Harris Flotebote Tri-Toon XTR Package

Anyone have any hands-on experience with the harris XTR (extreme turn radius) package? I'm looking at a harris solstice 240 XTR with a 250 verado. The Harris official line is that the benefit is basically sharper turns with lean, akin to a v-hull and some motor pod modificaitons (nothing specific). Talked to several dealers and I can't get a straight answer on pros/cons. All push the P3 package (the other 3rd tube option from Harris) without any particular reasoning, and none seemed familiar with XTR. One sales person said that XTR would be 3-4 mph slower than P3, and "who would want that?". My initial thought is that passengers on a pontoon aren't likely to appreciate long-term straight runs at full speed, and probably couldn't tell a 3 mph difference anyway (not that i want to give up any speed). It also seems that a hard cornering ability would add quite a bit to the fun of the ride. Looking for any experience with this package. Also, are there any issues with trailering a boat with this set-up? I'm told a cantilever style probably won't work. Thanks

Re: Harris Flotebote Tri-Toon XTR Package

DISCLAIMER: I work for Bennington so I am very bias and anything I say on this web site is me talking as my own person person not as a company rep.............

I really don't like the way most companies go about getting a banking pontoon, they almost all involve getting the center tube lower in the water either by shimming it down or making the center tube larger creating almost a boat with out riggers.

I have never been on one but it seems to me with the center tube being lower the boat would be much more susceptible to wake as in they would rock more at rest, and I have heard rarish cases of the boats flopping to the off side during a turn if you hit a wake just right, as in you are banking right and the boat will flop to the left while still turning right, I spoke to a guy this happened to and he said it was quite scary.

I would invite you to stop by a Bennington dealer or our website and look at one of our ESP boats, they also bank and handle just as well but we applied a bit more science to the problem, we invented the elliptical pontoon.

Across the bottom of the boat all the tubes are level but the center tube is 32'' wide while being 25'' tall couple that with a mix of chines and foils and you have a banking pontoon.

At the dealer meeting when we debuted them they we actually throwing people off the seats they would turn so hard, I have driven these and they are phenomenal, a 25' pontoon going 30 mph at a 30 degree angle.

Brass tacks I don't care what boat you buy, just making you aware there are other choices and you should explore them all before spending this kind of money .

Re: Harris Flotebote Tri-Toon XTR Package

DISCLAIMER: I sell Benningtons so I am very bias.

Take a look at this short video. Bennington really did apply science and engineering to the problem. The results are impressive.

Not your father's pontoon boat - YouTube

Re: Harris Flotebote Tri-Toon XTR Package

Hey airdvr, I was just out yesterday on a company boat, 25R arch boat with the ESP and a 250 Yamaha, mother doesn't care for getting flung around but my buddies and my kids love it.

It is just crazy that you can do that in a 25' boat and it ran almost 40.

Re: Harris Flotebote Tri-Toon XTR Package

It was an eye opener for sure. That combo will out turn any hulled boat on the water.

Re: Harris Flotebote Tri-Toon XTR Package

mwk420 said:

Anyone have any hands-on experience with the harris XTR (extreme turn radius) package? I'm looking at a harris solstice 240 XTR with a 250 verado. The Harris official line is that the benefit is basically sharper turns with lean, akin to a v-hull and some motor pod modificaitons (nothing specific). Talked to several dealers and I can't get a straight answer on pros/cons. All push the P3 package (the other 3rd tube option from Harris) without any particular reasoning, and none seemed familiar with XTR. One sales person said that XTR would be 3-4 mph slower than P3, and "who would want that?". My initial thought is that passengers on a pontoon aren't likely to appreciate long-term straight runs at full speed, and probably couldn't tell a 3 mph difference anyway (not that i want to give up any speed). It also seems that a hard cornering ability would add quite a bit to the fun of the ride. Looking for any experience with this package. Also, are there any issues with trailering a boat with this set-up? I'm told a cantilever style probably won't work. Thanks

Click to expand...

I too have a Bennington tritoon, but it's not the high line ESP hull. And I'm running 40 mph with a F150 Yamaha with a 24' SSLX. My boat does anything I ask it to do, and its performance is adequate for our present AND future needs.

Just about every major manufacturer has a high performance hull. But I warn you that they're all very, very expensive boats to buy since they deserve 225-250 hp engines. And the Verado's one expensive engine to setup and the SmartCraft gauges and tach are priced very high. I prefer a simpler engine without a $5K supercharger that one day might cause problems. And any tritoon with over 200 horsepower requires the power steering pump on top of the SeaStar hydraulic steering--another $2.5K.

Getting back to the hull: If you're going to be pulling a bunch of kids on tubes, wake boards or ski's, a high performance hull might be warranted. But most people don't use pontoon/tritoons in that manner. A regular tritoon with lifting strakes will fill the bill for most families at a great savings.