Wake issue

[Looney Toon]

We have a 2012 Bennington 20 SLI with a 70 HP Yamaha and twin 25 logs. We boat in a Bay and river area on the West Coast of Florida. Normally we boat in a Bay area with very little wake action. Over the week-end we took the Bennington down the River towards the Gulf. The toon did amazingly well over the wake from larger boats as long as I kept the speed up. I was wondering from some of you that have had your Bennington's in waters that are prone to large wakes....how big is too big to try and go over it with speed up and at an angle. I was surprised at how well she did but just curious at where do I draw the line.. At the mouth of the river leading to the Gulf I did stop to turn around and took a large wave over the bow. If you're idling and a large boat passes you and throws a wake what do you do to avoid that situation. As a newbie to pontoons I want to make sure I don't push the limit.

 

[keithkz]

Well two summers ago we had our boat (see description in my signature block) in norhtern Michigan on Burt and Mullet Lakes which are huge lakes. On Mullet the winds picked up while we were in the middle and some serious waves kicked up. Our boat was in its element. We then actually went through the Cheybogan River and briefly out to Lake Huron! I went as far as the first marker buoy but I didn't want to go any farther out of respect for the great lakes. A swell came out of no where (typical for the great lakes) and although it was no biggie I wasn't about to push the limit so I turned it around and headed back into the river. I just wanted to be able to say that I had my pontoon boat in one of the great lakes.

That said Bennington clearly states that their boats are not designed for the rough waters of the ocean or the great lakes as it is still a pontoon boat and pontoons are not designed for really rough seas. My boat is also quite a bit larger and with the tritoon, I/O and lifting strakes is set up to handle some decent rough water. We are taking it up to Torch Lake in July (another huge inner lake in northern Michigan) and we cannot wait for that trip.

 

[SEMPERFI8387]

I think that's changing ....

 

[Remediation]

We have some big waves in Canada and the boat does fine at slow plane to get the toons to cut through the waves. The challenge for a toon is the slow speeds or idling. The big waves can break over the bow when the nose dips. You also can get enough water over the bow and bend/dent the fence. The white caps the boat handles well it is the big rollers that can be a real problem.

 

[mtudb24]

We do all our boating on Saginaw Bay / lake huron. The bennington handles the waves fine. Common sense, always keeping a eye on weather, and you should have no problems. As others have pointed out, keeping the front end up and hitting waves at angles will reduce the chance of taking a roller directly over the bow.

 

[SEMPERFI8387]

And another ..... I'd feel safer on the toon than a bow rider ......