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New 2275GS for 2016!

hma95

hma95

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Hello everyone,


Like other new members lately have mentioned, I have been a lurker for a while.  I'll start at the beginning.  Last June my husband and I were talking about boats.  We only have ever had the little aluminum fishing boats, but one of our dogs is now a senior and has a hard time getting around and no way he could get into a boat anymore or has for the last couple years.  So we thought about a boat that would be easy for him and started looking around at pontoons and deck boats.  We liked how the pontoons had more room than deck boats so I started to research the different brands while we looked at them at different dealerships and that is how I found this great forum!!  Tons of knowledge here by the way, thanks everyone for that!  


We weren't really sure on the floor layout we would like.  My husbands daughter is friends with the daughter of one owner at a local dealership and he had a 2013 20 SF with a Merc 60hp Bigfoot with only 60 hours on it.  After looking it over and thinking we would mainly do fishing on the pontoon and he did give us a good deal, we bought it and took it home.  We don't have a home on a lake, but we are only maybe a quarter mile from our local marina and it just so happened they had a slip opening!  It was PERFECT!  Only downside is the boat will always be in the water.  Well after using it for the summer last year and boy did we use it A LOT!  We quickly realized we had just a ton of fun cruising around and did that more than fishing!  Over the winter we started looking at floor plans and we both loved the layout of the 2275 GS!  We did have a porta potti on the current pontoon, but no way to do anything in "private" if you will.  Then last month we saw on our dealers website that he had a 2275 GS in and we went to go look at it in person and make sure it is exactly what we want and then order one this fall and have it next year.  Well we got there told him we wanted to see it and look it over and he said, "oh, we don't have it in yet, should have it next month maybe early June at the latest, but because it's not built yet changes could be made!"  He had it listed with a custom extended aft deck and custom dual rear doors with a 150hp and we really like the idea of that sooooo as this became kind of a long story (sorry about that lol) we jumped on it and made the other changes we wanted.  So the boat specs are as follows:


Panel Color: Midnight Black--Accent Panel: Matador Red--Midnight Black Canvas--Chrome Logos--Double Binimi Top--Pillowtop Diamond Pressed Upholster Upgrade Tuscan Dune with Napa Beige Accent--Bow Gate Seat--Recliner Upgrade Captains Chair (R)--Espresso Teak Rectangular Bow Table--Elevated Helm--Platinum Seagrass Full Flooring--Mercury 150HP motor--Dual Battery--Lifting Strakes--Sea Star Hydraulic--Water Fuel Separator--Underdeck Wave Shield--Lighted cupholders--SS Dock Lights--Heavy Duty Rub Rail--Ski Pylon--Sharkhide Protectant--Custom Extended Aft Deck--Custom Dual Rear Doors.


Now this is only a two toon, didn't go with an SPS or ESP, I wanted the SPS, but hubby argued we didn't need it..... maybe a PADS coming later??  But everything else we agreed upon and did go over a little on the budget.  I know it will be worth it though.  So we should get our new Bennington lat May or at the latest early June according to our dealer.  Looking forward to it!!


/monthly_2016_04/large.5714fe8fb06fe_Bennington2275gs.jpg.cb79124c2a5a4a104c4cfcdcd564c732.jpg
 
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Awesome!! At least you already know what PADS is so when you start to feel the effects, you already know the antidote .....  :D
 
Nice build hma95, so easy to become addicted to boating life, you're going to love your new boat
 
Congrats, sounds great!
 
Thank you guys!  We also decided to not get any of the Garmin fish finder or GPS as on our current boat we LOVE the Lowrance and our dealer will be installing that on the new boat along with an electric anchor on the bow connected to the AUX switch.  Can't wait to take some pics of the new boat.  We will use our current one until then.  It was agony this last weekend when the temp soared into the 70's and our marina is still closed!   :angry:
 
Nice boat!  Welcome to the forum!


A couple comments...


If you still have time to change the order, I would warn against the 150 without a hull upgrade.  The two standard tubes with a 150 is like putting Prius tires on a Porsche.  UNLESS by two tubes you mean the elliptical package, then that's a great fit.


If you are just getting the two round 25 inch tubes with strakes, not much sense in anything bigger than a 90 HP.  If that even. Someone else can chime in here, but a 150 with 2x25 tubes (even with strakes) is pretty rare combo.  Now, if you've test driven that setup, I have not, and you like it, by all means get it.  Just saying it doesn't "sound" right to me.


If you are set on the 150, I'd AT LEAST get the Elipticals or Express (which is what I have) with full strakes.  If you can swing it, get the SPS.  SPS will make your boat bank in turns (shorter turn radius - better for water sports).


Here's kind of the order in which you might spend money on motor/hull upgrades, to be most efficient with your money, in MY opinion.  Others will comment....


