Good dilemma, Bennington vs. Manitou

[Bryden24shp]

I never had a problem beaching my Manitou either. Always stayed put. I am partial to the Manny because I helped design the new transom back in 2009 for the 2010 model, and the Barracuda nosecones. The only problem with the VP hull, is that you may hear the nosecones "oil can". When in the sun, they get a bit warm and when they cool down you could hear them "pop" or oil can. The reverse rolled Barracuda nosecones took care of that. But with that said, My Premiers nosecones are flat, with no re-inforcing and they make the same nose. No big deal! The Manny will out corner the twin tubed elliptical's for sure! And will flat out smoke it on top end. The Bennys are nice, I think the interiors are comparable in the X-plods and Legacy's, but when going to the Aurora, it is a cheaper interior. But hey! You get what you pay for! Explore what YOU need and want, toss the results in the air and let the wife decide! That's how it rolls in my house! I loved my Manny, but the wife fell in love with the Premier S-Series. I don't blame her. The added protection with the dual windshields is awesome for her! But, now that Bennington has that option, and rumor has it Manitou is working on one it, I could be in trouble! No boat shows for me this year! At least, not with Denise!
Good luck on the purchase! I'm honestly glad its you and not me!

[Capt. Dan]

Thanks for that input Bryden, very helpful. We will cover the boat shows for you this year, so rest assured!
With a 4, 6 and 8 year old being our primary crew, along with their pulethera of beach toys and chairs, we don't need a boat with the fanciest of seats -- I'd love one of the bar boat set ups, but we are a few years from that! This faster, drier and higher performing boat will let us run around more than we do in our current boat that we've put 1,500 miles on in four seasons -- which is pretty impressive when you consider that most of our trips are to a beach less than 2 miles from our house. On the current boat we are often limited by the wind and chop that so often affects our boating activities, so we are looking forward to having the ability to expand our horizons at more than 11 knots!

[Capt. Dan]

Testing the photo upload with a shot of our fishing boat...

C habits Small.jpg (866.5 KiB) Viewed 6215 times

[curtiscapk]

nice looking boat! Where are you located?

[Capt. Dan]

Hi Curtis, thanks. We are located in Bethany Beach, Delaware. We run that boat for inshore and offshore fishing up to 40 miles out. We catch everything from croaker and bluefish to sea bass and flounder to dolphin and tuna. Lot's of fun, but we seem to spend even more time on the pontoon running around the bay waters with the kids.
Here are a few more fishy pictures...

[curtiscapk]

That is a heck of a crew you have there! Man are those houses in the background or hotels!?

[cwag911]

That is a heck of a crew you have there! Man are those houses in the background or hotels!?

If it's anything like the Jersey shore, they're houses.

[Capt. Dan]

They are houses. My folks built one there about 13 years ago as a reasonably sized weekend home, the new ones going up are approaching 10,000 sq feet!

[dodger]

I'm not sure you mentioned if either boat was at the same dealership or not. When we bought our second pontoon we first picked the dealer, then what they sold.

Our first dealer was good on selling but the rest left a bad taste in our mouths. This time we bought from a dealer that had a great reputation on service after the sale and we couldn't be happier.

The fact that he also sold Benningtons was the frosting on the cake. We are very happy with it.

My wife's favorite feature is the electric bimini, frankly I really like it also. The rear swim platform is great for sitting on or for putting on skies, wakeboards or, for jumping off of. We ordered it with the vinyl floor and really enjoy having an easy to clean floor. No worries if the little ones spill anything. We are now up to six grandkids.

Actually after we put in the order and laid down the money, I was relieved and, bummed. I love the hunt, so after that was over, it was well, over, haha.

[Capt. Dan]

Dodger, thanks for the input, good points
I've dealt with the service departments for both dealers and have had very positive experiences. The Bennington dealer is a larger more established dealer and the Manitou dealer is a much smaller operation, but I deal with the same people every time and they were also the third highest volume dealer for Manitou in 2014.
So, I'm comfortable either way. The Manitou seems to be a better value, but I continue to nbe a little concerned about the Manitou list with the different sized toons. I won't be able to judge it until I do the demo ride in February. Until then, I can just keep asking questions and think through the options.

[Bryden24shp]

The list is really not that bad. I would say it will be no different than what you experience with your fiberglass boat, now. It has it, don't get me wrong. Just watch your loading. If you have a "larger type person" on the port bow, you will notice it at planning speeds. The starboard bow will dig into turns and you'll feel the list. Just watch your loading. A simple cooler move can make up for it. Or like I said, left hand prop, trim tabs. You can compensate for it.

[robster]

Yep the list should be a non-issue, our boat only lists some when we have it fully loaded with 7-9 people,coolers, and a full tank of gas, our gas tank is not mounted in the center tube. Also with any boat if you have all the fatties on one side ,you gotta make them spread out...
Our Manitou turns tighter than our previous 21 ft. Ebbtide Campione bow rider. We've logged 325 hours on our Manitou since we bought it new in 2011 and have had zero issues, other than replacing the seals on the Seastar hydraulic steering, Seastar even sent us a rebuild kit for free, from what I understand those things crap out anyway over time. We looked at a Bennington tri-toon, with ESP, Yamaha 150 at the Bennington dealer 2 minutes from our house and their best price was $5-6K higher than our Manitou Oasis VP with Yamaha 150, we bought our Manitou from Palmetto Boat Center in Greenville,SC 1.5 hours from our house.
Also Our Manitou sits in a covered wet slip year round, we pull it our in the spring to acid wash the toons.
If you plan on doing water sports with your new toon , you should consider the electric power assisted steering, we have it and are glad we got it, with a 150hp motor you don't have to have it but it sure makes steering a breeze when making turns pulling skiers/tubers.
If you can water test the Manitou on a rough windy/choppy day go for it, you will be amazed how well it handles rough water and be sure to jump a few wakes with it.
Which ever boat you decide to buy , be sure to get the center tube storage, to store skies, anchors,etc. well worth it..

Cheers,
Robert

[Capt. Dan]

Robster -- Handling in bigger water is a big part of the decision to upgrade. We are right on the Indian River Inlet in Delaware and between wind and tide activity, with a fairly narrow inlet, we can have whitecaps stacked up just getting out of the marina. We also run across fairly open, shallow bays where a lot of ocean wind can create a short, tight chop that can make small boats uncomfortable to say the least. I'm really looking forward to the demo, wish we were able to do it sooner.

[Capt. Dan]

My dealer is working up a deal now, what kind of discounting are people seeing off MSRP these days?

[dodger]

With this new pontoon boat it really doesn't seem to matter where anyone sits, it goes! We plane off fast and just keep going. It is a bit longer than the one we had and maxes out our lift but, I wouldn't hesitate to tell someone on big water or that carries a crowd to get one like it.

Our tubes are all the same size, the center is just dropped a few inches. It pulls tubes like a fiberglass hull. Wipes them around really well, no complaints from the riders, always a bunch of smiles. And yes, we do hit 6000 rpm and 40 mph gps after 100 hours. Took that long to break in the engine I guess. And love that storage locker in the center tube, so worth the money. Skis, boards, ropes, tubes, ladder, all underneath, and yes with just two of us we do get those numbers, even with all that stuff on board.

I'm kinda a motor head I guess and really wanted the speed, manuverabiity, open back deck, and the other things we ordered but was able to stay with the 150 yamaha so I didn't have to break the bank. If you want the 200hp then you have to go with a more expensive transom as well and the full hydralic steering. Lots of extra $$$$ just to go 5? mph faster. I have not been disappointed.