Bennington Pontoon

[Forensic]

Dad is looking at trading in his boat on a new Bennington. He mentioned the SX or G models in the 22' range. He's been talking to the guys up in Idaho and they made an aggressive offer on his trade in. Before he made a deal he came back to So Cal. He is going to head over to the shop in Newport Beach to do some more shopping. Anybody here work over there or know someone? Dad's getting up there in years and I'd like his experience to be a good one.

Thanks,

 

[gmnhra]

sorry...don't know anyone at the Newport bennington dealer
but some unsolicited things to consider:
we bought a new 25 Q series with 350 verado last November from sun country in havasu...
bennington always had the "high end" reputation and sun country made a nice offer on our Premier trade in..
end price after negotiating was "fair"...these damn things are expensive..
So..after 9 months of ownership some observations
the verado power steering sucks ass and sun country has been horrible to deal with on warranty work
the boat in general is real nice. the ride in havasu Saturday slop is fantastic
the rigging under the helm looks like a black widow spider web...no attention to detail
the new "textured" upholstery is super comfy but darn hard to keep clean

so....consider looking at several other "high end" brands. many have upped their game lately and all will negotiate on price. especially coming into the end of the season...

goodluck

 

[MrMayhem]

sorry...don't know anyone at the Newport bennington dealer
but some unsolicited things to consider:
we bought a new 25 Q series with 350 verado last November from sun country in havasu...
bennington always had the "high end" reputation and sun country made a nice offer on our Premier trade in..
end price after negotiating was "fair"...these damn things are expensive..
So..after 9 months of ownership some observations
the verado power steering sucks ass and sun country has been horrible to deal with on warranty work
the boat in general is real nice. the ride in havasu Saturday slop is fantastic
the rigging under the helm looks like a black widow spider web...no attention to detail
the new "textured" upholstery is super comfy but darn hard to keep clean

so....consider looking at several other "high end" brands. many have upped their game lately and all will negotiate on price. especially coming into the end of the season...

That sucks to hear about Sun Country. We purchased our Avalon from Got Water, and they have been awesome. I actually had the main engine harness come loose (Mercury at it's best) and they looked at it, repaired it, and sent me on my way the same day. They very well could have said "leave it here and we'll look at it when we have time".

 

[TPC]

I'll never deal with Sun Country again.

 

[ChumpChange]

Yes. Pm sent.

 

[Forensic]

Thank you for the insight. I'll pass along what I've learned.

 

[DLC]

I ordered up a Crest 3 - 230 (24ft) with a verado 350 took possession in July from Jim at JR motors, we have had a few issues, but so far everything has worked out, we still have a Bimini top and an Adrenaline trailer issue to deal with. We didn't want a boat that everybody has so to speak, not bagging on any boats but wanted something different.

Take a few for some test drives and pay attention to the weight of the boat, some of them are really heavy.

JR Motors has some nice high end South Bays coming in, along with some nice Crests.

So unless he is in hurry, he might want to wait a little bit, month or 2, as the 18 models haven't reached the dealers just yet, so I have been told..

I would continue to look around but not pull the trigger just yet.

After having the Merc Verado 350, I would get as big a motor as you can get! Our crest is like driving a lay z boy recliner, Very Comfy and Easy! Motor is so quiet! The wind makes more noise than the motor does. But I didn't want to always be stuck behind somebody, so I can pass em up, go around and boat my own way, not that you haul ass all the time! But it's nice to be able to

Good luck
DLC

 

[RiverDave]

How fast is your Crest Doug?

The Crest Savanah would be my toon of choice if I was buying a new one.

 

[TPC]

X2 on the the Crest Savannah with the 400.