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The Windshield Fiasco of 2016

That’s the most enjoyably descriptive post I have read in awhile, maybe nearly ever. Since your pocket book wont welcome you back, the rest of us will. lol

Looking forward to pictures when you get it.
 
I went to the 2017 boat show, our 2016 model had went up 4k$, WTF... no windshield either way, whatever happens, I hope your enjoying it.
 
Welcome back? He never went anywhere. Ha! You didn't want a windshield anyway Glenn. You had one on the Chapparal......Looking forward to the "ride".......
 
Well said and welcome back to all things Bennington. Reminds me of one of the final things I read on this forum before buying our boat, “ Buy your last boat first.”
 
Yes Chapparal, you are an idiot...….but you are our idiot; welcome back
 
I can vouch for the price increase! We have an issue with a bad acid wash so our dealer offered to let us order an identical 2017 version and take back our 2016 with two seasons of use (about 100 hours) for the low, low price of $19,999 out the door. Needless to say, I refused to pay an additional $20K for their mistake! However, a good part of that was due to increased prices. Yikes!
 
Nautical said:
I can tell all eyes have been on this thread, anxiously awaiting my fate. I can FEEL the tension and the angst. Well here is the update everyone has been waiting for with baited breath (what does baited breath mean anyway, that you eat lots of anchovies?).

THE CHAPARRAL IS SOLD!

I knew that once it was gone I would be facing a MUCH different shopping climate than I had faced both times in the past. Oh MAN, it was FAR worse than I thought it would be. If the "dark side" is Chaparral, what would you guys have called me buying a Regency or even a Aqua Patio? I bought my 2013 R class in the $50s sold it in the high $40s only to see leftover 2017s in the mid SEVENTIES!! YIKES!!! I wanted to buy my Chaparral back and drive it through their giant plate glass windows after seeing prices like that and those were the friendlier, "good" dealers. The local one wanted high $80s to low $90s. Holy crap and a half! The boating industry's answer to all of this by the way is 20 year loans. No, there's no bubble building here, nope. So I started thinking that the S class I priced a while back with SPS and 150hp was looking good in the high $30s/very low $40s but now that one was coming dangerously close to entering the $50s. I was getting sick to my stomach and started to put Bennington in the rear view. That's where all of these other brands came into the picture. We looked at all of the Godfreys, the South Bays, even a new player called "Coach" along with others. Today I was going to take another look at the Crest. Each and every one of these boats was nice but still not doing it for me. If Manitous weren't pushing that $100K mark I might have kept them on the list but not only are they completely out of their mind with their pricing, my wife noticed when she shook the bimini the entire side wall of the boat shook with it. Thinking it was just a fluke she went around and found each and every Manitou had the same affliction. The Regency (yes, made by Sun Tracker) was rock solid. The bimini moved a little, the wall moved naught.

My soul was slowing being crushed with each and every visit to these "other" boat makers to the point where I was having nightmares about walking through those double aluminum and glass doors all of the dealers seem to equip their showrooms with (would you like smoked glass or regular glass double doors with your mediocre, overpriced "boat?"). I suppose had I not been so spoiled by my first boat being an R class I might have found those boats to be nice but the damage was done and I was struggling to justify paying $60k for the better of that bunch or no less than $45k for the worst. On the other end I was facing the $75k to $90k for a basic R class and again that's just too crazy. If I was choosing the finest interiors, 10 foot beams, twin 300hp engines, giant, powered, fiberglass aches, fiberglass bodies and 12 inch computer terminal screens then maybe these fun new prices might be justified but we're talking a basic R class the way everyone here would order one. By the way the fancy boats I described above DO exist but they are $140k to $160k.

I HAD to find some peaceful place inbetween those two extremes. Well I did and it didn't even take as long as I thought it would. I found a leftover R in a floorplan I like at a price that's swallow-able (only because of what I said above) and I'm now allowed back in the forum (Carl, please send that executive washroom key over). It's got all of the options I would have chosen then maybe a couple of nice extras (like a powered bimini, wide captain's chair and a ottoman) but I lost my center tube storage. I was wondering what I "get back" for not having what I thought was an option I couldn't do without. It seems that without center tube storage the fuel tank goes where it's "supposed to go" and no more worries about a bilge or bilge pump or all of that freezing in the winter. I'm hoping the farther forward fuel tank will allow this boat to sit flatter in the water than my last Benny. It always bothered me a little that my 2275RLCP looked like it was popping a perpetual wheelie. I gave all of the blame to the heavy 250hp engine but that 70 gallon fuel tank had a little to do with it.
I'll post some pics after delivery.​

So I guess the moral of the story is be glad you're not an idiot like me.

All of that and I STILL don't have a windshield!!

Friggen windshield.
Click to expand...

Haha, good to see you back! I TRIED to sell you a great priced R!! Haha, with the cost of new boats what they are I should have held on to mine, I'll never have one as nice as it again. With the Canadian dollar what it is.
 
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