2 round 25 inch tubes first, then motors up to 100 hp, then either Ellipticals w/strakes or Express w/strakes, then larger 100-150 HP, then SPS hull, then 150-200 (note the 150 works for both, just a preference), then ESP, then 150-300 (again note the 150 here is probably the minimum size for ESP).  Unless you hope to upgrade the motor later, or are on Semper's lake and have a 20 HP limit, but hope to move someday to an unrestricted lake, etc.  There are always reasons for not following my "gut" list above (based on years of reading on this forum), but I would say the normal investment path is as I've listed it.


Normally I recommend the extended aft deck, but since you have the fishing setup, and can fish from the back of the boat, I'm wondering if you'd even need that since you already have the fishing chairs in back.  Depends if you want to stand outside the boat and fish (vs the chair area).  The extended aft deck is especially great when you have kids getting in and out of the boat all the time.  Adds extra space back there for moving around.  Or, if you fish but don't have a fishing model, then the extended deck is awesome for that.  I think the extended deck is a great value upgrade. It's also useful for putting the cover on the boat.  Gives you ap place to stand. 
 
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We have the fishing seats and removed and stored them for bass fishing in Canada.  When casting it is easier to stand and the chairs get in the way.  If we were still Perch jerking we would leave them in.  


The twin elliptical with the 150 is a great combo.   
 
kaydano said:
Nice boat!  Welcome to the forum!


A couple comments...


If you still have time to change the order, I would warn against the 150 without a hull upgrade.  The two standard tubes with a 150 is like putting Prius tires on a Porsche.  UNLESS by two tubes you mean the elliptical package, then that's a great fit.


If you are just getting the two round 25 inch tubes with strakes, not much sense in anything bigger than a 90 HP.  If that even. Someone else can chime in here, but a 150 with 2x25 tubes (even with strakes) is pretty rare combo.  Now, if you've test driven that setup, I have not, and you like it, by all means get it.  Just saying it doesn't "sound" right to me.


If you are set on the 150, I'd AT LEAST get the Elipticals or Express (which is what I have) with full strakes.  If you can swing it, get the SPS.  SPS will make your boat bank in turns (shorter turn radius - better for water sports).


Here's kind of the order in which you might spend money on motor/hull upgrades, to be most efficient with your money, in MY opinion.  Others will comment....


2 round 25 inch tubes first, then motors up to 100 hp, then either Ellipticals w/strakes or Express w/strakes, then larger 100-150 HP, then SPS hull, then 150-200 (note the 150 works for both, just a preference), then ESP, then 150-300 (again note the 150 here is probably the minimum size for ESP).  Unless you hope to upgrade the motor later, or are on Semper's lake and have a 20 HP limit, but hope to move someday to an unrestricted lake, etc.  There are always reasons for not following my "gut" list above (based on years of reading on this forum), but I would say the normal investment path is as I've listed it.


Normally I recommend the extended aft deck, but since you have the fishing setup, and can fish from the back of the boat, I'm wondering if you'd even need that since you already have the fishing chairs in back.  Depends if you want to stand outside the boat and fish (vs the chair area).  The extended aft deck is especially great when you have kids getting in and out of the boat all the time.  Adds extra space back there for moving around.  Or, if you fish but don't have a fishing model, then the extended deck is awesome for that.  I think the extended deck is a great value upgrade. It's also useful for putting the cover on the boat.  Gives you ap place to stand. 
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Thank you for your input Kaydano.  It is just the normal double toons.  I emailed our dealer to get his take on what you are suggesting as he is also a friend of the family and I trust him.  He does sell even the R and Q series with 150hp motors on just 2 normal toons and asked him about all of this.  As I said in my OP I wanted to get the SPS, but hubby said no.  Imagine that, the MAN saying NO to a tritoon! LOL.  


We love the extra room on the back of our current boat and we have a grill mounted on the extended deck on our current boat and want to do the same on the new one.  The dogs also love to stand on the extended deck when we are fishing so they can see the fish as it comes up and tries to bite at it!  We also stand on the back too to fish so we do use it a lot.


I would love to hear from others about a 2 toon setup and a 150hp motor, don't know if anyone else has a setup like that?  I have no idea if it is too late to change anything or not, have to see what my dealer says.
 
I agree with Dan. My opinion you'll be pushing/plowing more water than planing on it. 
 
What is the hubby's phone number? We can talk some sense into him!!!!!
 
hma95 said:
Thank you for your input Kaydano.  It is just the normal double toons.  I emailed our dealer to get his take on what you are suggesting as he is also a friend of the family and I trust him.  He does sell even the R and Q series with 150hp motors on just 2 normal toons and asked him about all of this.  As I said in my OP I wanted to get the SPS, but hubby said no.  Imagine that, the MAN saying NO to a tritoon! LOL.  


