Wave damage to front panel

Mat240

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Hello,

Has anybody ever had wave damage to a front panel? We were on the lake yesterday and the winds created some rough waves and some pretty good size rollers. Deciding to turn back and just stay in our bay we took two good waves to the front that were enough to soak us all on the boat. Upon returning to the dock, after tying up we notice the left side panel on the front of our new RCW 22.75 was push in and wrinkled. At the very bottom of the panel you can see where it seems to have pulled out of the bottom rail slot where it looks to be factory crimped in. Called the dealer today and he said yes, a good wave could do it. Has anybody else experienced anything like this? Just doesn't make sense to me that a wave, no matter how hard it hits could do this. I mean its a boat, there are waves in the water. I would think the panels would be reinforced to expect these kind of conditions. I steer through the waves and wakes at a 45 degree angle best I can, I throttle up to keep the bow up when approaching the large ones. I'm having a hard time accepting a wave can push in the panel. The rails are all fine, just the panel has damage. Any opinions will be welcomed.

Thanks

Mark
 
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Sorry to hear this, especially since those panel colors are identical to mine! Unfortunately it is very common, especially in places like Lake Of The Ozarks with big cruisers making huge wakes. Talk with your insurance agent is this sort of thing is usually covered other than deductibles. Small dents can be repaired by a paintless dent service (for cars), though that looks fairly heavy so the whole corner fence panel probably needs to be replaced.
 
Sorry to hear this, especially since those panel colors are identical to mine! Unfortunately it is very common, especially in places like Lake Of The Ozarks with big cruisers making huge wakes. Talk with your insurance agent is this sort of thing is usually covered other than deductibles. Small dents can be repaired by a paintless dent service (for cars), though that looks fairly heavy so the whole corner fence panel probably needs to be replaced.
Thanks TomS, I will be contacting my insurance co. I feel the waves that hit are not so uncommon on our lake (Winnipesaukee in NH)with winds 15 to 20 knots. I'll be worried about this happening again every time the water gets rough. Seems like it was too easy.
 
I should have said it's fairly common on ALL brands of pontoon boats, sad to say it's the nature of the thing. We're on our 3rd pontoon, the latest being an ESP so the bow always stays a lot higher due to the extra buoyancy, which helps a lot. We're lucky as we don't encounter those type of waves on our small lake other than some of the wakesurf boats.
 
I had my boat out on Torch Lake in northwest Michigan (lower peninsula) about 3-4 weeks ago now ...Michigan's largest inland lake. On the last day there we had some pretty high winds which created some big waves but my boat being a 2575 tritoon did very well in it. A brand new 23' Crest didn't fare too well. It was only a 2-toon boat and like I said, a little shorter than mine. They said they had 9 people in the boat and all but two were in the back when they hit a wave which dented the entire front panels. I wanted to tell him there is no way in hell I would be on that lake under those conditions in a pontoon boat any shorter than mine. Made me very glad I got a tritoon and the longer model. It's overkill for the lake I live on but this was the 2nd trip I've taken with it now on large inland lakes in Michigan and it is in it's element in rough waters.
 
As others stated, no matter the brand, a big enough wave, and it's gonna hammer those front panels. Sad to say, it's not a "Bennington" issue. I have seen numerous posts on other forums with same thing. The only thing you might try is remove front lounger and try to pop it back out best as possible, but being it popped out of the slot, might be a little harder to get it back together. Even though these boats can handle pretty rough conditions, there's only so much that can be expected of their design.
 
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I had the same exact dent in my 2274GL last year when I was squeezed to the shore by a couple WOT cruisers( sometimes I think they cause big wakes on purpose and could care less about pontoons, fishermen,or whatever) Now if I encounter that type of wake I just let it roll me sideways, I don't try to head into it at all. I was able to pull the seat and push the dent out with a piece of 2x4 and a rubber mallet. The creases still show, but the dent is gone and someone with autobody shop skills probably could address those. Couldn't justify pulling it for replacement and the costs associated, when it could happen again, so I just live with it.
 
Thank you all for your answers. I will see what my dealer says soon. I pull her out of the water after September.
 
The same thing happened to me this past July, same corner...... Made me sick enough that I am ready to sell my boat and get a Q model....... Keep us posted on what insurance says and the estimate to repair if you would......

I was think a PDR person could pull the dent with a suction cup, versus pulling the seat out and pushing it out..... like was stated, there will be a seam left.....
 
Has anybody tried  to pull the dent out with a suction cup?

1TOON3  how hard was it to remove the seats? Are the seats bolted or are they screwed in with self tapping screws
 
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Thanks TomS, I will be contacting my insurance co. I feel the waves that hit are not so uncommon on our lake (Winnipesaukee in NH)with winds 15 to 20 knots. I'll be worried about this happening again every time the water gets rough. Seems like it was too easy.
I am mostly on Squam but get to the big lake a few times a yr.....the last couple weeks have been the perfect storm. Tons of big boat, wind and rollers in multiple directions.Last week we were in a similar situation. We loaded the stern and put a little extra weight in the corner opposite the direction of travel.

3 logs definitely help,,,,,,

I am curious as to how the dealers handles this.

If you ever want to explore Squam, I'm your man
 
That would make me ill. Fortunately I have not seen anything that big here on Morse Reservoir in Indiana. Based on what I've read here the only prevention would be three tubes or the 32's. Also going to a Q with the sloped front ought to do it. The wave would most likely roll right up the slope and soak you, but not likely to dent in as it would be a glancing blow.
 
I can vouch for this not being an issue in our Q. We have probably stuffed the bow 3-4 times now and had at least 20 big waves come over the front. We are usually only going 15-18mph when the water gets rough but so far no troubles.
 
I noticed there is a thread for possible new ideas. However why not continue here with that thought. I think the next new development would be easily removable panels so that if damage occurs, bingo! Want to change your look, bingo! Want to up date etc. you get the idea. There has to be a way to mount the panels so that an owner could easily change them out. And what an additional revenus stream to Bennington and the dealer network. Increased parts sales.
 
I noticed there is a thread for possible new ideas. However why not continue here with that thought. I think the next new development would be easily removable panels so that if damage occurs, bingo! Want to change your look, bingo! Want to up date etc. you get the idea. There has to be a way to mount the panels so that an owner could easily change them out. And what an additional revenus stream to Bennington and the dealer network. Increased parts sales.
Someone on my factory tour asked this question of Mike, the expert there. He said they've explored that several times, but it would compromise the rattle free nature of their fixed panel system, which to someone like Bennington where quality is everything, just was not a good tradeoff.
 
I like quality, thus the Bennington. However, I still think there is a way.
 
Put pics in your gallery then go to options and use the links.
 
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