ordering 20sli

bassn429

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ordering new 20 sli. get the merc.60 bigfoot or the yam70 4 stroke? top speed on both and pulling tubes. need feedback to make my decission on which 1 to order.
 
Get a 90 at least if you want to pull tubes. That's what I have on my 20 GLi, wish it was more(we always do don't we?) if it is in anyway affordable. You have to really work to dump someone off the tube. Top speed for me is about 23mph. You lose slot in cornering, so it is tough to whip them out of the wake. Just my opinion, and experience.

Derrick
 
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ordering new 20 sli. get the merc.60 bigfoot or the yam70 4 stroke? top speed on both and pulling tubes. need feedback to make my decission on which 1 to order.
Our friends have the 70 yamaha on their 20 SLi, and have commented several times its just not enough for pulling the kids tubing, especially since they are no longer little tikes, but young teenagers now. Their boat will run about 17-18 mph with 4 adults and just cruising.
 
Hi Bassn, welcome to the forum. As far as performance I would imagine that both motors would be about the same. I do see alot of 60 bigfoots on pontoons they seem pretty popular with the slow cruisen crowd. If you can swing it upgrade the motor to at least a 90 with a 115 preferabe. This is especially true if you want to pull tubes. It will never be cheaper to add horsepower than now.
 
We have a 20sli with 25in tubes and a yamaha 70, Bennington says max hp 70, ours has hit 23mph in perfect conditions with 2 people on board, typically it will run about 20-21 5700rpm measured by gps, now pulling a tube is a chore for this set up, you don't want to have the boat loaded to heavily and you are not going to make any sharp turns and expect to maintain a reasonable speed, we seem to get a lot of prop wash when attempting sharp turns, we tow our grand kids (5 & 10 years old) and they have fun but I can see a time in the not to near future where this boat won't be enough to keep them excited. We can pull the kids at around 16mph in a straight line, one time we had 6 adults and 2 kids on board and we tried to tow the tube and found that this set-up just didn't work at all, the weight in the boat and drag from the tube was just to much. Hope this was of some help to you.
 
Hi Deck Hand.....

I took delivery of my 2012 20 SLI with a Merc 75 hp outboard. We were told at the time that that was the biggest outboard we could legally get. It was a 2k upgrade option from the 60. we also go the the larger tubes. Although we haven't pulled the kids on the tube yet there seems to be enough power to do so. I had Julie 'shadow' me on the jetski and we hit 26mph in not perfect water with just me on board. My thought here is that if power and speed is what you crave, you may need to go to a bigger boat. For my money, mine is perfect. Great size, fits in my slip easily, terrific gas mileage (just below half a tank with 12 hours on the clock, still working on first tank) And gets more attention than I sometimes want. Hope this helps.....
 
thanks to all that wrote back . just ordered the 20sli the biggest motor could put on was a 70 after lots of research i went with the merc 60 bf. cant wait for it to come in maybe can still get it on the water before snow flys.
 
Hi Deck Hand.....

I took delivery of my 2012 20 SLI with a Merc 75 hp outboard. We were told at the time that that was the biggest outboard we could legally get. It was a 2k upgrade option from the 60. we also go the the larger tubes. Although we haven't pulled the kids on the tube yet there seems to be enough power to do so. I had Julie 'shadow' me on the jetski and we hit 26mph in not perfect water with just me on board. My thought here is that if power and speed is what you crave, you may need to go to a bigger boat. For my money, mine is perfect. Great size, fits in my slip easily, terrific gas mileage (just below half a tank with 12 hours on the clock, still working on first tank) And gets more attention than I sometimes want. Hope this helps.....
When you say you got the 'bigger tubes' do you mean the 25" or the twin elliptical? Just wondering cuz I don't really see how it's possible to get 26 in not perfect water. What is your prop? I max out at about 23mph with a 90, 2 adults, near perfect conditions, so if I could get more speed out of it, I'd love to know your setup!! Maybe bump mine up a few mph! Do you have strakes?
 
Hey Bassn, congrats on your purchase. I didn't realize that you had a 70hp limit. I am sure you will you love the boat and I have heard some good things about the Bigfoot motors.
 
Hey Mattie K, I also want to know what you are doing to hit 26mph, like I said our 2011 20sli with a yamaha 70 hit 23mph when new 2 people in near perfect conditions 5700rpm measured on gps, now on average we top at about 21-22mph, Do you think the jetski speedometer is accurate? Everyone here seems to go by gps readings if you have one I'd be interested in what it tells you, If you don't have a gps but have an iPhone or iPad download ispeedx, free app that works great

.
 
Bassn, just another congrats on the new boat! I was never a big Mercury fan until now. I have absolutly fallen in love with the four stroke motors for their great fuel consumption and performance.
 
Congrats on your new boat! We just got ours this past weekend and are loving every minute.
 
