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Pontoon has a leak on my new Bennington

Dahbull

Dahbull

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Purchased a new 25' QSRFB a week ago and discovered one if not both pontoons have a leak and murky algae ridden lake water is in them now. Had to pull the boat out and take back to dealer after only 4 days sitting in the marina.

I understand the repair is to drill a new hole and drain the water then pressure test to find all leaks then weld then new hole. This is a brand new boat and now the interior of the pontoon is exposed to lake water when it never should have been.

How will this affect the value of the boat? Would this be a concern to a future buyer of the boat?

Can lake water corrode a pontoon from the inside out?

Can this repair cause follow on issues years after the warranty has expired?

Personally, not sure I would purchase a used pontoon knowing this repair was done and not sure I want to own a new one knowing this repair was done. The problems after the repair my arrise years later and when Bennington will no longer warranty the product even when it was their fault to start with.

Need help on the realities of murky lake water in a new pontoon??
 
Dahbull said:
Purchased a new 25' QSRFB a week ago and discovered one if not both pontoons have a leak and murky algae ridden lake water is in them now. Had to pull the boat out and take back to dealer after only 4 days sitting in the marina.

I understand the repair is to drill a new hole and drain the water then pressure test to find all leaks then weld then new hole. This is a brand new boat and now the interior of the pontoon is exposed to lake water when it never should have been.

How will this affect the value of the boat? Would this be a concern to a future buyer of the boat?

Can lake water corrode a pontoon from the inside out?

Can this repair cause follow on issues years after the warranty has expired?

Personally, not sure I would purchase a used pontoon knowing this repair was done and not sure I want to own a new one knowing this repair was done. The problems after the repair my arrise years later and when Bennington will no longer warranty the product even when it was their fault to start with.

Need help on the realities of murky lake water in a new pontoon??
Click to expand...
 
Sorry to hear about this but unfortunately it has been popping up lately. Value impact, hard to say depending on the fix. My boat had to be torn down to the cross members and rebuilt at the factory so I'm worse off than you there. Lake water will not corrode the pontoon. They drill small holes, not massive ones so it probably won't even be visible.
 
The buy out is probably still on paper with fresh ink, no production changes have probably even been made, they probably did a walk through that’s it. If you take the number of boats produced to the number of people who have chased down this forum to let us know you’d be surprised as to how small the percentage is. I checked with my dealer last week and asked who he has repair any leaking tubes and they haven’t had any factory leaks at all! They have a huge fleet rentals and sell a ton of boats too! I talked to a guy this weekend with another brand he said his didn’t leak but a twin boat to his did, dealer told him it’s not uncommon all, they just fix’em up!!
 
Oldchuck said:
Looking at Bennington prior to buying this is not a good thing.
Wonder if it has been worse since several buyouts with the brand..
Click to expand...

This comment is misinformation. I was going to delete it, but decided to reply instead. There has NOT "been several buyouts with the brand."

Please do not use the site to present misinformation as fact.
 
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Correct, Bennington bought out a few other companies, and then the Bennington whole company was purchased.
 
My first Bennington had a hole in the weld on the bottom of the nose cone. Frustrating? Sure. But drill and drain out the water and weld it back. No big deal really and it won't affect or hurt anything. From what I have seen , when they are welding the tubes they are stopping at the end of the weld and pulling off of it leaving a small unfilled crater at the end of the world sometimes resulting in a pin hole. They need to reverse direction or pause at the end to fill that crater and with the numbers they are cranking out it happens.

You also read all the bad stuff here on the forum because that is where people look for answers but in the grand scheme of things the percentage of problems are pretty low.

My current Bennington which I've had for a month now is perfect so the factory needs a shout out for a job well done too!
 
I totally agree that it can easily happen during manufacturing. However, each one should be pressure tested BEFORE it leaves the factory. Yes the fix is usually fairly easy but some people live/boat in remote areas and it’s not so convenient to get it to a welding shop to be repaired.
It’s like buying new tires and finding out that they leak. Yeah their easy to fix but I shouldn’t have to. At the very least they should hold air and telling me that their easy to fix when I’m stranded on some back road doesn’t really make me feel any better.
I’ve had a total of 4 pontoon boats so far. Two have been Benningtons (2006 and 2018) and two other brands and both Benningtons had leaks in them. I’m not bashing them but it’s the truth.
 
I am bewildered, as both myself and my wife very clearly heard water in the aft end of the right pontoon when we pulled it out of the water. Checked the left side and heard a sloshing but it was faint and likely just the gas tank. The right side was very noticeable and had a metalic sound to it as water sloshed. By the time we dropped it off at the dealer (30 minutes later) we could no longer hear that same sloshing noise in the pontoon. The dealer sent the boat to the local welder and they pressure tested the pontoon (hopefully the correct one and chambers) and couldn't note any leaks.

