Hello everyone. We’re new to the Bennington and pontoon world after recently selling our wakeboat. We have the Mercruiser 5.7 I/O with the dual counter rotating props. The boat is left in a marina for the summer season and I’m wondering if I should be trimming up the leg at the end of the day or just leaving it down in the water? To be honest, even when fully trimmed up only one and half of the other prop are above the water. It’s a fresh water lake but quite a bit of crap gets built up on anything left in the water. Let me know and thanks for the help.
Prop up or down when parked?
- Thread starter DDL
- Start date
BigKahuna
Well-Known Member
We used to keep our I/O out drive in the up position out of the water on the lift. Even when we kept it in the water we trimmed up as much as we could. It was 1 less thing we had to clean the next time we went out! Do your toons have a ring around the waterline in your freshwater lake?!?
Thanks for the reply BigKahuna. We’ve had the pontoon for just one week and we’re very happy so far. Big change from the wakeboat for sure. Based on our other boat and looking at every other boat and pontoon in the marina, it’s not only a ring but the entire surface of anything under the water. A good portion gets blasted off with the pressure washer, but you still need to scrub with a special solution and then power polish to bring things back. The toons were brightly polished before we purchased it and when I took it to the marina to put it in, the owner/operator said “you better get a picture of those because it will never look like that again”.
Jack M
Moderator
Another 1 for up and out of the water
FIRE UP
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DDL,
You don't say what lake of where you're from but I hear ya on the cleaning of the toons to get water/sun affects off of them. Talk about polished, below you see the results of a SERIOUS amount of work. We live in lake Havasu AZ and we don't know what's in our water but, I can put that boat in the water with MIRROR toons and within a 1/2 day of playing around, the waterline and below has a brown/rust colored stain that cannot be removed without using machines to rebuff them. Yep, a pain in the A$$, no doubt about it. But, to me, it's klnd-of the old cliche "labor of love" thing. Both the CEO and I really love the way it looks and we constantly get comments from anyone who sees it.
As for tilting your outdrive up, well, to me, getting that prop and seals out of the water as much as possible whenever possible, is just common sense. Our boat is trailered and we keep it under a drive under aluminum RV/car port cover so, it never sees water (or sun) unless we're in it and using it. So, even though we have the Yamaha 5.3L 350HP V-8, it gets tilted right out of the water when we load it on the trailer. I only lower it to drain what's in the outdrive and then put it back up for transport. As for the toons "never look like that again", well, yeah, they do but, only with a phenomenal amount of effort that if I had to guess, I'd bet only one in a thousand owners do what I do. And that is, after each outing, due to the stains acquired, it takes me around 6 hours to re-buff them back to a mirror state. Oh well, it is what it is. Have fun on your new toy.
Scott
You don't say what lake of where you're from but I hear ya on the cleaning of the toons to get water/sun affects off of them. Talk about polished, below you see the results of a SERIOUS amount of work. We live in lake Havasu AZ and we don't know what's in our water but, I can put that boat in the water with MIRROR toons and within a 1/2 day of playing around, the waterline and below has a brown/rust colored stain that cannot be removed without using machines to rebuff them. Yep, a pain in the A$$, no doubt about it. But, to me, it's klnd-of the old cliche "labor of love" thing. Both the CEO and I really love the way it looks and we constantly get comments from anyone who sees it.
As for tilting your outdrive up, well, to me, getting that prop and seals out of the water as much as possible whenever possible, is just common sense. Our boat is trailered and we keep it under a drive under aluminum RV/car port cover so, it never sees water (or sun) unless we're in it and using it. So, even though we have the Yamaha 5.3L 350HP V-8, it gets tilted right out of the water when we load it on the trailer. I only lower it to drain what's in the outdrive and then put it back up for transport. As for the toons "never look like that again", well, yeah, they do but, only with a phenomenal amount of effort that if I had to guess, I'd bet only one in a thousand owners do what I do. And that is, after each outing, due to the stains acquired, it takes me around 6 hours to re-buff them back to a mirror state. Oh well, it is what it is. Have fun on your new toy.
Scott
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Thanks Fire Up. You’re like me - need to keep things shiny and clean. I do my own power polishing but will need to expand my kit to include a cloth wheel and other stuff for the aluminum toons. We’re up in Canada on a typical prairie lake. Not 100% sure what’s in the water chemistry but it doesn’t take long to get things sticking to the hull. I used an extension painting pole with a scrub pad on the end, and every time we went out we’d park and let the grandkids swim in shallower water. I would grab that pole each time and scrub the sides and belly of the wakeboat. I’m sure that routine will continue for the toon.
Potomacbassin’
Well-Known Member
I raise my up during summer - keeps the LU and prop clean of growth and if there is a seal failure somewhere I don't have water trying to push in 24/7.
Down in the winter when there is an expected long-duration freeze. Any water trapped in the LU can freeze and crack the casing.
I also kept my prop in the water 24/7 when there was a national prop shortage (2020-2021) to help minimize the chances of theft. Even if it makes it inconvenient to pull the prop off that's better than being an easy, sitting duck. Then I installed a McGard prop lock, problem solved.
Down in the winter when there is an expected long-duration freeze. Any water trapped in the LU can freeze and crack the casing.
I also kept my prop in the water 24/7 when there was a national prop shortage (2020-2021) to help minimize the chances of theft. Even if it makes it inconvenient to pull the prop off that's better than being an easy, sitting duck. Then I installed a McGard prop lock, problem solved.
Being a Florida saltwater guy my whole life, we always kept them down to keep the zincs doing their job, trim rams concealed in the cylinders and to keep the drive bellows in compression to not allow growth to invade the bellows "pleats" that could cut them from barnacles or other critters.
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Bobby Bass
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I keep my trim down with the prop in the water. My boat is in the lake tied up to the docks the family uses. It’s a safety issue with the kids swimming around. Sometimes they will put the ladder down to get on and off the boat and I don’t want anyone getting hurt with the prop up and out of the water.
BigKahuna
Well-Known Member
DDL....Did you apply Sharkhide?!?
Thanks again to everyone who has weighed in on my question. It’s very much appreciated and I’m sure I’ll spend more time on the forum as I learn about my new world with pontoons.
BigKahuna, I have not applied Sharkhide and just looked it up after seeing your post. Never heard of it before. I’ll definitely be looking at their products and making some purchases in the near future! Thanks for the tip
BigKahuna, I have not applied Sharkhide and just looked it up after seeing your post. Never heard of it before. I’ll definitely be looking at their products and making some purchases in the near future! Thanks for the tip
big shooter
Well-Known Member
I keep the prop up when tied to the dock. Both to keep it clean, and if the boat ever broke free I figure it might save the engine from hitting the rocks next to our dock. Toons would be in trouble....
DVW
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Great forum for different perspectives on the same question. Here is one that comes out of left field. Back in the day three people in our protected bay would leave their pontoon in all winter. Unlike today some of the older motors did not have a lower unit drain. So for those motors the lower unit needed to be down frozen in the ice to equalize ice expansion pressure. No one ever had a problem with that practice. Neighbors claimed it was kind of nice to walk down to the dock (after ice out) and go for a boat ride.
Michiman
Well-Known Member
When I was in a marina, I left it up. Now that I’m on a lift, I still keep it up but I guess I probably don’t need to anymore.