Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hey all...
Still trying to wad through all the options on some of these boats... some dealers insist that I need some things others not so much...
Looking at a Bennington...25 foot, triple toon with 200 horse Yamaha, 4 strokes...
Saw a boat at one dealer with Seastar hydraulic steering, and powerassist.... the power assist was a dealer add-on for 1300 more...
The other dealer has a similar boat with no power assist and tells me its completely unnecessary....
I'm sure a test drive would settle the issue... but I'm curious to see what more experienced board members think....
Any thoughts...

Got the seastar and don't have any problems running the 150. You could add the power assist if you wanted later. One thing about the toon you are not out cutting doughnuts like a bow rider or deck boat. If I had to make the decision at time of purchase think I would just go the sea star route with the option of adding the power assist at a given price.
doc

SeaStar??? Yes, you want it. Its effortless, 1 finger steering! The only thing I don't like about it is that you can hear the servos buzzing when steering hard. But its a quirk I can live with...
Bryan

Bryden...
Do you have power assist also... or just Seastar?

Also... I looked at the EZ fender... I'm new to pontooning... what is your item used for? I'm a major greenhorn

Just the Seastar, its all you need. My EzFenders are use to hang the fender (or bumper) off the sides of your pontoon boat when docking or rafting up with another boat. The fender line slides through the hole and you just lightly tighten the thumbscrew onto the line. It makes putting out and adjusting your fenders real easy. I have sold alot of them, no complaints at all, everyone just loves them. I have also sold them to people that use them as flag holders. I just sold a pair to a guy that put 3/8 ready rod through them to close off the front of his dock, so dockfockers (idiots who use other peoples slips with out permission) won't get into his slip at night. They work great!
Bryan

I have a 23 foot triple tube Sylvan with a 175 E-tec. I like the boat, but as my wife could tell you, I have often commented on "Wish I had gotten the power steering". Mine has SeaStar, but no power assist.

From what I have seen, $1300 is cheap for power assist. I looked into the parts 2-3 years ago, and they cost $1500 - just for the parts. Labor and taxes would have added a few hundred more.

Up to about 25 miles per hour it is usually smooth steering without the power assist. But over that it gets into two-arm territory. Where I really miss it is when I pull kids on tubes - donuts take some effort.

Philip

im not familiar with power steering but i know enough to know its a nice thing to have. even my 60 if not trimmed right, flies to the right really bad. I dont like prop torque