One of the most important factors when deciding to buy a pontoon boat is the price. But with so many shops and dealers out there is hard to get an idea of the average price. So I decided to make this article discussing the average price of a pontoon boat, where I also included the price for 21 of the most popular pontoon boats on the market.
The average price of a new pontoon boat is between $20,000 and $70,000. The price is influenced by the size of the boat, the power of the motor, and the features of the pontoon. For a 22 feet pontoon boat with a 115 HP motor, on average you will pay $35,000.
Now let’s take a look at the price and features of some of the most popular pontoon boat models. After that I will tell you a few ways in which you can drastically reduce the price of any pontoon boat, without removing any feature from it.
Table of Contents
List of 21 Pontoon Boats and Their Price
So here are the prices for 21 brand new pontoon boats.
| Model | Year | Length | Motor HP | Price |
| Party Barge 18 DLX | 2021 | 18 feet. | 75 HP | $18,995 |
| Party Barge 22 DLX | 2021 | 22 feet. | 150 HP | $26,195 |
| Party Barge 22 XP3 | 2021 | 22 feet. | 200 HP | $38,395 |
| Sportfish 22 DLX | 2021 | 22 feet. | 150 HP | $26,395 |
| Bass Buggy 16 XL | 2021 | 16 feet. | 50 HP | $12,995 |
| Avalon GS Cruise | 2021 | 19 feet. | 75 HP | $24,660 |
| Avalon GS Fish | 2021 | 19 feet. | 75 HP | $25,140 |
| Avalon GS Quad Lounge | 2021 | 23 feet. | 125 HP | $29,670 |
| Avalon LSZ Entertainer | 2021 | 21 feet. | 115 HP | $33,520 |
| Lowe Ultra 180 Cruise | 2021 | 18 feet. | 75 HP | $15,845 |
| Lowe SF232 | 2021 | 22 feet. | 150 HP | $38,345 |
| Lowe SS250 | 2021 | 24 feet. | 150 HP | $47,403 |
| Lowe Retreat 250 WT | 2021 | 25 feet. | 150 HP | $53,362 |
| Regency 230 DL3 | 2021 | 23 feet. | 250 HP | $49,995 |
| Regency 230 LE3 | 2021 | 23 feet. | 250 HP | $64,995 |
| Regency 230 LE3 Sport | 2021 | 23 feet. | 250 HP | $67,995 |
| Harris Cruiser 190 | 2021 | 19 feet. | 75 HP | $17,800 |
| Harris Sunliner 210 | 2021 | 21 feet. | 150 HP | $24,662 |
| Harris Solstice 230 | 2021 | 23 feet. | 200 HP | $45,615 |
| Harris Grand Mariner 230 | 2021 | 23 feet. | 300 HP | $53,731 |
| Harris Crowne 250 | 2021 | 25 feet. | 400 HP | $88,254 |
Extra Costs You Can Expect
With the exception of sport models which include sport accessories and the fishing models which include fishing accessories, the rest of them come with little to no accessories. So you can expect to pay extra for them. Here are the average prices:
- Double Bimi: $600
- Full Boat cover: $2,000
- Fishing Livewell: between $200 and $800
- Sky tow bar: between $100 and $500
- Extra ladders: between $200
- A wireless motorguide trolling motor with batteries, wiring, battery boxes, and onboard charger: $2,000
- A better sound system: between $500 and $2,000
How to Get Better Prices
Now let’s talk about one of the most essential parts of this article, how to get a better price.
The first thing that you should do is talk to a dealer and negotiate, never go for the standard price that you see on the websites. Even if you are the worst negotiator in the world, like I am, you will still be able to knock off at least a few hundred dollars from the price. And if you are good at this you might even get a few thousand dollars discount.
The next thing that you can do is to buy from a small local shop instead of a huge dealership. A lot of local shops and even smaller dealerships will need a way to compete with the big dealerships, so they will usually have slightly better prices.
