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A big shout out to BM for an excellent event!

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goldnrod24

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What a great day for the Club Event today. Great boat rides, factory tours, door prizes, food and interaction with the good folks at BM. The BM swag bags were full of goodies, too!

Folks, I want to emphasize what a big deal this event is. It costs BM tens of thousands of dollars to hold this one day event, when you tally up the additional venue rental, the staff salaries and wages, the catering, the swag, the fuel for the boats, etc. It is a first class event and very few marine manufacturers hold these events and maybe no other pontoon manufacturer

Now, it is true that the participation in this year's event was ten-fold from last year's (the first). However, as an owners' group, we need to step it up. First, thank Team Bennington for your experience. Next, politely ask them to hold a third event and pick a date early so that folks can make travel arrangements. Lastly, attend the (presumed) event next year and encourage others to participate. Another ten-fold increase makes the investment pay off.

Will you agree to help get 250 owners to the 2014 (presumed) event. I think BM has the capacity to handle a crowd this size (if Derrick shows up and behaves). If not, Team Bennington will chime in, but I think they can.

I'm not being dramatic, it's time for us as an owners' group to get behind BM and make this an industry standard, just like our boats.

Comments?
 
Here, here, I couldn't have said it better! Jump in folks, there really is no other event like it in the industry.
 
Hey, as long as I take my medication I'm manageable!! Hehe, I wish I could have made this one, so hopefully my darn passport shows up before the next one, and my other issue is I have to hope no one has holidays booked!! We book our holidays in February, and as a lower man on the seniority pole, I don't always get what I want. So as much notice as possible, understandably not by February, but the sooner the better!
 
It was a great event. It was the first time my wife and I have been to one and we were pleasantly surprised. We talked to Jason Call the sales rep for Michigan and he took the time to show us the new features and options along with answering my technical questions. The on water demo's were great as well. I spent my time on the sps and elitical boats and wow! A 24 s series with sps and a Yamaha 200 really moves!!!!! I wish I could go back in time and order one of those. Oh well. We still have a nice boat.
 
lakeliving said:
It was a great event. It was the first time my wife and I have been to one and we were pleasantly surprised. We talked to Jason Call the sales rep for Michigan and he took the time to show us the new features and options along with answering my technical questions. The on water demo's were great as well. I spent my time on the sps and elitical boats and wow! A 24 s series with sps and a Yamaha 200 really moves!!!!! I wish I could go back in time and order one of those. Oh well. We still have a nice boat.
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Glad you had a great time and sorry I missed you both!
 
i agree with goldnrod. This event is focused on Club Bennington members only. Who else puts on a first class show for the people that already own what they sell. We had a great time meeting fellow boat owners. The best part was seeing dozens of different layouts of the boats. Jill and I were able to see what we liked on each layout and visualize the perfect boat for us. Seeing the boats in person is so much better than a catalog. The high-lite for me was driving the 8.2L 2575. It is a absolute animal. I would love to have it but can live with what I got. To meet the people that enjoy building Benningtons was a treat for us. We will be there next year if they hold it again.
 
Remediation said:
i agree with goldnrod. This event is focused on Club Bennington members only. Who else puts on a first class show for the people that already own what they sell. We had a great time meeting fellow boat owners. The best part was seeing dozens of different layouts of the boats. Jill and I were able to see what we liked on each layout and visualize the perfect boat for us. Seeing the boats in person is so much better than a catalog. The high-lite for me was driving the 8.2L 2575. It is a absolute animal. I would love to have it but can live with what I got. To meet the people that enjoy building Benningtons was a treat for us. We will be there next year if they hold it again.
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That boat was a beast. We had 13 people on board, several plus size like myself, and it just cranked along like it hardly noticed.
 
Lakeliving - did you drive the 24 s with sps and the 5.7 i/o. I has very impressed. I love the new hybrid tower. It is much lighter than the original tower but adds a great look to the boat. We also were able to compare the flooring options in the real world. At the on water there were boats lined up with carpet, "teak" and the original seagrass and the newer style. The sun had been out all day, so we took our shoes off and walked all the options. IMHO, the carpet still beats the other options for comfort. The others look great and add a style that the carpet doesn't.
 
Jean & I want to add to the shoutout. We were treated like royalty by ALL Tean Bennington staff, esp. Mike R. & Jason C.. In some ways it was overwhelming, the newest products, gifts, food, and again staff. We met several other proud Bennington owners who were equally pleased.

I was able to see my newest Bennington (2250GSR) in the post production lot, shrink wrapped, & ready for delivery later this week.

A first class event!!!!!!!!!!!!

Demos @ Diamond Lake awesome!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Team Bennington
 
You are far more patient than me. I would have hooked it up and towed it home!!!

Nice to meet you both. Enjoy your new boat.

Randy
 
There were over 100, but I don't know the exact number. Maybe TB will check in.
 
My wife Sue and I attended this event yesterday. First of all, this was a first class event and the club members were treated like royalty. It is so refreshing to see business conducted like if was in "the old days", with personal attention and genuine pride in the Bennington product.

We were also impressed by the Bennington employees pride in their company, along with their comments that Bennington is a great place to work.

One of the test drivers at the on the water demonstrations, was responsible for welding of pontoons and we commented that he probably had a hand in building our boat.

So, I agree, we need everyone who can attend to come to this event if it is held in the future.

Wow, the IO pontoon running at over 50MPH was a blast!

Kevin & Sue
 
Well I also want to give a big thanks to TB

Well it is hard to say anything nicer than what everybody else has already said about the about the event. The TB members I met with were all awesome and very helpful with all the questions we had. Now I know what we are ordering next.. The lake testing was very cool too. Like most everyone else, we also were on the Q2575 with the 8.2, it was just my wife and I and one TB member, It was the meanest and fastest toon I had ever been on, we were close to 55 on that thing. But then back to reality for us the new S series 20 with the SPS and the 115 was very impressive and would be a great option for a lot of people.

It was nice meeting some of the club members too. Wish we could of met more of you. I think it would be nice if they do this again next year, to some how get a big group pic of all the club members who attend and then post it..

Thanks again

Chris & Darcy
 
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Remediation said:
Lakeliving - did you drive the 24 s with sps and the 5.7 i/o. I has very impressed. I love the new hybrid tower. It is much lighter than the original tower but adds a great look to the boat. We also were able to compare the flooring options in the real world. At the on water there were boats lined up with carpet, "teak" and the original seagrass and the newer style. The sun had been out all day, so we took our shoes off and walked all the options. IMHO, the carpet still beats the other options for comfort. The others look great and add a style that the carpet doesn't.
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We only went out on the 24' S with SPS and the new 200 Yamaha, and the 22 sslx with the elipticals w a 90. We didn't want to spend our time on toons we wouldn't be able to afford! Plus it was nice as we had the two boats all to ourselves!
TomS said:
Glad you had a great time and sorry I missed you both!
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I looked around for you Tom! Sorry we missed each other.
 
That sucks.. i haven't been on the site for a while, and never knew, when and where was it.. well maybe next time..
 
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