Back to the main site

24 SSL

By the way, anyone know what that box-looking thing that's welded to the lower end of the left tube is for?

I know they mount the depth gauge transducer there, but if that was all it was for, I doubt it would be so big...
 
Water pump for the livewell is mounted in there in my boat.
 
Thanks kaydano, much appreciated! Still torn, lots of different opinions on wether it is a good bang for the buck, but I watch that video on Bennington's website showing the guy getting 36mph with a 115, that's a huge change from the 22-23 mph I get with my 90! How much difference do you think it makes that mines a 20 ft and that was on a 22ft? Should performance still be similar? Thanks
 
Underwater lights (option) are also mounted there.
 
Bulldog - I don't know, but we test drive and hopefully purchase the boat this Friday. I will post the speed results and how it handles Friday night.

We were supposed to get the boat a couple weeks ago. Bennington delivered the boat to the dealer right on schedule (in case anyone is still interested in whether there are any factory delays or not), and the motor showed up on time too, but the trailers are not there yet! Go figure. That's the last thing I thought would hold up the deal. Burnin' daylight before winter too.

I thought I'd post one more thing, our marina has this valet service where we store the boat there, and just call an hour ahead before we want to use it, and they put the boat in the water and have it waiting in a slip for us when we get there. When we're done, we just pull back into a slip, and they put it away in a new garage (community style building with separate garage doors and locks). Pretty sweet deal. The boat will be indoors all year. No messing around (wasting time) getting the boat out of some storage garage and trailering it to the lake, or slipping the boat and letting it get beat up by the sun and waves sitting in the slip 24/7. I think this is a great idea/service the marina offers. We'll see how it works out. Anyone heard of a service this? $1800 per year includes the valet and garage (winter too).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
We took delivery of a 24 SSL today! Took the test drive this afternoon, and we didn't want to go back to the dock! Awesome. Top speed was 35 MPH (on both a Garmin GPS and an android phone). That was with 3 average sized adults, 1 kid, and about 3/4th full tank of gas. So, I'm guessing the 36 MPH in the Bennington web site video is right on (I think that was with 2 people on board?). It didn't lean much into the turns, but it definitely didn't want to roll out either. Stayed pretty flat, but turned better/faster than I thought it would. It's nothing like the videos of the ESP with a large motor though. This boat has the express tri-toon setup, with strakes on both sides of all 3 tubes. Probably why it gets 35 MPH with just a 115 HP motor.

Trailer set up was really nice. No problem going 70 MPH with the Envoy, but I went 50-55 most of the way. My Envoy has the V8 and rear air suspension, and only got 11 MPG dragging the boat! Overall, I'm very happy with the whole set up. Can't wait to get to the lake tomorrow!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Congrats!
 
Congrats on your Bennington. How bout some pics?
 
Yeah, congratulations and post some pics :)

PS - I only get about 7 to 8 mpg with my Chev Avalanche :(
 
We had a GREAT first day on the lake! But we had to call it short when a storm popped up on the horizon. Got out just in time. Nothing severe, but we'd've gotten wet. I think I just made up a double contraction.

Anyway, we took the boat back to the house, parked in the street, and a neighbor came over with some homebrews and we sat in the boat on the street until dark.

Whether on the lake, or on the street, I'm lovin' Bennington!!!

Dano
 
Cool story! We just had our first day on ours yesterday, but none of neighbors were there to show off to, LOL! So what kind of top speed are you getting?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Glad to hear that Dano and there will be many sunny days out there.
 
We hit 35 MPH again for the second time yesterday (115 HP Merc). This time with two adults and two kids, and a little over a half tank of gas. The motor is smooth, the boat is rock solid. Very, very nice. I am SOOOO lovin' this boat.

Cold and rainy off and on today, so we didn't get to the lake. As someone commented a while back, there were some metal shavings here and there (probably a quarter teaspoon full is all), so I vacuumed all those up, and I also went around all the plastic seat openings with sandpaper pads to smooth off the rough edges. I could feel the cover catching on the edges when pulling it out from under one of the seats. Much better now.

Now to figure out how to get my poker table on the boat...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I posted some photos in the gallery.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Congrats on your new baby. Now get some 303 protectant, excellant UV protection for your vinyl.

Nothing quite like driveway crusin :D . Of course pretty soon some of your nieghbors may begin to question your sanity :lol:
 
35mph with a 115hp outboard is pretty impressive. Thanks for posting the pics in the gallery. SWEET!!
 
I think there are 2 main reasons for the "higher than anticipated" speed of the 24 SSL with a 115 HP:

1) Strakes on both sides of all 3 tubes helps (not sure how much this adds to the top speed)

2) The biggie (in my mind) is it weighs 1200 lbs less than the 2575 RCW w/ESP, and 700 lbs less than the 22 RCW w/ESP

24SSL w/Express = 2100 lbs.

2575 RCW w/ESP = 3300 lbs.

2275 RCW w/ESP = 2800 lbs.

Why does it weigh so much less? No idea. Anyone know (or care to guess)?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
With the ESP package you have the larger middle toon and thicker nose cones .080 vs .100. And I imagine that the helm on the R series is heavier at least it looks bigger. But even then I'm not sure all that adds up to almost 1000 lbs. Maybe TB can help out.
 
Your top speed is super impressive! Congrats again. So far we've only hit 44 in our 2275GCW with 200hp, but I think I need to re-prop my boat in spring. So how does your boat handle with all of those strakes?

The R and new G have larger helms, more / bigger rails, additional upholstery / padding and other things like SS light housings, etc in addition to the difference in the ESP mentioned above. But still 700-1200lbs difference is pretty huge.
 
Been out several times now. I'm happy with how it turns with all the strakes. It definitely doesn't bank or lean into the turn like the ESP videos show, but it turns around quick in a tighter radius than I thought it would. I was hoping to be able to turn around quick if kids fall off the tube.

Last time out I hit 33 MPH with 3 adults, but it was very windy and very choppy.

I think I know what the "wet" ride means (this was posted by TB earlier in this string). There are certain speeds where water will back-spray up onto the swim platform (I have the extended deck too). Also, if I'm going WOT, then quickly pull back to no throttle, water comes up on the swim deck. Not a ton of water, maybe a pint glass full or so. It doesn't soak the entire deck, just a few streams about 4 inches wide or so and a couple feet long. It runs right back off due to the slant of the boat (rear end is lower in the water than the front). This could be due to the inside strakes causing the "wet ride". If TB reads this, maybe they can comment if that's what they meant. If I get the chance, I will take a picture of the spray coming off the motor, and someone can tell me if theirs looks the same or different. I may be able to post a short YouTube video or something. Not sure how many more times we'll get to go out. Season is almost done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top