We love the extra room on the back of our current boat and we have a grill mounted on the extended deck on our current boat and want to do the same on the new one.  The dogs also love to stand on the extended deck when we are fishing so they can see the fish as it comes up and tries to bite at it!  We also stand on the back too to fish so we do use it a lot.


I would love to hear from others about a 2 toon setup and a 150hp motor, don't know if anyone else has a setup like that?  I have no idea if it is too late to change anything or not, have to see what my dealer says.
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That's going to be a beautiful boat, love the color combo!


In my area a standard 2-toon with 150 would be a very rare bird such that resale would suffer greatly on it. Usually it would have twin ellipticals which is a great setup. Dan is also providing good advice if you could swing it for SPS or Express. If not, it will still be a fantastic boat to enjoy for a long time.
 
Thanks again for everyone's input!  Once I talk to our dealer and IF we have time to change it, (hope we do) what would be the best package for our build?  SPS or twin ellipticals?  If it is too late to change it I think we could add the express tube.
 
The SPS or elliptical setup are very different animals.  The SPS will bank and run like a fiberglass boat.  The elliptical turns flat like the old style toons.  We are happy with the elliptical boat because of the extra floatation and stability when we have 12 people on it fishing in Canada.  We can tube/ski behind it but it is harder on the driver and your passengers really need to hangon in a fast turn. 


The SPS is great all-round boat, the elliptical is great for specific uses.  


Either is much better than a 2 toon setup. We had a 22' 2 toon model that I put little, bigger, bigger than should have been O/B's on it.  Never totally happy with boat and sold it to get the new Bennington. 


We are great at spending other peoples money but you are reading really good advise for your enjoyment of the boat and future resale value. 
 
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Read, read and the re-read the performance packages and what ea. will give you.   You could drop your motor size down to a 115?  Can't believe I said that.  In any case its really going to depend on how you plan on using the boat.  It's very easy to help others spend their money, lol. The EPP list @ $2537.00 but you stated that you have already went slightly over your budget.  Regardless of that...it will cost you more in the long run when PADS hits.  Save yourself the time, effort and money and do it now if you can.  Good luck in convincing the hubby.
 
MH663 said:
Read, read and the re-read the performance packages and what ea. will give you.   You could drop your motor size down to a 115?  Can't believe I said that.  In any case its really going to depend on how you plan on using the boat.  It's very easy to help others spend their money, lol. The EPP list @ $2537.00 but you stated that you have already went slightly over your budget.  Regardless of that...it will cost you more in the long run when PADS hits.  Save yourself the time, effort and money and do it now if you can.  Good luck in convincing the hubby.
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Well we would like it done "right" the first time, like I have read before, buy your first boat last... well technically this is our second, but yeah.


Thanks for the Link Link lol.  After reading that I think the EPS would be too much for the 150hp motor, can't afford to go higher than that so I think SPS would fit it perfectly.... if we can.  I called our dealer and he is going to let me know if it can be changed.


I guess I should have read more than I did!
 
LOL...we said the same thing "buy our last boat first" but the wife has already started with we should have got the 350 motor.  We should have done this, we should have done that.  I'm beginning to think WE should have never said it will be our last boat, lol. 


They will get the changes made for you with no issues and I'm sure you will be happy.  Until PADS hit you and you start saying, "we should have".  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
 
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If you do consider ellipticals, make sure you add the lifting strakes.  Our last boat did not have them (we bought it off of the dealer floor and didn't know any better), and many dealers wanted to give us a lot less money for it on trade-in because they were missing.  I assume they would have helped performance wise also, but the 115 was more of our Achilles heel than the strakes...I believe.   IMHO
 
Remediation said:
We are great at spending other peoples money but you are reading really good advise for your enjoyment of the boat and future resale value. 
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Yes, the knuckleheads here caused me to spend an additional $2200 for power assist steering. But there is nothing like the truth that experience brings. I know I will be happier as a result.


This club did not exist when I bought my last Bennington, but I'm quite certain that the kinds of suggestions you are receiving would have helped me then. I bought a 2 tube boat with a 115.


So, it seems the best advice I have based on personal experience is this: If you are set on a 2 tube boat, get a 115. A 150 won't likely gain you much of anything.


If you are set on standing by your decision to get a 150, add the twin ellipticals, the SPS, or at the least, the Express tube kit.


PADS is an expensive affliction. Ask me how I know. ;-)
 
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Just got off the phone with our dealer and it is too late, they can't change to any kind of performance package.  If I called last week with the change it could have been done.  I think overall for what we use the boat for the most it will be fine.  Just won't take it to the great lakes or anything!  Live and learn.
 
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