Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I am having questions about my bimini top. I have 2017 22 ssx 3/4 sport pontoon. My question is how many other Benning ton owners bimini top doesn't work correctly, her is what mine is doing, when placing the top on the trailering struts the struts do not line up the starboard side of the pontoon has to bend out for the top to be placed in this position. Last year I noticed this issue, Bennington/my dealer ordered a new top and put it on this spring. With the new top this problem is worse. My dealer has been great to deal with, after measuring the rails it seams mine are pushed out and Bennington said to move the rails in. Dealer stated that if we do this the gate wont have enough room to open and close correctly. month and a half later I still don't have an answer on what they are going to do to correct the problem. My question again is has any other Owner have this issue and what did Bennington do to fix this problem, or is this how they are built now my 2009 did have this issue.


I posted this topic on club Bennington's website I want Bennington to see what this issue, just trying to get answers new boat only 37 hours on motor.

How far down the side is the struts located?

by gate not working are the talking about the front gate, because sides would close up gap if moved?

Look down outside of boat, can you see side bulging at the strut?

If so maybe they can only move both sides in ONLY at the strut mount area?

Just throwing ideas out, any pictures?

How far is it off?

I will post pictures soon. The sides look straight. They are talking the front and back gate wouldn't work right.

Sorry it took so long also bad pics as cover is kn

Other side

Dont know what to do

Does this boil down to the top frame is wider than your fence width? I've noticed when shopping bimini top frames there's a lot of manufacturers with a "one size fits all" mentality where frames are formed wide enough to fit a 8.5' wide deck and to mount to a 8' deck you just flex the frame & stuff the ends in the brackets. Most ads for pontoon tops say it fits 88-102"--that's quite a range.
You can't tell when it's up but I'm not a fan of how it looks when the hoops are wider than the fence when stowed. On my rather old 'toon one side rests on the fence parallel on one side, with all the overhang on the other side.

I'm sorry if I'm mis-interpreting your post. The pictures look to me to be this issue. In any case it does look to be a very nice frame!

It appears to me that someone screwed up when measuring and drilling the railing for the bemini top. Instead of being straight across from one another one side is drilled a bit forward or backward from where it should of been. I'd loosen one of the side rail mounts and adjust it to where the bemini lays and looks right and mark and re-drill for the mounting bracket and hopefully the bracket will cover up the bad one.

Bennington wants to move the fence and furniture in. I agree something was manufactured incorrectly. This is the second frame the company put on. I told them I dont want more holes in the fence. I am also worried about the gates not closing if they move the fence in.

Okay dealer called me with some options Bennington is going to send them the build schematics. There is a brace they can put in. Better be hidden. Also they are going to look at gaps and see if the rail needs to be moved. If the dealer cannot fix it the boat will go back to benningtons plant to be fixed. This is progress at.least we finally have options. Plus the owner of the dealership contacted me personally. That impressed me. Bennington standing behind its boat is awesome also the reason why I chose them.

From what you say about pushing the struts out for the top to fit in the brackets and the pictures show, it looks like a top could be made a few inches wider a lot easier than moving the fencing.

Interesting, i am glad you have progress moving forward with this, you would think factory would have thier vendors dialed in better and QC would be on top of this

Rbtnt that is what I was requesting make a top to fit my toon. I was told no. And quality control look at my older post about build quality. Everything has been fixed just had issues

if possible, I would take several measurements yourself of the railings and the top for width. Then I would go to the dealer and find a similar boat where the top and railing match up and measure them to see where the difference may be.

On my last fiberglass boat I had the bimini top made so the cross members would slide on a channel to shorten up the width by 6" for storage. When I would put up the top up I would slide the uprights apart for full width. The channel had buttons to lock in place on full width and for storage (narrow width) the tubing on the channels butted up against each other. It sounds complicated, but it was really simple.

I did measure the rails that's how bennington knew the fence was to wide. I sit at 101 wear most were at 100 inches that is. Dealership just tried to bend the frame if the bimini top to make it work better. It still wasnt right I had a tape measure on me and just started checking myself. Scott my salesman walked with me and we found several others that has the same issue. But not at bad.