How do I deal with water in my 2011 21’ SW pontoons?
- Thread starter Cathance
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Jack M
Moderator
Check with your dealer, Bennington has a lifetime structural warranty
DVW
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There is no good way to drain water from a Bennington. If it really is water in the pontoons take it to the dealer. They will probably call in a welder. Warrantee or not it starts with a dealer. This time of the year we can sometimes hear sloshing sounds when the boat is on the trailer coming out of the lake. Make sure the sloshing sound is not coming from the gas in the tank. If so that would be embarrassing when you take the boat to the dealer.
BigKahuna
Well-Known Member
Had water in our starboard toon in our old Bennington. Took it to an aluminum Tig welder. He drilled a hole in the bottom rear of the toon before I finished backing up the trailer to his door. Water was draining out for several minutes. He welded a threaded bung hole where the drain hole was, pressure tested the toon and I was on my way.....
FightinIrish
Well-Known Member
Sounds like an easy fix, but did they ever find out how the water got into the toons in the first place and fix that? That's what I would worry about, that the water would simply reaccumulate.
BigKahuna
Well-Known Member
Great question! He never found how it got in! He pressurized the toon and applied soapy water to all welds with negative results. The only area that he wasn't able to access was the part of the toon behind or covered up by the lifting strakes. Never had a problem after the fix. I would check every year when we loaded it on the trailer for winterization.
If you do a search on my posts, you'll see i had this same problems a couple of summers ago (2011 RCW with twin 32" elip logs). They found a couple of small cracks / pinholes in the welds at the M brackets (rough water package solid brackets vs hollow) at the top of the rear toons. Dealership was backlogged for months and I just ended up taking it a local fabricator and welder to fix it. They took care of the small holes and drained the tubes (5 gallons in 1 tube and 2 in the other) and installed drain plugs in the back of the toons.
When i pulled the boat this year, I heard a slight sloshing shaking the boat hard side to side on the trailer after pulling the boat out for the summer.
Starboard tube had less then 2 gallons of water in it as I drained it into a bucket by lifting the trailer tongue jack up and letting it drain. Not sure how it got in or if its some sort of condensation due to wide varying of temperatures or ???. No performance differences all summer long or difference's in water line marks on the tube. So I'll just reinstall the plugs next spring and see what happens.
Good luck
Todd
When i pulled the boat this year, I heard a slight sloshing shaking the boat hard side to side on the trailer after pulling the boat out for the summer.
Starboard tube had less then 2 gallons of water in it as I drained it into a bucket by lifting the trailer tongue jack up and letting it drain. Not sure how it got in or if its some sort of condensation due to wide varying of temperatures or ???. No performance differences all summer long or difference's in water line marks on the tube. So I'll just reinstall the plugs next spring and see what happens.
Good luck
Todd
We have another brand but with three distinct sections for each toon. As a result, there are nine individually sealed sections totally. The manufacturer welded in an automotive valve stem at the top of each of the nine compartments. These are pressurized to 3 psi, more can be dangerous. I need to remove a trim piece to check pressure. So long as there is any positive pressure, no water can enter. Due to the peace of mind provided by the pressure, I'm considering extending the test point to a location at the rear where the pressure can be read more easily.
There is no need but I sometimes like overdoing things, I'm also considering the use of electronic tire pressure monitor that would provide dash warning if toon pressure is lost....tie into the Simrad display. Yes, I know it's beyond any real value but such things keep me out of the tavern and bar fights.
There is no need but I sometimes like overdoing things, I'm also considering the use of electronic tire pressure monitor that would provide dash warning if toon pressure is lost....tie into the Simrad display. Yes, I know it's beyond any real value but such things keep me out of the tavern and bar fights.