We have the raised captains console (about 200 lbs) on our boat and questioned if that causes the tilt we are seeing with the right toon about 1"-2" lower in the water than the left. Sales rep selling the boat said that shouldn't cause it. Thinking about things, that raised helm weight should be distributed about 20% to the center toon and the rest to the right toon. When my wife and I stand on the left side of the boat, it still leans right in the water. The only possible reason this happens is water in the right toon or somehow Bennington put a pontoon made with the thicker option (.125) on the right side, I doubt this though.

Also, if one were to blame the weight of the console causing this very noticeable lean to the right, that means just about every Bennington boat built with the raised helm would have some leaning to the right. I seriously doubt that is the case.

Has anyone out there bought/built a QSRFB with a raised helm and the boat is naturally lean right while resting in the water?
 
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on my 2018 i just bought last week has same pin hole leak in center tube on bottom of nose cone.
 
Dahbull said:
I am bewildered, as both myself and my wife very clearly heard water in the aft end of the right pontoon when we pulled it out of the water. Checked the left side and heard a sloshing but it was faint and likely just the gas tank. The right side was very noticeable and had a metalic sound to it as water sloshed. By the time we dropped it off at the dealer (30 minutes later) we could no longer hear that same sloshing noise in the pontoon. The dealer sent the boat to the local welder and they pressure tested the pontoon (hopefully the correct one and chambers) and couldn't note any leaks.

We have the raised captains console (about 200 lbs) on our boat and questioned if that causes the tilt we are seeing with the right toon about 1"-2" lower in the water than the left. Sales rep selling the boat said that shouldn't cause it. Thinking about things, that raised helm weight should be distributed about 20% to the center toon and the rest to the right toon. When my wife and I stand on the left side of the boat, it still leans right in the water. The only possible reason this happens is water in the right toon or somehow Bennington put a pontoon made with the thicker option (.125) on the right side, I doubt this though.

Also, if one were to blame the weight of the console causing this very noticeable lean to the right, that means just about every Bennington boat built with the raised helm would have some leaning to the right. I seriously doubt that is the case.

Has anyone out there bought/built a QSRFB with a raised helm and the boat is naturally lean right while resting in the water?
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I have a 16 gssr with ESP that has a slight rightward lean. I have attributed it to the raised console and battery.
 
My SSL had the majority of the seating on the port side. When no one is on board, the furniture weight doesn't cause it to list any, but when people are onboard, it lists to port because that's where most of the seats are.
 
I can’t imagine a raised helm adding more than 20 lbs. It’s just the base that’s different if I remember correctly.
You don’t have a bunch of gear in starboard loungers do you? Extra batteries?
 
On our boat with a full tank (34 gallons) it leans to port since the tank is on that side. I have to move people around to level.
 
Seating configuration is fastback. Left and right sides are identical. Only differences are Captains chairs mid left and right positions. Elevated helm on right side. Amp and subwoofer inside helm door on right side. Two batteries one under aft left corner seat and other on aft right corner seat (counter balances locations). Battery dual switch selector under aft right corner seat next to battery.

Everything else on the boat has an equal counter balance.

Dropped the boat back into the water this evening and the boat still leaned right but only slightly. The old water line on the right toon was exposed about an inch above the current water line. Left toon had same water line result too. Leaving the boat in overnight and doing a demo ride with the dealer tomorrow. We will pull the boat out again to confirm if water is getting into the tube.
 
the-little-B said:
My first Bennington had a hole in the weld on the bottom of the nose cone. Frustrating? Sure. But drill and drain out the water and weld it back. No big deal really and it won't affect or hurt anything. From what I have seen , when they are welding the tubes they are stopping at the end of the weld and pulling off of it leaving a small unfilled crater at the end of the world sometimes resulting in a pin hole. They need to reverse direction or pause at the end to fill that crater and with the numbers they are cranking out it happens.
Click to expand...

I just picked up my 22SSRX and it had the exactly same issue at the exact same place! My next door neighbor, a very experienced specialty TIG/MIG welder told me that the welding machine pulled off too soon, leaving that pin hole. Not to worry, my local Bennington deal (shout out to LKN Marina) handled it with one email. They sent it to the weld shop where they drilled a small hole to drain the remaining water, and welded that hole along with the pin hole. Pressure tested and all is good!
 
My dealer has been terrible but of course Bennington has been awesome.. Gets new center toon sept 1 and also few thousand dollars in extras for my trouble. Bennington earned my respect and this one.. My leak is under the keel guard on bottom.
 
Great news, glad it is working out for you.
 
jsjordan1 said:
I just picked up my 22SSRX and it had the exactly same issue at the exact same place! My next door neighbor, a very experienced specialty TIG/MIG welder told me that the welding machine pulled off too soon, leaving that pin hole. Not to worry, my local Bennington deal (shout out to LKN Marina) handled it with one email. They sent it to the weld shop where they drilled a small hole to drain the remaining water, and welded that hole along with the pin hole. Pressure tested and all is good!
Click to expand...
Welcome from Denver,NC.
 
Yup..... same from Mooresville. Between MM 11 and 12....?
 
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