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Our new Bennington 20 Sli

mike and amy said:
Jody,

Thank you for your help.

We have made our selection and it will be a Bennington just like yours. It looks like you have the Yamaha outboard. Do you have the 70 HP? We have decided to go to a different dealer that offers the SLi 20 with the choice of a Yamaha or Mercury. Everything I read indicates that the Yamaha might be the better of the two given the choice. (I don't have the experience with either to make this comment)

Any concerns with your Yamaha? Does it seem to have enough power? We would like to eventually pull our two young boys on a tube. The dealer states this would have enough power to pull an adult on a tube or ski's with ease???

If any other readers have any comments, please feel free to chime in. I think we are going to make the decision on the 60 hp Mercury or the 70 hp Yamaha this Friday. The 70 hp is $647 more than the 60 hp Mercury.

We have also decided on a tandem axel vs. single axle as we will be towing this approximately 150 miles to our cottage. This is also a $550 up grade.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Mike and Amy

Michigan
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You're welcome! Congratulations on your new Bennington!! Welcome to the club!!

We have the 50 hp Yamaha and other than idling I can't tell you much about it. We had a 40hp on our old boat and that was fine for our needs. The 70 should give you all you need for pulling the kids around in the tube!

If you haven't added it yet I would HIGHLY recommend having the Ski tow bar installed. Several times we would have fallen off the swim platform without it. Especially with kids, it is just an extra level of safety around the engine.

We also added snap out carpet with our special order and I would highly recommend that also. The full vinyl floor is a breeze to sweep off and wipe up...and we will snap in the carpet for company!!
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Can't wait to see your pics!
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Captain Ron (sparkdr220) fully enjoying opening day of Boating Season 2011

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The Fox River opened to all boating at noon today! We got in our first two hours of engine break in and the boat runs like a dream! I can't believe how quiet it is!! The seats are incredibly comfortable too!

Thanks for a fantastic pontoon Team Bennington....and for the free to the first 50 members can coozies!!
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Joyfultooner said:
Captain Ron (sparkdr220) fully enjoying opening day of Boating Season 2011

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The Fox River opened to all boating at noon today! We got in our first two hours of engine break in and the boat runs like a dream! I can't believe how quiet it is!! The seats are incredibly comfortable too!

Thanks for a fantastic pontoon Team Bennington....and for the free to the first 50 members can coozies!!
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Captain Ron,

What a great run for opening day for you and your new Benny!! Love the beers too :D

7 days and we will be making our first trip with our new Bennington SLI 20 as well and we can't wait! I can assure you and all my new Benny friends that we will be enjoying a few cold Leinen's Summer Shandy's and a bottle of White for the wife too. The kids, well - apple juice.

Great Pics - can't wait to add ours.

I don't think Team Bennigton will be suppling us with the fancy coozies as we weren't in the first 50 members. I think they should give coozie to any member that post pics with their Bennington as we are selling for them!! (Hear that team Bennington best advertisment is word of mouth!!)

Will post pic soon.

Thanks for the post.
 
The fish locator your adding to check the water depth is a good idea. However my experiance is that if your coming up on something unseen by your depth sounder by the time it does see it, it is to late. The depth sounder is located about 12 to 24 inches infront of your lower unit. I just purchase my 20 Sli and added the fish locator too. I just want to let you know it is a great idea, and is very helpful, it just is not 100% fool proof when you need the 100%. Boaters education from the school of hard knocks. Enjoy your Bennington, ours will be delivered to the lake on May 21st. We placed our order on Jan 21st. Have a safe and happy boating season.
 
We are so excited, we just took delivery of our new 20 SLi Benny. I will post pics tomorrow. Here's the quick story:

arrived at the dealer at 3:30pm, they told me that the Ski Bar wasn't the correct one so they didn't install it. Our Benny was sitting out front on the trailer and looked beautiful. Since we didn't actually see the pontoon we purchased as it was cover and in storage, they did a complete walk overview with us. We found a few minor flaws from the factory with minor scratches - Dealer - no big deal and they order a brand new decal and will install in the fall.

One seat back had a small tear, which they found, they immediately changed this out and apologize for this.

No other problems found.

We closed quickly and were off with our sales rep to a local lake. He was great. He explained every aspect of unloading and took the helm for a few then turned it over to me. The 70 HP Yamaha is very powerful and extremely quiet. We had a windy trip and docking was a slight challenge but he gave great advice.

Our sales rep, Mitch, walked us through loading our Benny with ease and personal experience with potential problems.

We had a great experience with our dealer and I will give them high 5's for everything they did for us.

As stated above, they didn't receive the Ski Tow bar in time as we added this at the at the last moment. They are going to travel to our cottage and install on site.

Lakeside Marina, Mecosta Michigan - get my personal seal of approval and I will highly recommend them to anyone. Plus, they occupied our 2 year old and 3 year old while we signed the paperwork!

Great experience and Team Bennington, if you read these post, please give Lakeside our blessing as an awesome dealership to work with.

By the way - we must have a little "Redneck" in us, our pontoon is docked in our driveway on the trailer and I am typing this from the helm as I sip my cocktail with the radio on!!

Can't wait for tomorrow!
 
Awesome! Congratulations! Can't wait to see your pics!

PS: When do you guys go to Key West?? We go for a week in February, usually around the 20th or so, so we can go to the Miami boat show as well.
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We purchased our Bennington in 2004.

Our old pontoon was a 18 ft Grummen. We had a 50 Johnson motor. That pontoon was horrible. The engine never ran right. We spent a lot of time setting on the sidelines.

When we sold it we really researched not only brands but engines.

We decided on the on our Bennington. We have a Mercury 60 ,4 stroke Big foot. We LOVE our Bennington. Not only is it beautiful loeen going thereoking but it handles well. We were very surprised at the difference. Every time we get on the water it starts. And our dealer is amazing. Great service.

We take it to Rend lake.We have been going there 23 years now.
 
Joyfultooner said:
Awesome! Congratulations! Can't wait to see your pics!

PS: When do you guys go to Key West?? We go for a week in February, usually around the 20th or so, so we can go to the Miami boat show as well.
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We typically go the second week of March. Sorry for the late response.
 
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