Cleaning all 3 ESP pontoons on a trailer?

[Captain Gump]

Hello All:

I have a 2013 Bennington R-2275 with the ESP tritoon. I bought this new 5 years ago, and purchased without a trailer. We keep it in our slip on the water. It stays in the water, and not up on a lift.

I am now considering buying a trailer and storing my boat in dry storage out of season. For 5 years, I have been able to get the boat serviced by a local mechanic at a local marina, but I'd really like to get the boat out of the water, and take the one-hour drive to my dealer.

I have a pretty long laundry list of problems that have developed for my boat, and I have no doubt that my dealer should be able to fix them. But he is not able to loan me a trailer, or to come and pick up my boat, and there are some advantages to having my own trailer.

Is it difficult (or even possible) to clean both sides of all three logs of my pontoon while it is mounted up on a trailer? I have never had much luck scrubbing the logs while in the water.

Honestly, I really do not enjoy crawling/swimming up in between the tight spaces of the pontoons while on a sand bar.

Being able to pull the boat out of the water, and pressure wash my logs would be one of the primary motivations to my buying a trailer. That is the reason I am asking other Bennington owners their opinions.

Are some trailer types better for cleaning pontoons than others? I have a good pressure washer, and feel like I could keep my pontoons cleaned once or twice during the season, and then keep my boat stored in dry storage off season. Other advantages to owning a trailer would be to be able to take to the dealer whenever I need, and I am assuming it would make the boat easier to trade/sell whenever that times comes.

What am I missing or what other solutions have I not thought of?

By the way, my list of problems . . .

my 150HP Yamaha four stroke is missing badly whenever I get above 3000RPM . . .

my gas gauge for my 52-gallon tank is not working (needle stuck above full) . . .

my A/B/AB Switch for my dual batteries corroded and does not work . . . I had to hard-wire to one of the batteries, and the other battery is unused . . .​

There are other minor problems, but these three biggest items are preventing me from being able to use my Bennington this summer.

 

[Havasu]

You should be able to clean both sides of all three tubes while sitting on the trailer. I was able to apply Sharkhide to all sides of my tubes so I would think cleaning wouldn't be much different. It is pretty tight in some places though.

 

[adkboater]

Just make sure you get a trailer designed for a triple tube and have all three bunks. A trailer is a must for me so I’ve never been without as for convenience. I have an SPS hull and I have plenty of room, I would assume the ESP is still doable but with a little less room. Good luck!

 

[BigKahuna]

Even though we keep our boat in the water now from May-October we used to keep it on our trailer for the first 8 seasons. It was so much easier to keep clean. I would never be without a trailer. Theres no way you can totally clean all 3 tubes while it sits on the trailer. You can't access the part that makes contact with the bunks. Every spring when we launch the boat the crap that accumulated on the toons that we couldn't clean sticks to the carpeted bunks so I have to clean that too. The only way you can them totally clean is to take it to a marina that can lift it from the deck so there is total unobstructed access to all 3 tubes. We used to have it acid washed at our old marina in Virginia then while still raised in the air I used to apply a couple coats of Sharkhide......