Joining up: Just got my Benny 20svl Friday

tinkertoy

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Sold my bass boat and got my wife a pontoon boat, (getting old!). Quite a step-down but we're both enjoying the slower look at beautiful Lake Keowee in SC.
I got this model because of the large front and rear decks that my son and I can fish off of. I got a Yamaha Vmax SHO 90 on it and am breaking it
in by the book. Don't expect much speed, but I'm interested in seeing what it will do. I think the 12p prop they gave me is a little low for the SHO.
Soon, I've got to select a trolling motor and some fishfinders.

We looked at a lot of brands, but I'm so glad we tried Bennington last. It was a no-brainer best deal: features, quality, dealer, price.
Plus I found this active forum which I will rely on to get my questions answered. As an engineer, I hope I can help some too.
Thanks for being there.
TT
 
Congrats. Good luck.
 
Sold my bass boat and got my wife a pontoon boat, (getting old!). Quite a step-down but we're both enjoying the slower look at beautiful Lake Keowee in SC.
I got this model because of the large front and rear decks that my son and I can fish off of. I got a Yamaha Vmax SHO 90 on it and am breaking it
in by the book. Don't expect much speed, but I'm interested in seeing what it will do. I think the 12p prop they gave me is a little low for the SHO.
Soon, I've got to select a trolling motor and some fishfinders.

We looked at a lot of brands, but I'm so glad we tried Bennington last. It was a no-brainer best deal: features, quality, dealer, price.
Plus I found this active forum which I will rely on to get my questions answered. As an engineer, I hope I can help some too.
Thanks for being there.
TT
Congratulations! I’ve got basically the same boat and it’s fun to fish off of especially with my sore old knees lol. My daughter and son in law have a place on Lake Murray, wife and I plan to retire down there in a few year. Heard a lot of great things about Keowee
 
Congratulations. I hope tooning is a good fit for you. Welcome to the forum, and as always, we love seeing pictures of peoples new boats. Have a great time with it on the water.
 
Sold my bass boat and got my wife a pontoon boat, (getting old!). Quite a step-down but we're both enjoying the slower look at beautiful Lake Keowee in SC.
I got this model because of the large front and rear decks that my son and I can fish off of. I got a Yamaha Vmax SHO 90 on it and am breaking it
in by the book. Don't expect much speed, but I'm interested in seeing what it will do. I think the 12p prop they gave me is a little low for the SHO.
Soon, I've got to select a trolling motor and some fishfinders.

We looked at a lot of brands, but I'm so glad we tried Bennington last. It was a no-brainer best deal: features, quality, dealer, price.
Plus I found this active forum which I will rely on to get my questions answered. As an engineer, I hope I can help some too.
Thanks for being there.
TT
Congratulates on your new boat. Hope to run into you sometime on Lake Keowee. Ordered our Bennington last December with an expected April delivery.
 
Welcome and congrats! Please enter a few tournaments down there and show the boys that it's not the boat that catches 'em! Not in a tx situation but it was fun this summer pulling out 10lbs of fish in front of guys with $90k Rangers. Used to do it in my canoe...
I plan to do just that!
TT
 
If your 12p prop is a Talon, you should be OK. It has fairly robust cupping that is similar to other props with 14p or 15p. You should get 6,000+ RPMs from it at WOT. That is the spec prop for the 90 hp SHO on a 20’ dual log boat.
 
If your 12p prop is a Talon, you should be OK. It has fairly robust cupping that is similar to other props with 14p or 15p. You should get 6,000+ RPMs from it at WOT. That is the spec prop for the 90 hp SHO on a 20’ dual log boat.
Unfortunately it is not a Talon. It is a K13.5x12. What do think? I'm still in my 2nd hour, so I've not revved it up much yet.
TT
 
Unfortunately it is not a Talon. It is a K13.5x12. What do think? I'm still in my 2nd hour, so I've not revved it up much yet.
TT
Congrats on the choice, we have an old, old, version of your pontoon on Keowee. If you have the basic 3-blade aluminum prop, expect it to be a bust. Our motor would way over rev with the 13p version. In fact no basic Yamaha 3-blade of 13p through 15p was acceptable on our pontoon. Discovered that the pontoon specific Quicksilver Nemesis (4-blade Spitfire twin) in 13p is a far better match.

Currently trying the pontoon specific Talon in 12p, motor winds 5900 with it. But calculated slippage is ~30%, I think because my motor is too high (two notches up). Will try a lower mounting later, but expect the Nemesis will still be the way to go. The Nemesis handles that motor setting, but maybe not so much the Talon?

Before putting much time or money into prop choice, be sure you know what gear ratio your specific motor has and what you are comparing it to. Many Yamaha 90's run ~2.3 gears (like ours), but some have a 2.15 ratio. That's enough to throw a well-laid plan off by 1 inch of pitch. As an example, IF we are running heavy/towing, a pontoon Nemesis in 11p might be the ticket to nirvana (with the Talon a player too?)...may get around to trying that someday...although may have a different pontoon first....

Anyway let the good times roll!
 
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Unfortunately it is not a Talon. It is a K13.5x12. What do think? I'm still in my 2nd hour, so I've not revved it up much yet.
TT
We had a 14x14 on ours at purchase, I am going to try a 14x13 this season as we were getting 5500 rpm at wot. From a lot of info on here finding the right prop takes some experimentation. There is a lot of great info on the web, have you tried the Yamaha prop selector?
 
Unfortunately it is not a Talon. It is a K13.5x12. What do think? I'm still in my 2nd hour, so I've not revved it up much yet.
TT
Best to wait until you can get her up to WOT safely. Go out with a light load, half gas, and Bimini down... maybe solo... and see what she’ll do. Agree that I’ve not read many owners who are happy with their stock Yamaha prop. However, it’s not just prop pitch that’s at play. Number of blades and engine height will impact top speed. I’m am by no means an expert, but I read a ton on this subject and am sharing with you my acquired knowledge. Don’t worry, you will figure it out!
 
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