Trading Benny For a Surf boat

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David G

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Looks like my Grandkids win. We are trading in the Bennington R23 for a new Regal LS6 Surf. It had the best seating-almost Pontoon like vrs the others we looked at and the same dealership that has sold us our last 5 boats has Regals.
I do miss the Hotrod feel of a good running bow rider so I kinda look forward to it.
Things I wont miss is trying to keep the pontoons clean as I keep my boat on a lift year around.
 
Looks like a fun boat. Memories made with the grandkids will be worth it!
 
Looks like it will be a fun boat. Enjoy your change up and having fun with the grandkids. Always nice to have new adventures.
 
Tell the grandkids your spending their inheritance on the Regal ... :D
 
I feel your pain. We haven’t found any water sport we cannot do behind our Bennington that you can do behind a dedicated specialty boat except surfing. It is an activity that my crew would love to do. I have looked into the dynamics of one of these dedicated boats and found that the range of what they can do well and what they are adequate for such as skiing or wake boarding is limited. I had no idea how specialized these watercraft are. A good ski boat doesn’t work as well for wakeboarding And without special attachments is not good for surfing. A good wakeboarding boat is no good for skiers and must have gear to surf. A surf boat is really only good for surfing ok for wakeboarding and not great for skiing. Now I know this is only my opinion and based only on my research both in person and on line. I would love to have a craft that would allow us to pursue this activity but the cost is excessive. Now having said all of the above I would love to see Bennington producing a sport Tritoon with one of the new forward facing propeller outboards with the gear needed to produce a nice wave for surfing. Ballast would be easy and the structure for the wave dam would be doable I’m sure. So then we could have the best of both worlds. Bennington??????
 
I believe a couple years back they had a “wake” hull design. Didn’t last long. I’m guessing it just wasn’t marketable cost efficient demand in a pontoon vs. all the other specific wake boats in the marketplace.
Kind of like the camper enclosure. For the amount you sell vs. the cost/service/warranty demand, it’s not worth the 1-200 you sell in a 12,000+ boat manufacturing year.
 
I believe a couple years back they had a “wake” hull design. Didn’t last long. I’m guessing it just wasn’t marketable cost efficient demand in a pontoon vs. all the other specific wake boats in the marketplace.
Kind of like the camper enclosure. For the amount you sell vs. the cost/service/warranty demand, it’s not worth the 1-200 you sell in a 12,000+ boat manufacturing year.
I was told long ago when I was inquiring that it wasn't a demand issue, rather a design / engineering issue that somehow got overlooked / not noticed until after they built a few. Something about when at high speed I believe. Too bad, looked wicked!
 
I feel your pain. We haven’t found any water sport we cannot do behind our Bennington that you can do behind a dedicated specialty boat except surfing. It is an activity that my crew would love to do. I have looked into the dynamics of one of these dedicated boats and found that the range of what they can do well and what they are adequate for such as skiing or wake boarding is limited. I had no idea how specialized these watercraft are. A good ski boat doesn’t work as well for wakeboarding And without special attachments is not good for surfing. A good wakeboarding boat is no good for skiers and must have gear to surf. A surf boat is really only good for surfing ok for wakeboarding and not great for skiing. Now I know this is only my opinion and based only on my research both in person and on line.
Regardless of how you do your research, your observation is right on. The sepecialization of surf boats has reached the point where, even in the clean configuration, well more than 400 HP only produces a topend of some 35 MPH...not to mention that wake boats above idle speed are always producing an outsized wake, loaded or not. Add that we commonly take both our I/O and pontoon places inboards don't go....at least not twice....

Thankfully our kids are through the wake/surf board phase. The costs and limitations of those dedicated boats are pretty high for the assured time when everyone gets bored with the boards. We have several hanging on the wall that haven't been wet in over a decade...of course, they don't have the latest graphics and colors....

That said, for those who trade watercraft frequently, go for it. One of the happiest days will be taking delivery of a dedicated boat...another happy one will be trading it.

BTW: as indicated above, the stresses on a pontoon structure to purposely generate massively outsized wakes would bend more than just minds.
 
David G - we just went the other way. After having wake board boats for years and then a wake surf Mastercraft for the last 5, we just switched to a pontoon. We had / have great memories of the surf years!
 
I believe a couple years back they had a “wake” hull design. Didn’t last long. I’m guessing it just wasn’t marketable cost efficient demand in a pontoon vs. all the other specific wake boats in the marketplace.
Kind of like the camper enclosure. For the amount you sell vs. the cost/service/warranty demand, it’s not worth the 1-200 you sell in a 12,000+ boat manufacturing year.
I don't believe that any were ever built, and the prototypes were destroyed.
 
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That is cool. Not having had the chance to surf or even be on a craft that is used to surf I know very little about it. I am guessing that dragging enough ballast to make a usable wake thru the water requires so many ponies. Maybe something will come along in the future that will work. Sure looks like fun.
 
Used to hate PWC's and then came wakeboard boats to wake up the water. Then somebody invented surf boats, lets go 8mph in the middle of the channel and put up a cruiser sized wake.
Rant over.
 
Used to hate PWC's and then came wakeboard boats to wake up the water. Then somebody invented surf boats, lets go 8mph in the middle of the channel and put up a cruiser sized wake.
Rant over.
Haha...ill add...

My lake has a growing number of wake boats, I attribute most of the lake chop to these boats more than the wind could ever muster up. I remember 20 years ago being annoyed when jet skis would hit my bow rider wake...but today, these wake boats have it coming...so here comes my 41 year old self, coming from your wake...
 
We have been visiting or living on the lake where we are now for over 40 years. The relatively recent proliferation of wake boats has accelerated the destruction and erosion of property and shoreline greatly. Unprotected shoreline (no riprap) recedes much faster. Some islands here are half the size they were before the advent of boarding boats. There is clearly a different dynamic in play between boat generated waves and wind driven waves. Duke power has even gone to the expense of putting riprap on various islands and undevelopable shoreline to protect whatever is left.

EVERY year I have to repair bumpers and tie downs due to monster wake boat traffic. Three of the four tiedown cleats have been ripped off our Benny and replaced with ugly, but stronger, versions. Twice the aft corner has literally been pushed up and onto our dock! One time it was hooked on a dock cleat making it difficult of get the pontoon back in the water.

In the last couple years dealers have made a better attempt to educate the large number of new buyers (all too many have no boating experience). That has helped, but there are still too many that are unaware of how destructive wake boats are....or just don't care.... "Mind your wake signs" are about as useful as speed limit signs and less enforceable. Swimming areas that were once reasonably safe for children now can get surprise surf from hundreds of yards away!

I am a strong advocate for boats in the wake category to require education/licensing and a minimum operator age. Knowing that isn't going to happen, about the best to hope for is awareness and responsible boat operation. There are clearly too many misses in that hit-and-miss solution.
 
The only other way to fix this ^^^^ is enforcement including pocket emptying fines. Seems like the only way humans understand anything is when it hits them in the pocket.
 
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