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YOUR pontoon ideas!

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Truthinthedetails said:
Ccando......that type of craft already exists. It's called a houseboat! I had a 37" Gibson for four years. Sold it to get my Bennie.
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Ya, Ya, I expected resistance. LOL However, you bought a houseboat for a reason at the time. You sold the houseboat for a Bennie...Therefore, are there any missing blanks to be filled in ?
 
Selling my houseboat had nothing to do with the Bennie. On laws built a house on the lake and we no longer needed a boat we could sleep on. Just needed a pontoon to have fun on the water...and spend the night in the new house.
 
Truthinthedetails said:
Selling my houseboat had nothing to do with the Bennie. On laws built a house on the lake and we no longer needed a boat we could sleep on. Just needed a pontoon to have fun on the water...and spend the night in the new house.
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That makes sense....Now, you have insight for each of the two designs. Were you too make a columned comparison of features and benifits for each design, what might they be ?

Me, I see the houseboat as starting with high maintainance, lake restricted (not trailerable ), slow speed, more expensive (new to new), higher rate of depreciation and not modular potential. I do appreciate the design of houseboat amentities, such as the kitchen, bath room, air and heat and etc. In other words, a comfortable floating cabin.

The potential concept of mother/daughter vessel does not provide the floating cabin stigma. However, it is a modular solution, physcologically similar to McDonalds play ground.
 
The speed of a houseboat is really no different than a pontoon. My 37' Gibson Sport had twin Crusader 305 engines and weighed 13,000 lbs. It would travel at 27 mpg at WOT. That is faster than a lot of pontoons with OB's smaller than 150 HP. Of course fuel consumption is much greater.....but speed wise it could keep up with the best of them.

Depreciation is pretty much equal to a pontoon. Nobody ever got rich reselling a used boat....except for the broker.
 
Team Bennington said:
Tell us your ideas for new pontoon floorplans, features and concepts. Have you seen something on another boat that you would like to see on a Bennington? Do you have a "vision" that should become a "reality"? Is there a non-marine idea that could be adapted to marine? Please let us know and we'll share the ideas with our R & D team!

READY, SET, ROLL!
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Here are some of my top items:

Another cup holder for the driver, one for water and one for a...coke, right a soda.

An easier way to mount fenders. I have a 2275. Can't tie fenders to the rail. The furniture comes right up to the rail, very hard to protect my wonderful boat!

Dedicated anchor storage. Would be great if there was a box that drained right on the front of the boat, outside of the rail system.

thanks for asking!
 
matt, go to my gallery and look at the eyes I mounted under the top rail. I have 4 spots on each side that I can hang fenders on. The anchor storage would be great, can't believe I haven't thought of that. The factory (or even the owner) could cut a hole in the floor, if you have the room outside of the fence, and recess a stainless or aluminum box flush with the floor and finish it with the appropriate size door available from the aftermarket. I'm on it just as soon as I get back to the lake this weekend. Thanks, Steve
 
lakebum said:
Team Bennington, are you listening? Run that by the factory please. Steve
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Lakebum,

Great idea on the fender eyes...I had a similar thought but I have a 2012 and the panels come all the way up to the rail. I am worried that I wouldn't be able to drill the hole without rubbing the panel or that whatever I used to attach to the eye bolt would rub on the panel. I will give it a 2nd look for sure. Just a little frustrating that I spend this kinda dough on a boat and then you have to start drilling holes and spending allot of time doing research to figure out how to get fenders on it!

Can't wait to see what you come up with on the anchor box.

Benny -- just start adding the option of a power anchor winch on the front with the controls integrated into the help and I think you would have allot of takers!

PS, now I am going to be OCD about having shiny toons after seeing your pics -- awesome work.
 
mattcamp said:
Here are some of my top items:

Another cup holder for the driver, one for water and one for a...coke, right a soda.

An easier way to mount fenders. I have a 2275. Can't tie fenders to the rail. The furniture comes right up to the rail, very hard to protect my wonderful boat!

Dedicated anchor storage. Would be great if there was a box that drained right on the front of the boat, outside of the rail system.

thanks for asking!
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Hello Matt. For now I use a product from Overtons. item 74625 that fits over a 1" or 1-1/4" square rail. They are plastic and come in packs of four for $19.99. My dealer sells them individually for $ 2.99. They are very flexible for quickly moving up and down the railing for whatever you may need to protect against. Gerry
 
matt, if you look at one of the umbrella pics you can see a bumper attatched at the front. The vinyl seat back fills the void but I was able to drill that one all the way through because of the curve. The ones on the other side were drilled from each side,(not through drilled), but I protected the surface with blue painter's tape, double layered and used a 12" long drill bit. Your 2012 may be completely different and it is much easier to drill holes in a six year old boat!

