Back to the main site

f150 vs f200 & SPS vs Express vs Eliptical w/strakes

lakeliving said:
Sometimes it takes a min or two for the gauge to show anything. I noticed that in the video as well and while on the lake today it was in normal range. Who knows!
Click to expand...
Haha, I was just bugging you Andy, my last one did the exact same thing, I never did figure out why! And THAT'S Why I had to trade it in, just couldn't handle it anymore! :D see, if you look hard enough, there is always a valid reason!
 
The Canadian definition of "valid" must vary from here in the states! But I like your train of thought!!
 
So the club event Sunday was really beneficial. I forgot his name but the guy that helped us during the water demo had some really good information. We discussed express tubes, hp etc. As for the express tube he stated they originally came out to assist with 25' boats and everyone would sit up front and cause the bow to dip down. He worked for Johnson/Evinrude for 40 + years before joining Bennington. Now he rigs and tests boats. We really wanted to try out a 150 with sps but they only had the 200 on an S with sps. All I can say is wow, what a totally different boat than ours. I was giddy for hours afterwards(and still am!) . He said he would go for the 200 as it is 25% more motor and would have another 5-7 mph of top speed. I was shocked at how smooth the power came on, how quiet the motor was, and also how smooth the sds shifted into gear. I also asked what motor he would recommend and he said Yamaha as they just don't die. As for the ride those who were out on Diamond lake know how choppy the water was and the sps handled it like a dream, very stable and turned great. My wife also drove the boat and she was shocked at how quick the boat was. It was like a jet ski vs. our current toon. It was also nice to experience the sea star steering. I was easily able to steer with my palm carving back and forth through the water. Now I really wish I could go back in time as I feel we are going to have ours for a while now. I've tasted the sweet nectar of performance and handling but must now go back to reality...damn.
 
Awe come on Andy!! It's getting lonely at the PADS anonymous meetings! You can do it!! Hehe just bugging, sometimes you really can't do it. But in the words of Matthew McConaughey in Dazed and Confused, "You'd be a whole lot cooler if you did." haha
 
Please don't quote Mathew McConaughey going forward. Thanks, the Forum....Just kidding! I think they do the water tests for that reason, so you leave wanting more. I didn't see one 60hp on any of the toons...
 
Andy - Was there any discussion about ESP vs the 150-200 upgrade? As in which to spend $ on first?
 
Hope you don't mind me chiming in, I did have that discussion with a few of them and I was told that you should have at least 200 before you consider ESP because of the weight to power ratio. A 150 I was told would perform better with SPS other than the bank turning..
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks Chris. I did not ask that as we would only be upgrading to sps if we were to do it again. That is one of the reasons we went to the event to drive an sps boat with some power. I know the esp would bank better but the sps turned great, handled big water great and was fast and smooth. The sps is a package I would be happy to own and with a 200 as long as I'm dreaming. The guy with the water test did advise to go with the full toon instead of the express though. I think he said there was a 15 pitch reliance on the 200 as well. The boat did not have a speedo but he claimed it would do another 5 mph over the 150. That is unconfirmed due to no gps speedo but he does test these boats for a living.
 
lakeliving said:
Thanks Chris. I did not ask that as we would only be upgrading to sps if we were to do it again. That is one of the reasons we went to the event to drive an sps boat with some power. I know the esp would bank better but the sps turned great, handled big water great and was fast and smooth. The sps is a package I would be happy to own and with a 200 as long as I'm dreaming. The guy with the water test did advise to go with the full toon instead of the express though. I think he said there was a 15 pitch reliance on the 200 as well. The boat did not have a speedo but he claimed it would do another 5 mph over the 150. That is unconfirmed due to no gps speedo but he does test these boats for a living.
Click to expand...
Andy

That was one of the main reasons we went was to find out what would work best for us. And get some warranty issues answered. One of the other things that I learned was that the S series 2014 22's are longer than the S series 2013 22's, they are a foot longer this year, they say a true 22 now. We tested the 20 with sps with the 115 and the 22 with ellipticals and thought the sps was better ride for us and our needs. We do go on bigger waters sometimes and the sps seem to cut through the chop better and there was a lot less spray in the back. we still want to stay shorter since we pull ours everywhere and also pull behind the camper as well, (Wish they would have stayed with the shorter 22 for one more year) We did sit down with one of the reps and specked out a new boat. we chose a 22SFX with SPS and a 150, I think this would work best for all of our needs. Now need to get some pricing and a good trade.