When I bought my last pontoon I checked all the available prices for that model, and I was surprised to find a brand new one costing $3,000 dollars less at a small local dealership. I also found quite a few costing more than the price of the manufacturer, but what can you do? The idea is to always check all places and see which has the better price, because you won’t always find the best price at the manufacturer.
Another thing to keep in mind when buying a pontoon boat is that the name of the brand can sometimes be worth more than the pontoon itself. A lot of dealers will try and tell you that this brand has the most qualitative pontoons, and this brand has the best fishing pontoons, etc. But in truth all pontoons are quite similar.
So don’t get fooled by their speeches, there is no bad brand out there, just like there is no superior brand. So don’t make your choice based on this, instead look for the specifications that you want and need. If you go for a brand which isn’t as well known you will easily save at least a few thousand dollars.
How the Motor Influences the Price
Another extremely important factor that influences the price of a pontoon boat is the engine. In some cases the engine can actually be half of the entire price. Here is a list of the average prices for a motor (for this list I looked at well known manufacturers like: Evinrude, Honda, Mercury, Suzuki and Yamaha):
40 HP – $6,700
50 HP – $7,900
60 HP – $8,500
75 HP – $9,600
90 HP – $10,200
115 HP – $11,500
135 HP – $13,500
150 HP – $14,800
175 HP – $15,900
200 HP – $19,200
225 HP – $20,900
250 HP – $21,800
Considering the price of a motor it’s not surprising to see a standard model with a 75 HP motor go for $20,000, and a sports model with a 115 HP go for $27,000.
So if you were asking for what you are paying the extra money now you know.
The Taxes
I don’t think that anybody really likes to talk about paying taxes, but unfortunately it’s something that we have to do.
The amount of taxes that you will have to pay will greatly depend on the state where you live.
Some states like Delaware and Rhode Island have no tax for boats.
In some states the tax is only applied up to a certain amount of the boat’s purchase price. In New York, for example, they tax only the first $230,000 of a purchase price.
In other states the tax is a fixed procent, here are a few examples:
- North Carolin: 3%
- New Jersey: 3.3125%
- Florida: 6%
- Texas: 6.25%
But in some states the tax it’s capped at a certain amount. In North Carolina for example the tax is 3%, but it’s capped at $1500.
The Cost of a Pontoon Trailer
Another possible cost is that of a trailer. If you don’t already own a pontoon boat trailer you can expect to pay between $2,000 and $4,000 for one.
Sometimes pontoons come with their own trailer, but this is not always the case. So before you buy your pontoon ask if it comes with it’s own trailer, if it doesn’t you can easily add another $2,000 to the total cost.
Maintenance Cost
There are a lot of factors that can influence the maintenance cost, this is why I decided to write an entire article about it, using real numbers from my own personal experience, here is a short conclusion of the article:
The average cost of maintaining a pontoon boat is around $4,260 per year, that means $355 per month, here is what contributes to the cost:
- General Maintenance: $40 per month / $480 per year
- Insurance: $25 per month / $300 per year
- Fuel: $160 per month / $1920 per year
- Storage: $50 per month / $600 per year
- Taxes: $80 per month / $960 per year
If you want to know how I ended up with those numbers and how much you will have to pay to maintain your boat check out the article: The Cost of Maintaining a Pontoon Boat (With Real Numbers).
Final Thoughts
As you can see there are a lot of factors that influence the total price of a pontoon boat, but on average you can expect to pay between $20,000 and $70,000.
A few thing to keep in mind are:
- Don’t let yourself influenced by the brand name, most pontoons are more or less the same
- Accessories can add significantly to the total price, if you don’t have the money for them now, most of them can be added later.
- Always negotiate with the boat dealer, no matter how good or bad you are at negotiating you will get a better price.
- Check local boat shops and dealerships, you can usually find better prices locally.
- If the pontoon doesn’t come with a trailer you can add at least an extra $2,000 to the total price.
- The motor can sometimes be more expensive than the boat itself.