I bought a Bennington 4 years ago. I can honestly say it is the best all around boat I have ever had. It's 22.75 feet long with a 115 hp Mercury outboard. It goes about 40 mph and is real quiet. The absolutely most important upgrade you can make is the triple pontoons, they make a world of difference in performance and comfort,as well as safety.

 

Check with our sponsor Lake Side Motor Sport's, I was talking to Dave and he said that they sell lots of pontoon boat's I'm not sure what brand.

 

thanks for the info guys. rob

 

Bennington is definitely the way to go. We were all set to get one and backed off at the last minute. But, we still want a "toon" and if we get one, it will be the Bennington. We were looking at the 150 4 stroke Yamaha for power.

 

Bennington is top notch stuff. My next toon will be a Bennington.

 

I see a lot of Benningtons at Lake of the Ozarks, very nice boats. I probably would have got one myself, but the dealer was a jerk. I ended up with an Odyssey (now called South Beach) with a 150 Honda. Nice boat and motor combo. And, Like Ed said, difinitely get a triple toon unless you you will be using it on a very small lake. Good luck, Mike

 

PLAYCRAFT
BORN AND RAISED ON EM, BEST YOU CAN GET!
the benningtons don't handle and with a similar engine dont get as much speed up

 

anybody own a beacomber pontoon ? whats your take on plywood deck vs aluminumn deck?

 

We sell Bennington and Manitou. And we are the NATIONAL sales leader in Manitou pontoons! They are both awesome boats especially if you are interested in a tritoon. Benninton and Manitous are the best handling Tritoons on the market. Manitou has their proven 373 SHP. This boat has two 23 inch toons with one 27 in the middle. This makes the boat extremely stable in straight line as weel as more bouyant to help top speed. Then when cornering they bank like a runabout. We have experimented with many manitous with 200-250 hp evinrude E-tecs, 2550 hp Mercury Verados, as well as 350 mag I/os. All of these bats have broken 50 mph and handle amazingly well.
For 08 Bennington has a new boat out with a 32 inch elliptical center toon. We have Bennington's demo that was used for the catalog and the dealer show on our dock right now. This boat has a 225 fourstroke Yamaha and is an Awesome performer! This boat GPSed at 46 mph on a rough day with 4 people in the boat. It also banks around the corners very well and holds its lines where traditional tri-toons will "skip" across the water. In my mind it is a toss up between the two brands although Benninton has more "luxerious" options the manitou will slightly out perform it.

I hope this answered a few questions.
Mitch Richter
Lakeside Motor Sports

 

The previous comment about Benningtons "not handling" must definately not be concerning the '08 elliptical toon desiogn ecause they are truly amazing boats.

 

what about if you cut through the aluminum on a beach? what's in there? AIR? the Playcraft's have filled foam flotation and some of the oldest pontoons I see in good condition are Playcrafts

 

Go playcraft powertoon 26 350 mag runs 54 mph and is 7 years old no problems just love it

 

well after a week of research i have found bennington to be out of my price range the fishing toon that i want is 45,000 just abit to exp for 10 to 15 trips a year. i think i' m gonna go with a g3 lx 22 f/c seems like a good buy for the money, also going with 115 4 stroke yamaha i,ve heard nothing but good on these motors. the dealer that i plan to buy from is close to home been in busines 27 years and is a full 5 star dealer. i want to thank everybody for their input . rob

 

We have a 2004 24' Weeres and love it. We've owned a lot of boats over the years, and I'm impressed with the fit and finish of this brand. I've also heard many good things about Benningtons, but people tell me that they're pretty pricey.

 

2003 Playcraft Ultra 2500 with 2 'toons and 40 horse Mercury 4 stroke was 18 grand, and since the boat looks and feels brand new, we might upgrade to either a 75 or 150 horse Mercury in the next few summers

 

Hello

I have a 2004 Crest 20 f. (2 pontoon) boat with a Johnson 4 stroke 50 horse. It's been a wonderful boat. Prior to this I had a Ski Nautique which is like comparing an F16 to a C130. My wife never see the need to go more than 10 to 15 mph and consequently have excellent fuel economy. I'm sure the triple toons are great if you put more horsepower on your boat and want to get better handling. For me however, the extra pontoon wouldn't make a difference since we don't go fast. By the way we use our boat on a river, not a lake. If you're considering a Crest rest assured that it is a quality boat.

Bruce

 

While all of the boat manufacturers are great I only have experience with our brands.

 

I have a Sun Tracker and really like it. We are on a 500 acre lake so three pontoons are not much of a big deal but I would agree if you were on a larger lake ie. Lake of the Ozarks, a tri-toon is the only way to go. I have been on many pontoon boats and there are many nice ones. I really like Starcraft too.

 

Our Mercury 40 horse 4 stroke was ran hard all summer and used only 30 gallons of fuel, that's one tank!

 

Wow I have a 40 hp and go through about 120 gallons a summer