Bennington Pontoons for Sale

Elkhart, 1997, and Polaris

Bennington is younger than most of the brands it competes with. A small group of industry people started it in July 1997 in Elkhart, Indiana, and it has built boats there ever since. In July 2018 Polaris bought Boat Holdings, Bennington's parent company, for $805 million; Godfrey, Hurricane and Rinker came in the same deal.

Unlike Sun Tracker or Tracker, Bennington doesn't lock you to one engine maker. Dealers rig Yamaha, Mercury, Suzuki and Honda outboards, so two boats with the same model name can have very different power and very different service histories. On BoatVerdict's sample of used 22 SSBX listings, Yamaha four-strokes were the engine seen most often.

Reading the model name

Bennington's naming looks like alphabet soup until you know the pattern. The letter series is the trim level, the number is roughly the tube length, and the letters after it describe the floor plan.

• S Series (16' to 25'): the volume line and the one you will see most on the used market. The 22 SSBX, 22 SSRX and 24 SSBX are everywhere. S-One is a pared-down version with the popular options bundled.
• L and LX Sport (20' to 26'): a step up in finish, with more standard equipment.
• M Series (22' to 26'): new in recent years, priced between the S and R lines.
• R, RX Sport, Q and QX (23' to 30'): the premium end. For the 2027 model year Bennington made the third tube standard on R, RX, Q and QX boats, and the QX line starts at $188,136 MSRP.

In the floor plan codes, "SB" or "SR" style suffixes describe the seating layout: swingback, rear lounge, fishing and so on. Older S Series boats also carried an "X" for the bigger 25" tubes, and "XP" for the three-tube or performance version. On the 2015 R and Q boats, the options went from standard twin tubes through Express Performance, SPS and ESP packages, with ESP boats rated as high as 350 hp. That spread is why two used 25-footers can be priced $40,000 apart.

Used prices

Bennington's new pricing starts at $25,442 for an S-One boat, and the S Line starts at $36,073, but most buyers are shopping used S Series boats from the last ten years. BoatVerdict tracked 50 used 22 SSBX listings across 23 states and found a median asking price of $28,500, with the middle half between $14,000 and $45,000. Broken out by year, 2019 boats were asking around $32,000 and 2021 boats around $45,000.

That wide band is mostly engine and tube count. A 2008 two-tube boat with a 60 hp will sit at the bottom of it. A late-model tritoon with a 150 or bigger sits at the top, and a Q or QX with a 300 hp is in a different market entirely.

Before you buy

Match the engine to the tubes. This is the most common mistake on used Benningtons. A two-tube 22' or 24' with a large outboard hung on it tends to porpoise and lean hard in turns. If the listing says 150 hp or more, confirm it has the third tube or the factory performance package that goes with that rating. The capacity plate by the helm lists the max horsepower.

Logs and lifting strakes. Bennington tubes are generally solid, but look for dents from docks and lifts, and check that any underskin or lifting strakes are intact and not torn loose.

Furniture. Vinyl is a big part of what you pay for on a premium pontoon. Split seams, mildew under the cushions and sun-cracked tops on a boat that lived uncovered will cost real money to redo, and they tell you how the boat was kept.

Engine records. Because the engine brand varies, ask who serviced it. Yamaha and Mercury dealers can both read engine hours and fault codes. BoatVerdict treats more than about 150 hours a year as heavy use for a modern four-stroke outboard.

Warranty. New Benningtons carry a 10-year bow-to-stern warranty for the original owner. Ask the seller whether any of it transfers and get the hull ID so a dealer can check.

BoatVerdict found 69% of 22 SSBX listings in coastal states. Most Benningtons are lake boats, but a boat from Florida or the Gulf Coast may have seen brackish water, so check the engine bracket, trim rams and wiring for corrosion.