Also love the extended aft option and the new rod storage too.

Sorry we missed you guys, probably walk right by you more than once.
 
I am certain if it had been an option at the time, we would have gone with the SPS instead of the Express.
 
kaydano said:
I am certain if it had been an option at the time, we would have gone with the SPS instead of the Express.
Click to expand...
You can't beat yourself up as it wasn't an option. I beat myself up as I didn't do enough research. I know for a fact if I told the wife up front, we need sps and at least a 150, she would have told me I'm crazy. Now that she has experienced the difference as well I think we both know what we would rather be on! We used her Grandma's 2250 RL with a 115 as a benchmark and thought it pulled skiers well, tube etc so that is why we figured adding strakes would give some more speed and we would be all set. Not the case when it comes to performance.
clrd said:
Andy

That was one of the main reasons we went was to find out what would work best for us. And get some warranty issues answered. One of the other things that I learned was that the S series 2014 22's are longer than the S series 2013 22's, they are a foot longer this year, they say a true 22 now. We tested the 20 with sps with the 115 and the 22 with ellipticals and thought the sps was better ride for us and our needs. We do go on bigger waters sometimes and the sps seem to cut through the chop better and there was a lot less spray in the back. we still want to stay shorter since we pull ours everywhere and also pull behind the camper as well, (Wish they would have stayed with the shorter 22 for one more year) We did sit down with one of the reps and specked out a new boat. we chose a 22SFX with SPS and a 150, I think this would work best for all of our needs. Now need to get some pricing and a good trade.

Also love the extended aft option and the new rod storage too.

Sorry we missed you guys, probably walk right by you more than once.
Click to expand...
I didn't know about the length difference in 2014. I wonder if the furniture is longer as well or just deck length. I'll have to look into this. As for a trade in we checked with our dealer and it was a hit of about 8k for a boat with less than 50hrs. Seems a little low to me so PAD symptoms quickly vanished. If you do pull the trigger keep us posted. I feel like the Can Am slogan applies to the water demos, the ride says it all!
 
I just looked on the boat builder and the 22sslx is 22'10" LOA and the 24sslx remained the same at 23'10". Seems a little odd as I don't know why the would keep the 24, less than 24. The kicker is I don't think you can get the 22 rated for the new 200. It looks like you have to go to the 24, get another 12"of boat to get the 200. hhhmmmmm
 
Could be wrong butI thought I heard that the foot designations had to do with the length of the deck inside the fence
 
If you look at the build specs it seems to be the toon length, at least on the S series.

On a 18 toon length is 17.6

20 toon length is 19.6

21 toon length is 20.6

22 toon length is 21.6

And for the 24 toon length is 22.6. Not sure what there doing with that one.

Maybe they will adjust that one next year, like they did the 22 this year.

And that's how the 21 was born.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think my 24SSL toons measured 22' 3" from tip to tail (could be off a couple inches as I just laid the tape on the ground), but the back deck and transom extends out past that, so the LOA is definitely longer. Pretty sure the LOA is just under 24 (the 23' 10" mentioned above sounds right)... I have the 2012 model though.
 
I swung into the dealer yesterday and he said he has a merc 250 pro xs he could put on a new toon if I wanted. That would entail esp, but would still be cheaper than sps and a new Yamaha 200. I'm not a big 2-stroke guy but that thing would be a beast.
 
lakeliving said:
I swung into the dealer yesterday and he said he has a merc 250 pro xs he could put on a new toon if I wanted. That would entail esp, but would still be cheaper than sps and a new Yamaha 200. I'm not a big 2-stroke guy but that thing would be a beast.
Click to expand...
My bro-in-law has one on his brand M and he keeps up with me pretty good. His is 5 years old. Very reliable motor and he loves it.
 
lakeliving said:
I swung into the dealer yesterday and he said he has a merc 250 pro xs he could put on a new toon if I wanted. That would entail esp, but would still be cheaper than sps and a new Yamaha 200. I'm not a big 2-stroke guy but that thing would be a beast.
Click to expand...
You've got the Derrick syndrome.
 
Is that what this shaking and constant urge to visit Benningtonmarine.com is all the time????
 
COME TO THE DARK SIDE ANDY!!! All the cool kids are doing it, come on, just try it once, it's not that much more, heck they'll finance you! Hahaha I'm a legal kind of Benny pusher!! It's the best upper around!!! only downer is snow! Hahaha
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top