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Question about pontoon construction

M Jay Farr said:
Ok, we just purchased our first new and only boat last season. How prevalent is this problem? I bought a Bennington because so many folks I spoke to spoke of the quality of the build. Not that I will be changing craft anytime soon, but I am hopeful this issue is the exception.
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I would bet no more prevalent than any other manufacture out there, except for the fact that Bennington produces a much higher number of boats so the number of leaks may seem high. Last year I believe Bennington produced well over 12,000 units. Another 11,000+ year before and so on and so on. If you take into consideration those numbers, leaks are a minuscule portion of the boats built. Also they have one of, if not the best warranties in the industry.
 
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SEMPERFI8387 said:
I would bet no more prevalent than any other manufacture out there, except for the fact that Bennington produces a much higher number of boats so the number of leaks may seem high. Last year I believe Bennington produced well over 12,000 units. Another 11,000+ year before and so on and so on. If you take into consideration those numbers, leaks are a minuscule portion of the boats built. Also they have one of, if not the best warranties in the industry.
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Semp is right! We have another brand of boat now and I have read of some welds/leaking problems on it's respective forum. So it definitely is not limited to the Bennington brand. Like Semp said when you build in high volume you are bound to have some weld/leak problems.
 
I don’t think it’s a real common problem but I think it happens more than it should. It happened on my last Bennington and this is the second time on the new one (2018). I’m no engineer but I’m sure extra measures could be put in place to help prevent leaks. Especially at the price point of these boats now.
I know a lot of people with newer Lund and other brands of aluminum fishing boats and I’ve never heard of one having to get leaks fixed and they payed a lot less then I did.
 
Renegade34 said:
I know a lot of people with newer Lund and other brands of aluminum fishing boats and I’ve never heard of one having to get leaks fixed and they payed a lot less then I did.
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I’ve never heard of a “fishing” boat having a leak, but I’ve heard of numerous (including other brands) Pontoons with leaks. I think it’s apples and oranges comparison. Completely different designs and stresses involved.
 
I agree it’s not the same but it should be priority #1. It’s pretty important that a boat doesn’t leak, pontoon or otherwise. I like Bennington but I’ve had 4 different brands of pontoon boats and both Bennys I’ve owned have leaked. Call it bad luck, or whatever you want, but it’s still frustrating and a pain to deal with.
 
Renegade34 said:
I agree it’s not the same but it should be priority #1. It’s pretty important that a boat doesn’t leak, pontoon or otherwise. I like Bennington but I’ve had 4 different brands of pontoon boats and both Bennys I’ve owned have leaked. Call it bad luck, or whatever you want, but it’s still frustrating and a pain to deal with.
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I understand the frustration.
However, I've never heard of anyone not being able to "limp" back, and Bennington will take care of repairs.
Inconvenient? Perhaps, but not a significant issue.
They could double or triple pressure test these welds. Heck they could even x-ray the welds. Do we want that expense passed along to us upon the purchase price? I know that I sure don't.
 
Nautical said:
Too bad that separate chamber technique didn't help the Titanic!

Renegade, it's a 2018? Are you not going to take it to the dealer for this?
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The Titanic had chambers but no tops on them ......so........when the angle of list of ship gets severe enough it leaks over tops of chambers. Apparently engineer was hungover the day they designed the unsinkable chambers with open tops. o_O :rolleyes::(:mad:
 
You beat me to it on the 'water-tight' chambers that didn't go all the way up!

In addition, the Titanic could tolerate four compartments opened to the sea - the iceberg sliced open six. Its been determined that the steel used on the ship was defective - too brittle. So the last two compartments may not have opened up if the steel had flexed and not cracked.

The moral for us Bennington owners - with our watertight compartments we can drive as close to icebergs as we want!!!
;)
 
BigKahuna said:
Yes unless you have sealed lifting strakes water will get inside them and of course they will drain when you put your boat in the lift. In our old boat we would be sitting in a No Wake cove and we would see bubbles coming up then it would stop. We figured out it was coming from the lifting strake on the portside tube.
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Hey Kahuna - did it look like this? Just noticed on my last outing. Only on the starboard tube and little coming from the center tube so if from the lifting strake not sure why the port doesn’t do the same. But it stops after a few minutes so it would make sense that the strake “empties” while running and fills back in at rest. Trapped air at the head of the strake pushing through an open weld point.

Boat is not listing or losing speed so I’m less inclined to have this looked at as a toon leak but it will be something to check out when I get it pulled for service.

 
Potomacbassin’ said:
Hey Kahuna - did it look like this? Just noticed on my last outing. Only on the starboard tube and little coming from the center tube so if from the lifting strake not sure why the port doesn’t do the same. But it stops after a few minutes so it would make sense that the strake “empties” while running and fills back in at rest. Trapped air at the head of the strake pushing through an open weld point.

Boat is not listing or losing speed so I’m less inclined to have this looked at as a toon leak but it will be something to check out when I get it pulled for service.

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Yes just like that!
 
Potomacbassin’ said:
Hey Kahuna - did it look like this? Just noticed on my last outing. Only on the starboard tube and little coming from the center tube so if from the lifting strake not sure why the port doesn’t do the same. But it stops after a few minutes so it would make sense that the strake “empties” while running and fills back in at rest. Trapped air at the head of the strake pushing through an open weld point.

Boat is not listing or losing speed so I’m less inclined to have this looked at as a toon leak but it will be something to check out when I get it pulled for service.
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That‘s interesting, a friend pulled me around to the front of the port toon this past weekend to show me bubbles coming up next to a strake. It was very loud (especially in the echo chamber between the toons) and sounded almost like the bilge cavitating). I’d heard the noise before and it was intermittent. I’d also just gotten the boat and trailer weighed and they came in at 6780 lbs combined; much higher than I had estimated. We theorized that the boat is taking on water, despite no list or sign of weight being unevenly distributed. Went back out the next day, no bubbles and no noise. After pulling the boat out I shook the crap out of it to try and listen for water sloshing around in the tubes. I also knocked all around to see if any of the tubes sounded “full”. There were no signs of water slowly leaking out as the boat set on the trailer overnight. perhaps your theory is most plausible in that there is a very slow leak between an air pocket in a strake. Will keep an eye on ito_O
 
If the water ever clears up I’ll throw the ol’ snorkel on and go for a dip. Maybe finally put my $400 GoPro to use that I’ve used exactly twice in four years. Cross fingers it’s a strake!
 
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