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My First Pontoon- My first Bennington - and a rookie question!

DogTag34

DogTag34

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We are pretty excited - I have been researching pontoons for 6 weeks - checked out Bennington- Harris- Avalon and Regency. made a decision - changed the decision:) This was harder then my house. We liked something about each of them - Ultimately we chose a Bennington yesterday for a few reasons - I could put a big motor on a 23' boat - the Simtex seats were a big deal for my wife - The MANY options in configuration is a blessing and a curse with bennington as you search for the exact boat you want and we found a dealer 2.5 hours away that really beat the price by quite a bit in the big city (dallas) - They had a 2019 model in what we wanted versus ordering a 2020.

We are from The DFW area but this will be at our cabin in Broken Bow OK in a slip and on a lift.

Now to my rookie question - before it ever hits the water I want to do some things - 1 of those being Shark Hide - If its on a trailer, how in the world do you do this? I will be missing an entire area as it is on the trailer bunk or am i overthinking this? Thank you.
 

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My Sharkhde was originally applied at the factory .I have my dealer reapply it every other year .
Ask you dealer about it,he may apply it for free on a new purchase .
 
Beautiful boat! I love 350 hp engine you have on it. Sorry I cannot help you with the question about the shark hide. I know many on this forum will be able to though.
 
Welcome DogTag34! She's a beauty and will absolutely fly with that 350 hanging off the back. Shark Hide is pretty popular on this site but will present a problem trying to do it on a trailer.

Another possibility is to have the toons wrapped with Vantage Pontoon Wrap. They have several different colors as well as clear. I've got black but have seen the clear on my dealers showroom floor and it looked great. Mind you, the Vantage doesn't cover 100% of the outer toons so you would incur some staining that would be noticeable while up on the lift.
 
I had the dealer do it before it was commissioned. Beautiful boat btw. You made a good decision going with Bennington..
 
Jack M said:
My Sharkhde was originally applied at the factory .I have my dealer reapply it every other year .
Ask you dealer about it,he may apply it for free on a new purchase .
Click to expand...
sent her an email - if that doesnt work i will call:) Havent picked it up yet - thanks.....
 
Sharp boat and good choice going with the Bennington!
 
1trotter said:
I think ceramic pro marine holds up better than sharkhide. just my opinion. I have had both.
Click to expand...
how are you applying it? My boat will be on a lift at the slip or on the trailer - I am not understanding how to apply it if its "resting " on lifts or bunks - I see applying it to the outside of tubes but the bottoms, insides and center toon seem tough to protect
 
You have to find a place that has a lift or fork lift to pick your boat up off the trailer so you'll have full access to the underside of your boat. My old marina in Virginia had a lift where I drove my trailer under it and they picked the boat up by the deck and then moved the trailer out. Ask your dealers service department if they do this.
 
DogTag34 said:
how are you applying it? My boat will be on a lift at the slip or on the trailer - I am not understanding how to apply it if its "resting " on lifts or bunks - I see applying it to the outside of tubes but the bottoms, insides and center toon seem tough to protect
Click to expand...
DogTag34 In your first post you said your excited (good) Now relax ! "the bottoms, insides and center toon seem hard to protect" and they are but the are also hard to see. So do the best you can and Enjoy your new Bennington!
 
Ok gang,
Well, I was a bit curious about all this too when we purchased our new-to-us '14 Benny 25RCL about 8 weeks ago. I pondered polishing the toons as I've been polishing aluminum since Christ was a pup. But, knowing what I know about polished aluminum and, this being a water natured beast, I decided to forgo the polishing and just go with plan B. And that plan was to use a product called Starbite Aluminum cleaner. It's a mild form of acid and simply removes all oxidation of the aluminum.

I followed all the procedures for application of the Starbrite product. Those toons came out so incredibly nice, I was amazed. Now, what to do to protect them. I followed some posts/threads on here about "Shark hide". I even called the basic manufacturer. The person I spoke with was very re-assuring that, that product was Gods gift to metal protection. Well, he sold me on it. Actually, he didn't sell me any, I got if from Amazon.
Just like the Starbrite products, I followed the application instructions for the Sharkhide product to the letter. Now, one thing, and it's important here. That person I spoke with about Sharkhide, stated that, once applied, he was emphasizing the fact that, "Do not, REPEAT, DO NOT, bump against ANYTHING with those toons". That is, do not rub your guide posts on the boat trailer, do not touch any docking material, do not bump up against even any weeds. In other words, you are not to touch ANYTHING at all, with those toons.

Well, I don't know about you folks when it comes time to retrieve your boat, back onto the trailer. My guides have about 3" - 3.5" of clearance between them and the toons, when the boat is slowly being navigated back onto the trailer. And as you all know, trying to guide a barge between the goal posts, with only 3"-3.5" of clearance on each side, AND NOT TOUCH EITHER ONE, is for the most part, virtually impossible, especially with ANY form of breeze or even the smallest wakes from other boats.

Anyway, when we got back home, about a 5 minute trip from the lake, I noticed quite a few spots where the "SHARKHIDE" was GONE!!!! Needless to say, I was a bit pissed. I mean, this stuff is supposed to be great for protecting ANY metal, not just aluminum. Well, even though I tried to see how vulnerable it was/is, by attempting to scrape some off with my stiffer finger nails and, I can't. And, for the life of me or my wife, neither one of us, can remember just WHERE we might have brushed up against ANYTHING that might have caused that removal of that Sharkhide. Now, one thing here. The gent did say that it takes about, 24 hours to fully cure before it's at its best protection. Well, not only did I wait 24 hours, I waited over a week, before we put the boat into the water.

Long story short, I'm pretty sure I've bought my last, $65 can of Sharkhide. There are other alternatives out there. I've got experience in auto painting so, painting those toons with some high quality Dupont Imron or even Sikkens paint, is one alternative. Another, that's been mentioned is a "Wrap". I'll look into both. I know that painting aluminum is a bit more tricky than regular old steel. Stuff don't stick to aluminum unless it's pre-treated very painstakingly well. That's not a problem. We'll see. For those that are thinking of Sharkhide, well, that's certainly up to you. I'm just not that happy with that expensive product.
Scott

P.S. On edit: I forgot to mention. About trying to protect *beyond* the bunks of the trailer, well, as much as I like to do a thorough job when I do anything, I was not going to go through all or any hassle of trying to lift this boat off of its trailer, to clean and or protect aluminum that, #1, you cannot see when it's on the trailer and #2, all of that is below the water line anyways. Now, these are my thoughts on this. If you want to lift the boat, to gain access to every inch of all your toons, well, be my guest. You'll know you've done as good of a job as possible. I applaud that.
Scott
 
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OP— beauty of a boat! That motor is a beast! Enjoy in safety and in health.
 
That is a great looking boat, good choice. I like the contrast of the blackout rails and the white. That 350 is an eye catcher as well. And the layout is perfect. the split rear facing recliners offers more balance than the dual one sided one i have in the back. Enjoy and thanks so much for the pictures. If possible would love to know the msrp price and if you are ok with it your price since you had a good dealer to work with. thanks again.
 
I know you'll be storing in your slip but watch out for the big pothole on the ramp. People often complain about it but they always complain to the marina. The marina does not own nor maintain the ramp. The state does. I do love the people there though. They are friendly and have some great kids working for them.
 
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