Made some rough sketches today of the anchor box.I think I'll have my sheetmetal buddy build the door for it with 1/2" angle welded down in the box to support the door and also recess the door 1/4" and carpet it where it blends in a little. Will make the door like a shallow pan out of 10 gauge stainless with the lip facing down and piano hinge along one side. Open to ideas. Thanks, Steve
 
lakebum said:
matt, if you look at one of the umbrella pics you can see a bumper attatched at the front. The vinyl seat back fills the void but I was able to drill that one all the way through because of the curve. The ones on the other side were drilled from each side,(not through drilled), but I protected the surface with blue painter's tape, double layered and used a 12" long drill bit. Your 2012 may be completely different and it is much easier to drill holes in a six year old boat!

Made some rough sketches today of the anchor box.I think I'll have my sheetmetal buddy build the door for it with 1/2" angle welded down in the box to support the door and also recess the door 1/4" and carpet it where it blends in a little. Will make the door like a shallow pan out of 10 gauge stainless with the lip facing down and piano hinge along one side. Open to ideas. Thanks, Steve
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Steve that sounds awesome, can't wait to see it!
 
Hey TB -

I have the 24 SSL. Can you build a drop in section of flooring, trapezoidal shaped, that will basically cover most of the motor pod? Make it so its flush with the floor, so it turns the two extended deck sections into more of a solid runway for the kids so they can climb up the ladder into the boat, then run across the back of the boat and jump off the port side? Right now, there's not a lot of room to "run" across the back due to the big hole where the motor pod is. Even if you could fill in half of the motor pod, it would be very practical. Make the section "drop in" and removable for access.

It would also help deflect the "splash back" that happens when driving at certain speeds, or quickly cutting back on throttle.
 
I guess I'll have to withdraw that. Just looked back at some photos, and realized the tow bar is mounted in there, leaving little room for a "drop in".

On boats without the tow bar, this should work though.
 
I didn't see an anchor system on the options list when I ordered my new Bennie. I don't need to anchor in a current or the ocean or anything like that but I do want to drop anchor in the middle of the lake so we can swim, jetski, have water fights, etc. Also there will be times when we're camping nearby on shore and will want to anchor the toon overnight. So the ideal anchor system would be some sort of hand or electric winch that hides under one of the seats and when you open the seat the winch tower hinges up so you can operate the crank handle. The anchor rope would exit the underseat storage space, via a system of roller guides, and plunge to the bottom of the lake after going through some sort of anchor storage fitting that would be mounted under the floor between the pontoons, probably near the front of the boat so it would not be a hinderance to planing out the boat when the anchor is in the stored position. When you are ready to pull anchor, you pop the seat open, hinge the winch tower up, crank the winch to wind up the rope until the anchor is drawn into it's storage position. The dogs on the winch will hold it in that poisition until you are ready to drop anchor again. This system would eliminate pulling up a muddy rope and anchor onto your deck and then having to move the whole ugly mess to a storage spot on your boat, potentially damaging carpet and upholstery on the way. This company has an electric winch that would be a good starter for this idea .... http://www.quickusa.com/
 
gerry said:
For now I use a product from Overtons. item 74625 that fits over a 1" or 1-1/4" square rail.
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We use these, they are made by Taylor Made Products. So far they work great!

I used enough rope so the fender can almost lay flat on the water, then I can quickly pull it to the height I need at that moment and put a quick knot and I'm done. I can set four fenders out at the exact height and place I want them in 2 minutes or less. I have no problem placing these clips where the upholstery touches the rail.

Steve
 
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What about the option of a pump-out toilet rather than the porta-potti?

Also, maybe a bigger gas tank in case people want to go on a longer trip.

And finally a battery charger for those that accidentally leave something on...
 
The one item that I think would take the Bennington to the next leave, and is certainly not new technology, three flush mounted cleated just below the top rail mounts along each side (front, middle and rear). I had these on my Crownline, and they made it so easy for docking or tieing up. But drop flush when not in use, so they are out of sight and out of the way when not needed. One other item that would be nice to have is a small dry compartment for cell phones, keys, ipod, etc integrated in to the dash. Only other item would be some kind of organizer system that is configurable for in floor storage. The storage space is awesome, but can be overwhelming to keep organized as you run across the lake or trailer the boat.

Very pleased with the boat so far, just a few things that would make it that much more user friendly.

Thanks for listening.

Steve
 
For the 2012 RCW with stern lounges, the location of the master switch requires raising the seat of one of the lounges and then removing a second cover over the batteries (which is not too easy to reinstall). There has to be a more convenient location.
 
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