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Looking at buying a new Bennington but have questions...

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rvrkids

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Hello - my husband and I are looking at new pontoons and are very interested in Bennington. We are long time boaters coming from a 20' runabout but lots of pontoons in our family. We are between the 23 and 25 SSRX Fastback...both with the SPS plus pkg with a 250hp Yamaha.

1. This build on the 23 says it holds 12 people. First, do 12 people really fit comfortably on the 23 ?? And second, I can't find the passenger weight anywhere so is that 12 small people or could we take 12 adults (6 men, 6 women and not all tiny). We really would like to be able to take 14 or 15 passengers but the 25 might be a little too big for our barn where we will store it. It's just a little frustrating that other brands boats of similar sizes can hold more than 12 even with the bigger engine.

2. With the stereo/speaker upgrade for the fastback, can you control the speakers that are on the back of the boat for people floating separately from the speakers inside the boat?

3. The new simtex for the seats....if we choose the platinum color, it's a little darker than the others...does it get hot or is it not noticeably different than the other colors?

Thanks for any input.
 
Welcome aboard. We have a 24’ and have had 12 aboard and there was plenty of room. Almost too much room for 4 or fewer it seems. The Coast Guard sticker will have the number and weight listed. Different floor plans and pontoon configurations have different loading.

Most sound systems have one volume for the entire boat, but our house has separate controls for different rooms so I assume you could at least have an aftermarket install.
 
Welcome to the forum!! We have a 24sslx w/SPS 200. Our rating is for 12 and we find it comfortable. For some reason our boat is the one everybody wants ride to the fireworks! That rating will adjust based on hull and engine size. And ESP hull may pick another person or more than the SPS due to the elliptical center. As with all manufacturers, check the actual boat dimensions and don’t just go off the model number designation, you’ll be quite surprised the differences. Sorry I’m not a radio guy so I can help there. Our interier is sandstone/carbon and we’ve never had any temperature issues. Best of luck on your search... you’ve come to the right place!!
 
The Number of people on the capacity of a boat is determined by a mathematical formula and not by how many seats there are therefore you will have to eyeball your boat to determine what is going to be comfortable for you. The formula is;
Number of people = vessel length (ft.) x vessel width (ft.) ÷ 15

Now that you have the number of people capacity you take the number that was determined above and multiply that number by the average weight of 185 pounds to determine the weight capacity.

The weight load capacity was recently changed from 150 pounds to 185 pounds as we are getting fatter:eek:
 
Mine is rated for 14 or 1976 lbs .I dont have enough seating for 14 ( 10 ,9 without the Bow Gate seat ) ,and none of my friends are even close to 141 lbs each .( Females & Children excluded )
 
Thanks everyone. After further review, it seems we will have to get the 23 due to the size and fitting in our barn for storage....one decision made.

Still wondering about the stereo / fastback speaker upgrade....can the speakers facing outside of the boat on the back be controlled separately from the in boat speakers so the people in the water can hear it without blowing out people still in the boat? Just wondering about the Bennington option, hoping I wouldn't have to do my own upgrade to accomplish this.

Thank you.
 
Welcome to the forum, you made the right decision going with Bennington. Sorry can’t help with sound system.
 
rvrkids said:
Thanks everyone. After further review, it seems we will have to get the 23 due to the size and fitting in our barn for storage....one decision made.

Still wondering about the stereo / fastback speaker upgrade....can the speakers facing outside of the boat on the back be controlled separately from the in boat speakers so the people in the water can hear it without blowing out people still in the boat? Just wondering about the Bennington option, hoping I wouldn't have to do my own upgrade to accomplish this.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

It would have to be your own upgrade. The only way it would work without is if those two speakers were your "rear" and you faded to the rear on your deck. Not sure how many speakers are on that setup. If it's factory 6 speakers ,then I would assume they would be on the rear output wires and the two front and two mid speakers would be combined on the front output wires. If someone has that model they could chime in with the configuration.
 
rvrkids said:
Thanks everyone. After further review, it seems we will have to get the 23 due to the size and fitting in our barn for storage....one decision made.

Still wondering about the stereo / fastback speaker upgrade....can the speakers facing outside of the boat on the back be controlled separately from the in boat speakers so the people in the water can hear it without blowing out people still in the boat? Just wondering about the Bennington option, hoping I wouldn't have to do my own upgrade to accomplish this.

