Looking at 20SLV "Join the family" pontoons

Well just wanted to provide a quick update; I ended up snagging a really great deal and jumped on it. Unfortunately it wasn't a Bennington, but rather a brand new 2018 Ranger Reata 223c 24' Tritoon 115 Mercury CT in metallic blue flake with white powder coated 26" logs, rough water kit, lift strakes, and wave tamer; and the oem full cover and Ranger Trailer. It was one that was on the lot for a while and was just too good of a deal to pass up. All for $31,047 (all in) from Cabela's of Fort Worth Texas. Just had her out on the water today for the first time and had an absolute blast. I really wanted a Benny but they were a bit too pricey for what I wanted. To be fair, the deal was pretty dang good in my opinion but I did have to drive 10 hours to get it (add $300 of gas to that bill, lol).

Just wanted to say thank you to your guys for your opinions and comments. They really helped me make an informed decision regarding everything. As a side note, part of the reason I feel I was able to get such as great boat so affordably was the fact that Cabela's (as well as Bass Pro), Mercury, and Ranger are all part of the same group (all OMC Brunswick companies) and as adkboater mentioned to save money it was a prior year model (er two years). While I still technically went through a dealer, all the dealers had basically the same price nationwide on inventory and items and were no haggle. Thus I just had to look through the listings online to find the one I wanted and I could put a deposit over the phone, easy peasy. Compare that to my local LOZ Benny dealer who seemed to want to charge silly fees ($4,000 for freight and prep... come on buddy) and had basically no interest in showing anything less than 40k. I also called around to a handful of Benny dealers who were friendly, but didn't really have anything to offer for what I wanted in my price range. I get it but I kinda wish I could have just ordered a Benny direct from factory and cut out the dealer nonsense; but then again I'm 31 years old so I get I'm the minority there.

Anyway thanks again guys for your help and best wishes; as someone once said to me (who owned a $150k boat knowing I wanted a $30k boat) "hey doesn't matter what you've got out there, as long as you're out there". Happy sailing Benny crew!
 
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