Bennington insurance,
through NBOA.

What makes Bennington different. The benchmark pontoon, out of Elkhart.

Founded in 1997 in Elkhart, Indiana — the pontoon capital of the U.S. — Bennington (originally Bennington Marine) built its reputation on a furniture-and-finish level that legacy pontoon builders had not attempted. Polaris acquired the company in 2018, which tightened supply chain and dealer network without changing the build philosophy.

Bennington is now the volume leader in premium pontoon, and the lineup is organized by tier rather than by model — L at the top, then R, Q, S, SX, and Cruise. Within each tier, a single floorplan can ship in dozens of length, tube, and trim configurations, which is why Bennington's model catalog is unusually deep: roughly 1,000 distinct configurations over the last two decades. That matters for quoting — the same nominal 'Bennington 23' can be a 115HP twin-tube cruiser or a 350HP tri-toon, and the premiums are not close.

Tubes, decks, and the ESP question.

A Bennington is three systems stacked: aluminum pontoon tubes, a wet-vacuum-bagged composite deck, and roto-cast UV-stable furniture. Standard tubes are 25" diameter; larger cruisers step up to 27", and tri-toon (three-tube) configurations typically run 27" outers with a 25" or 27" center tube. The ESP (Elliptical Sport Package) and SPS (Sport Performance Strakes) packages add lifting strakes and under-skin reinforcement — they are the reason Bennington tri-toons can plane and corner closer to a runabout than a traditional pontoon.

• Aluminum tube construction — 25" standard, 27" on larger models, with 30" available on the L-series flagship tri-toons
• Wet-vacuum-bagged composite deck — replaces plywood, eliminates the rot-and-soak failure mode that drives older-pontoon claims
• Roto-cast furniture bases — closed-cell rotational-molded seating that doesn't absorb water and doesn't mildew the way upholstered-over-wood furniture does
• ESP / SPS performance packages — change the insured risk profile materially; a tri-toon with SPS and 350HP handles and claims more like a sport boat than a pontoon
• Powder-coated rails and marine-grade fasteners — reduce the galvanic corrosion claims common on salt-exposed pontoons in Gulf and coastal markets

Inland lakes, Great Lakes states, family-first.

The typical Bennington lives on an inland lake in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, or the Carolinas, and it is the family boat — tubing, swimming, sunset cruises, occasional overnights at a sandbar. Owners skew 45–65, often second or third boat, and the purchase is usually a step up from a smaller aluminum pontoon. A smaller but fast-growing segment is the high-horsepower tri-toon buyer who is using the boat for watersports and expects runabout-level performance. That split — cruiser family vs. tri-toon performance — is the single most important thing an underwriter wants to know about a Bennington.

The insurance angle. Tri-toon or traditional — it changes everything.

Pontoons are generally an easy risk to place — they are slow, they are docked on inland lakes, they are hard to steal, and they don't sink the way a monohull can. But Bennington specifically straddles two very different risk profiles: a 90HP S-series twin-tube is priced and underwritten like any other family pontoon, while a 350HP L-series tri-toon with SPS is a different animal. Carriers that understand Bennington will price those two correctly; carriers that don't will either decline the tri-toon or overcharge the cruiser.

• Tri-toon vs. traditional is the key split — a tri-toon with 300+HP on a 25–28' deck files collision, wake-sport liability, and engine-damage claims at rates meaningfully closer to a ski boat than a pontoon. Premium should reflect that; many carriers don't segment for it and either flat-rate or decline.
• Fire is the real pontoon statistic — industry claims data shows pontoons have an elevated fire-incident rate versus comparable monohulls, driven by gas-tank placement under benches and the insulating effect of seating around fuel lines. Not a reason to avoid pontoons; a reason to confirm your policy has adequate fire coverage and to service the fuel system on schedule.
• Shallow-water grounding and tube damage — the most common non-cosmetic Bennington claim. A grounded tube is not a quick fix: a replacement tube is a multi-thousand-dollar repair, and 'tube straightening' is rarely clean. Agreed-value or stated-value on the hull matters more than owners expect.
• Canvas, bimini, and enclosure damage — high-frequency small claims, especially from storm events on uncovered slip docks. Deductibles matter here; many carriers offer a separate lower deductible for canvas/electronics.
• Low theft risk — a 25-foot pontoon on a triple-axle trailer is not a target. This shows up as a meaningful premium discount versus trailered runabouts of the same value.
• Carrier panel — Progressive is dominant in pontoons and writes Bennington across all tiers. Foremost and BoatUS are the next-most-common placements; Chubb occasionally for high-value L-series with comprehensive property packages.

This is where an expert at NBOA can step in. As an independent marine insurance brokerage, NBOA quotes Bennington owners across multiple carriers and matches the policy to how the boat is built, where it runs, and how you actually use it.

Bennington models we quote.

Beyond the top brands.

NBOA places insurance on 1,100+ boat manufacturers across our catalog — from aluminum skiffs to mega-yachts. If your boat isn't listed here, it's almost certainly one we still write.