Good day everyone! I started a post but being a newbie, my topics and follow-up questions went all over the place. I feel pretty good about my boat build except one lingering question. The blackout package looks fantastic, but how well does it hold up? Does it scratch easily and does it get too hot to the touch? Any regrets from anyone who has the blackout option?
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to reply!
Good day everyone! I started a post but being a newbie, my topics and follow-up questions went all over the place. I feel pretty good about my boat build except one lingering question. The blackout package looks fantastic, but how well does it hold up? Does it scratch easily and does it get too hot to the touch? Any regrets from anyone who has the blackout option?
As always, thank you so much for taking the time to reply!
Had ours for a year now. If hotter, it hasn't bothered anyone on our boat.
As far as scratches, Bennington's rails are all anodized, not painted or powder coated - even the blackout. Just black anodized instead of their standard clear anodize. For anodized aluminum, you would have to scratch into the metal to get beyond the black coating. So surface scratches and scuffs shouldn''t be an issue.
Pics in my gallery. We love ours and highly recommend if that's the look you're looking for.
Had ours for a year now. If hotter, it hasn't bothered anyone on our boat.
As far as scratches, Bennington's rails are all anodized, not painted or powder coated - even the blackout. Just black anodized instead of their standard clear anodize. For anodized aluminum, you would have to scratch into the metal to get beyond the black coating. So surface scratches and scuffs shouldn''t be an issue.
Pics in my gallery. We love ours and highly recommend if that's the look you're looking for.
I don't think it would be a problem but to be safe i would do the following as I'm going to hook up a grill on my rails. I would grab some thin foam or rubber and insert it into the rod holder area going on the rails. Maybe use a glue gun or some two sided tape. Better safe than sorry because if it does scratch you will be scratching your head asking why you weren't more proactive.
I'm glad I'm not the only one planning on doing some fishing on my soon-to-be Bennington. Fishing from a bow rider Sea Ray just doesn't work very well!
I plan on doing some trout, flounder fishing with my 4 yo on the pontoon boat. I have a large sportfisher to take care of most my fishing needs, in fact going for tuna tomorrow.
I'm glad I'm not the only one planning on doing some fishing on my soon-to-be Bennington. Fishing from a bow rider Sea Ray just doesn't work very well!
A buddy of mine has a Monterey 214ss and he added a trolling motor and it works great. He made a custom foot rest to stand on so he can fish in the bow. I fish off the huge swim platform out back. Not as roomy as the benny but his setup works well.
Looks great, holds up well to abuse, yes it's probably hotter than your standard aluminum but in the summer ANY exposed metal will be hot.
I haven't noticed any scratches on my black railing but then again I'm not dragging sandpaper across it every day. Any deep scratches that remove the color can be solved with a Sharpie!
My blackout package is 5 years old now on our 2017. I think it is holding up great and looks very good. I use the Taylor Made bumper clips, so we slide them on and off with every outing. No scuff or wear marks from them. I think that is a very good sign since that represents somewhat regular opportunity to scuff or wear down the blackout. However, it has not.
Being a northern boater (summer being in the 70’s-90’s typically), I don’t notice too much difference in how hot it gets compared to a standards aluminum rail. Hot metal in sunshine is hot metal in sunshine.
