AndrewG
Well-Known Member
Black Widow...
...thank you for making my point for me and bringing this up again. You are entirely correct that this would NOT be that difficult to do. I'll tell you one reason why right off...Bennington already does this to a certain extent. My dealer sent me a PDF put together but someone (it says "Prop and Test Chart for Yamaha Outboards" across the top, and for 4 or 5 pages, it lists different Yamaha engines with different boats, and notes the engine, the prop, the boat and the top speed. All of these were on Bennington boats, with some of the tests being done by Yamaha, and some by Bennington (as indicated on the sheet). The big change for each model is the prop.
They have it divided up by pontoon length (16'-18', 19'-20', 22', 23', and 25'). Bennington may sell hundreds of configurations above the deck, but there is a much more limited number of hull configurations. Other than a few pounds this way or that way, a 25' G, and R, and a Q boat with the same hull configuration (SPS, ESP, 2-pontoon, etc) will perform similarly.
I don't know if Mercury, or Honda or whomever else have sheets like this or not, but I have to think that they do. This is vital information for a boat owner, and should be included on the web site. Sure, there can be disclaimers about "your milage/speed may vary", but the amount of hunting an owner, or potential owner has to do to figure out how his/her boat will perform is kind of silly.
I have to respectfully disagree with Bamaman and Scott. I understand that you are placing a lot of weight on the dealer, but as Black Widow said, these are $40,000-$120,000 (or more) machines. I don't know that we would be accepting of Ford or Chevrolet saying they didn't have data on mileage or performance for their vehicles. They have a variety of configurations for each Mustang, F150, etc. It's just good customer service.
No, I'm not ready to storm Elkhart by any means. Everyone on this site talks about how Bennington is the best. I believe that, I bought their boat and spent a boatload (no pun intended) of money on it to get the very best. I don't think it's too much to ask of them to take their dozen or dozen and a half of their major hull configurations and run some tests using some of the main motor manufactures they work with (Honda, Yamaha, Evenrude, Suzuki, Mercury). And since the hull configurations don't change often, they don't even have to do them every year, or even every few years. A 2012 or 2013 ESP 2550R model will run pretty much the way a 2016 ESP 2550R model will run.
I'm not trying to criticize them, this topic was asking them to consider providing this information, especially if they already have it in bulletins or work sheets. This doesn't mean real owners couldn't post their own experiences too, but it would be nice to have an easily available chart to refer to when you're trying to make this gigantic purchase decision, and you're dropping another $500 for a prop.
Thanks again for the thoughts and ideas.
...thank you for making my point for me and bringing this up again. You are entirely correct that this would NOT be that difficult to do. I'll tell you one reason why right off...Bennington already does this to a certain extent. My dealer sent me a PDF put together but someone (it says "Prop and Test Chart for Yamaha Outboards" across the top, and for 4 or 5 pages, it lists different Yamaha engines with different boats, and notes the engine, the prop, the boat and the top speed. All of these were on Bennington boats, with some of the tests being done by Yamaha, and some by Bennington (as indicated on the sheet). The big change for each model is the prop.
They have it divided up by pontoon length (16'-18', 19'-20', 22', 23', and 25'). Bennington may sell hundreds of configurations above the deck, but there is a much more limited number of hull configurations. Other than a few pounds this way or that way, a 25' G, and R, and a Q boat with the same hull configuration (SPS, ESP, 2-pontoon, etc) will perform similarly.
I don't know if Mercury, or Honda or whomever else have sheets like this or not, but I have to think that they do. This is vital information for a boat owner, and should be included on the web site. Sure, there can be disclaimers about "your milage/speed may vary", but the amount of hunting an owner, or potential owner has to do to figure out how his/her boat will perform is kind of silly.
I have to respectfully disagree with Bamaman and Scott. I understand that you are placing a lot of weight on the dealer, but as Black Widow said, these are $40,000-$120,000 (or more) machines. I don't know that we would be accepting of Ford or Chevrolet saying they didn't have data on mileage or performance for their vehicles. They have a variety of configurations for each Mustang, F150, etc. It's just good customer service.
No, I'm not ready to storm Elkhart by any means. Everyone on this site talks about how Bennington is the best. I believe that, I bought their boat and spent a boatload (no pun intended) of money on it to get the very best. I don't think it's too much to ask of them to take their dozen or dozen and a half of their major hull configurations and run some tests using some of the main motor manufactures they work with (Honda, Yamaha, Evenrude, Suzuki, Mercury). And since the hull configurations don't change often, they don't even have to do them every year, or even every few years. A 2012 or 2013 ESP 2550R model will run pretty much the way a 2016 ESP 2550R model will run.
I'm not trying to criticize them, this topic was asking them to consider providing this information, especially if they already have it in bulletins or work sheets. This doesn't mean real owners couldn't post their own experiences too, but it would be nice to have an easily available chart to refer to when you're trying to make this gigantic purchase decision, and you're dropping another $500 for a prop.
Thanks again for the thoughts and ideas.