Weight Capacity Question

mrpigeon

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Howdy: I have just acquired a 2016 Bennington 2550 GSR. Unfortunately, since I live in Michigan, I haven't been able to use it (c'mon spring!). The boat is equipped with the 32" elliptical tubes and a Yamaha F150B. The capacity is listed as 15 persons or 2100 pounds (or 2750 pounds for persons, motor and gear). I'm doing some advance calculating, and I have a planned gathering with a total of 14 people. No issue with # of persons. Potential issue with 2100 pounds total. I'm on an inland lake (+/- 850 acres) and I'm wondering if I need to be worried about 'tube diving' (I have a friend on the lake whose Benny has experienced front end diving when loaded near or above capacity.His boat is smaller and has standard logs). The weight of all the people will probably be about 2550 pounds, so I guess I'm asking 'Is there some 'extra capacity' in the spec?' I'm not worried that the sheriff will weigh us, I just want to be safe and avoid having a wave come over my bow.
 
With those massive elliptical tubes, I’d be surprised if you have to worry about “tube diving” like normal size tubes - particularly if in calm water. I would be more concerned with generally exceeding the listed capacity weight from a structural perspective by potentially 500 lbs.

Hard to imagine it’s not engineered robustly enough to have slack in the rating. I just lean in the conservative direction with these sorts of things. Is your lake calm and quiet, with little chop/waves/wind? If so, maybe less of an issue for an easy cruise. Is it busy, lots of wakes, big waves/chop/wind? Then I’d be more inclined not to exceed the capacity plate limits.

Maybe just tow 3 or 4 on a floating raft behind it to get back to capacity? LOL :D
 
Under boating regulations a " soul " has no weight. this means a 500 lb person or a baby weigh the same for the listed 15 person limit. The boat structure would be a whole different issue as to the total weight of passengers and equipment.
 
My first inclined response is ... do you have enough life preservers .... then I’d just balance out load, maybe a little stern heavy to keep bow up a little, but like Jeff said ellipticals are more buoyant. Are they all adults? Average size? Me personally on a calm day, easy cruise, I would not be concerned if I stayed within person capacity and it was a mix of varied weights 125-185.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Let me take the questions in order: To 'Vikingstaff' most days our lake is fairly calm - with wakeboard waves on occasion - and the towed tube might be an option:). I hadn't really thought about potentially overloading the boat structurally - and it's worth considering. I live within 30 minutes of Bennington manufacturing so I might be able to talk to an engineer if I was really worried. To 'SEMPERFI18387' - I always make sure I have the proper PFDs. All 14 people in the planned case are adults. Certainly all the men are above average (I'm 6'8" 265 myself). No comment on the weight of the women (I'm smarter than that). I suppose there's a chance not everyone will be on any of the multiple cruises over the weekend. My previous boat would not have come close to holding everyone. I appreciate all the feedback.
 
Doesn't total capacity also equal those in tow?
 
Welcome to the family! I think as long as you make it clear to everyone that because you're approaching the boats' capacity, it might require some shuffling of passengers. I once had that happen on a commercial air flight and I was happy to move!
 
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