Hey Mattie K, I also want to know what you are doing to hit 26mph, like I said our 2011 20sli with a yamaha 70 hit 23mph when new 2 people in near perfect conditions 5700rpm measured on gps, now on average we top at about 21-22mph, Do you think the jetski speedometer is accurate? Everyone here seems to go by gps readings if you have one I'd be interested in what it tells you, If you don't have a gps but have an iPhone or iPad download ispeedx, free app that works great

.
Hey Frank...

The boat was shadowed on a 2009 Kawasaki Ultra 250. As far as I can tell, the speedo is spot on. We are running with the 25" tubes. I'm not sure of the prop size, but heading up tonight and can advise tomorrow. I will also look and see what were are revving at at WOT. As far as the iPhone ap....way cool. I just downloaded it and can't wait to try it out.....MK.
 
ordering new 20 sli. get the merc.60 bigfoot or the yam70 4 stroke? top speed on both and pulling tubes. need feedback to make my decission on which 1 to order.
I have a 2011 20SLi with 25inch toons, Yamaha high thrust 50hp. Two adults and a full tank of gas. I hit 19 mph with GPS. We just use it for fishing and crusing on a 249 acre lake. So I felt why spend more I have another boat for skiing and tubing. However I will comment that I can go full out and turn the wheel all the way as fast as I can with no cavitation or loss of power and control. At any speed it handles very well. Actualy much better than we expected from what we were told by other pontoon owners. (this is our first pontoon) I am 110% happy with my 20 SLi. My wife would like more speed but I keep telling her on 247 acres where are we going to go. I also tell her how many times have you heard we have the nicest looking and best built pontoon on the lake. You have to drive it slow so every one can see it!Yamaha is also easy on our wallet with fuel efficency being so good. I put 26.2 hours on the motor for break in and I still have a gallon or two left in the tank. Pulled it out of the lake today for end the season is here. I woke up Saturday morning to frost on everything and frozen water in the bird bath. Time to get it winterized before I buy my self a problem I do not need.
 
When you say you got the 'bigger tubes' do you mean the 25" or the twin elliptical? Just wondering cuz I don't really see how it's possible to get 26 in not perfect water. What is your prop? I max out at about 23mph with a 90, 2 adults, near perfect conditions, so if I could get more speed out of it, I'd love to know your setup!! Maybe bump mine up a few mph! Do you have strakes?
Hi All, I have a 2011 20sli with 25" tubes. The website did say the max hp was 70 for this boat. My Benny dealer got permission to put a 90hp Honda on it. Bennington later sent me a new sticker with a max hp rating of 90 and increased the weight limit to 14xx lbs. instead of the 1360. The boat gps'd at 28mph with one person and mid day water on a large lake. We have pulled 220lb adults on a tube with four adults onboard and were able to knock off the tuber around a turn. We were also able to pull a wake boarder with two adults on board with perfect hole shot take off (pardon the vernacular from this newbie). Honda outboards sense when there is a sudden increase in throttle, then perform some magic. Similar to the VTEC in their vehicles.

Hope this helps....here's to next season.
 
I have a 2011 20SLi with 25inch toons, Yamaha high thrust 50hp. Two adults and a full tank of gas. I hit 19 mph with GPS. We just use it for fishing and crusing on a 249 acre lake. So I felt why spend more I have another boat for skiing and tubing. However I will comment that I can go full out and turn the wheel all the way as fast as I can with no cavitation or loss of power and control. At any speed it handles very well. Actualy much better than we expected from what we were told by other pontoon owners. (this is our first pontoon) I am 110% happy with my 20 SLi. My wife would like more speed but I keep telling her on 247 acres where are we going to go. I also tell her how many times have you heard we have the nicest looking and best built pontoon on the lake. You have to drive it slow so every one can see it!

Yamaha is also easy on our wallet with fuel efficency being so good. I put 26.2 hours on the motor for break in and I still have a gallon or two left in the tank. Pulled it out of the lake today for end the season is here. I woke up Saturday morning to frost on everything and frozen water in the bird bath. Time to get it winterized before I buy my self a problem I do not need.
I have a 2011 20sli with a 50 yamaha and I am able to pull my son in law on skis and he weighs 200#. Top speed with just me on board 18mph using a gps.
 
I couldn't imaging pulling anyone out of a deep water start on ski's with my 50.
 
Hi All, I have a 2011 20sli with 25" tubes. The website did say the max hp was 70 for this boat. My Benny dealer got permission to put a 90hp Honda on it. Bennington later sent me a new sticker with a max hp rating of 90 and increased the weight limit to 14xx lbs. instead of the 1360. The boat gps'd at 28mph with one person and mid day water on a large lake. We have pulled 220lb adults on a tube with four adults onboard and were able to knock off the tuber around a turn. We were also able to pull a wake boarder with two adults on board with perfect hole shot take off (pardon the vernacular from this newbie). Honda outboards sense when there is a sudden increase in throttle, then perform some magic. Similar to the VTEC in their vehicles.

Hope this helps....here's to next season.
UPDATE: At the end of the season I gps'd the boat in windy and rough waters. I was only able to hit a max of 23 mph with 2 big adults on board (230lbs each). The toons had also been sitting in the water for months and were covered in some serious algae.
 
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