped my folks clean out their basement and I came across a couple of the old, square flash bulbs... talk about a flash from the past!

Bamaman wrote: And remember that if you buy 100 miles away, any warranty work will require driving 600 miles back and forth before it's home.

On the flip side, don't let the absence of a local dealer keep you out of a boat that's right for you.

I bought my boat in Northern Indiana (Casey's Cove Marina on Crooked Lake in Angola Indiana. Great people to work with) and I live in Southern Indiana. They were not the closest Manitou dealer but they had the best price (by a few hundred over the next cheapest and by a four thousand over the closest dealer).

Round trip distance: 484 miles.

Went up there to order the boat.
Went up there to pick up the boat.
Went up there to have a few parts installed that weren't in yet at delivery time. (I added a dual battery system)

Last time I was up there was in 2007. The year I bought the boat. NO warranty issues whatsoever.

Pontoons are remarkably easy boats to work on. Most of the problems you will encounter will be motor related and almost all the motor manufacturers have service centers just about everywhere. (Yamaha had 2 five star service providers within 3 miles of my lake)

So once you've bought the bought the original selling dealer really isn't all that important.

The money I saved on the purchase bought all my toys and the gas for the first three years.

Sorry about the pics guys, but I've never figured out how to post'em. When I retired, I quit the modern world--other than typing on the internet. (I don't even listen to CD's.)

I'm spending a few weeks in Europe this Spring to get away from the Mid South's poor Spring weather. Upon my return, I'll make an effort to get into sending some pictures. I'm writing this from Vienna.

On the Benny 24SSLX, my engine's sitting 3/4" off the lowest point of the transom, which I assume is one notch up. With a 15 pitch Reliance stainless prop and the F150 Yamaha, it's running 41 mph GPS @ 6100 rpm's completely rung out and lightly loaded. Moderately loaded (1/2 tank gas and wife) with the top up, I'm still seeing 40 mph and 6000 rpm's. It runs just fine in every way.

I would certainly like power steering assist on the SeaStar hydraulic steering, but $2300 plus installation is a little much for 1 finger steering. Mine doesn't start steering hard until 32 mph, and I seldom turn sharp when going that fast.

I'll drink a few beers for you guys in Prague tomorrow night.

Bamaman, enjoy Prague, its a beautiful city with outstanding beer!

We enjoyed our Sweetwater 2186 RE Yamaha 115 for 5 years with very few issues. We wanted another in a different floor plan, the one with the rear recliners and open aft deck. However in the Sweetwater Premium the aft deck was shorter than we wanted and we didn't want to have to go to the AquaPatio as it would exceed our lift limits. We did ask if we could special order a longer aft deck and frankly the dealer never got back to us and when we did talk trade, he offered less than the Bennington dealer soooooo, we got a Bennington 24S Yamaha 150.

This dealer was a lot easier to work with, has a great reputation and so far it has been a good experience. The Bennington line is new for him this year and the Yamaha motors as well. We are very happy with the layout, quality, and performance. We are really loving the open aft deck, nice and large to get wake boards and skis on. We are tweeking the prop yet and will take into consideration what bamaman posted. Right now we have a 18 pitch 4 blade, not sure of size or brand for now, motor mounted in the lowest hole. We are only getting 54-55 rpms wide open before the motor breaks water and looses speed. We have 18 hours on it in the 2 weeks we have had it up here in the north country. We did a lot of prop tweeking with the Sweetwater as well and thank this site for a lot of the information we got at that time.

Bamaman I have a couple of questions;

When you have 6 adults on the boat, what are your speeds. Just want to know how much that will affect the performance.

What are the sizes of your tubes. We have 25" all three. Just wanted to know if we where comparing apples to apples.

Forgot to add on the previous post that the Sweetwater had the sport center toon, the Bennington has the full center tube with in floor storage with gas in the center tube. We are adding gas as we go to keep the load as light as possible, haha. We have more drag with the full center tube and all three tubes the same as well. But, a lot more horses. We wanted more power under load than top end really. But, nothing wrong with speed either. Just want a happy medium.

I agree... SWEETWATER = MORE FOR YOUR MONEY!

We love our boat, Well-equipped at $20K Flat out-the-door!

Seems very well-built. Construction, welds, basic design, transom, etc.