Thank you.
Click to expand...
They Can not be controlled separately.
 
Thanks everyone. I did just confirm with the sales person that the rear/fastback speakers would be controlled via fade rather than a dual zone control...not ideal but should work.

One last question....it appears that this boat (23 ssrcfbxp, sps plus, 250hp Yamaha) will be rated for 12 people but avg weight is 141 lbs / 1700lb total. Do you think if we carry 12 regular (larger ;) )adults (i.e. @ 2100 lbs) that would be too much weight to be safe or able to drive the boat smoothly?
 
rvrkids said:
Thanks everyone. I did just confirm with the sales person that the rear/fastback speakers would be controlled via fade rather than a dual zone control...not ideal but should work.

One last question....it appears that this boat (23 ssrcfbxp, sps plus, 250hp Yamaha) will be rated for 12 people but avg weight is 141 lbs / 1700lb total. Do you think if we carry 12 regular (larger ;) )adults (i.e. @ 2100 lbs) that would be too much weight to be safe or able to drive the boat smoothly?
Click to expand...
I believe you would be just fine being over the weight limit by few hundred lbs. We've done it many times in the past on both our old deck boat and our new Benny without any issues.
 
Welcome To The Forum
And The Gold Standard in Pontoons
Bennington-Swoosh-Logo-Stacked-Gold-e1517523210373.png


As your research has no doubt shown you Choosing Bennington Was The Best Decision
Looks Like You Have A Clear Understanding of What You Want As Well
12 People as "Link" Mentioned at 185
I always like to say 200 lbs is not an easy load
But The Yamaha 250 Is The Perfect Choice
Wishing You And Your Family A Million Memories

44700945_2048948605395780_1700882881158578176_o.jpg
 
rvrkids said:
Thanks everyone. I did just confirm with the sales person that the rear/fastback speakers would be controlled via fade rather than a dual zone control...not ideal but should work.

One last question....it appears that this boat (23 ssrcfbxp, sps plus, 250hp Yamaha) will be rated for 12 people but avg weight is 141 lbs / 1700lb total. Do you think if we carry 12 regular (larger ;) )adults (i.e. @ 2100 lbs) that would be too much weight to be safe or able to drive the boat smoothly?
Click to expand...
Do you really think you will have that many people at once? They might show up for the first ride ,but after being so crowded no one will come for a second ride. The most I've done is 8. Just my thought!
 
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Thank you....12 won't be a regular occurrence but it does happen a few times throughout summer. We just had 16 on one of our family's pontoons this past summer...it was rated for 15 but there were a couple kids. We have a summer place next door to other family members and when we all have company, in addition to family, we can fill some boats. Four families, this will be the 3rd pontoon. One is an older 25' Party Barge (2 toons) but it is in great shape and rated for 15 the other is a 24' JC Spirit tri-toon, slightly smaller, newer but still rated for 14. Ours will be the newest and nicest :). It can be a little crowded on these days but it is definitely not our norm.

It doesn't get too rough and if it's that bad we just don't go out. I just want to be able to take company out when we invite them to our place without having to go out in different groupings.
 
I understand the weight limit to be exactly that, weight, not number of people. I believe the sticker says "X" number of people or total weight including gear. This would include coolers and whatever you may have in storage. Also depending on the enforcement officer you may or may not get past this if you have more people than the sticker says.
 
Thanks Jim. That is the way I've always understood it too....so our possible new boat would really only be able to carry 9 or 10 average size adults (180 avg) and not 12. That really changes things. We don't want the esp pkg, we checked it out and it only adds the ability to carry one more (little) person. We are getting rid of our Four Winns runabout but we often carried 8 adults comfortably (and legally) so this new Bennington doesn't give us the ability to carry hardly any more. Might have to look at other brands that can carry more people/weight in similar size boats.
 
I can comfortably seat 11 on my 22' SSRXP with the extra bow seat. That is over the number on my sticker as I have regular toons and a 50Hp Yamaha. We haven't sunk!!!! But also don't set any speed records LOL.
 
Unless you are going to buy a huge boat with a huge sticker price, not everyone is going to be able to come along for a ride all at the same time. That is just boating. Buy one that will fit your needs 75% of the time, and with the left over money take everyone on a cruise ship for a week.
 
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