s boat prices remain elevated across the industry, the value and affordability of pontoons are playing a role in purchasing decisions.
Boating Industry spoke with 2024 Top 20 Dealers and Harris Boats to understand how the pontoon segment performed in 2025 and what to expect in 2026. Their insights suggest that inventory management, product innovation and affordability are key to the segment’ s resilience in a challenging economy.
Entry-level and premium pontoons
Today’ s buyers aren ' t solely focused on the lowest priced boat, but they are considering product quality and cost.
“ We have noticed that buyers are gravitating towards shorter models overall as new boat prices rise,” said Andrew Schraedly, co-owner of Ohio’ s Charles Mill Marina.“ Buyers are making the decision to sacrifice an extra two to four feet of length in return for a lower price point.”
Charles Mill Marina carries SunChaser, Starcraft, Qwest Pontoons and Bentley Pontoons. Schraedly said 20-foot pontoons are the dealership’ s most popular size, with 18- and 24- foot sales becoming less common. Shorter, 22-foot tritoons are also performing well.
“ Today’ s buyer is focused on value,” he explained.“ They don’ t want a‘ cheap’ boat, but they want boats that have solid features at an affordable price. Brand quality and reputation are also key considerations. We saw a lot of build quality issues on certain brands over the last few years that have been detrimental to their perception.”
As pontoons appeal to budget-conscious buyers and customers upgrading from used boats, entry-level pontoons and carefully priced tritoons are outperforming traditional midrange models with price points that some consumers struggle to justify.
“ We had the most success selling entry-level pontoons under $ 35,000, or tritoons priced between $ 55,000 and $ 65,000,” Schraedly said.“ The mid-range of twin-tube pontoons featuring 50 to 115 horsepower really dipped compared to previous years. Buyers were either moving into tritoons or staying with more entry-level twin-tube pontoons.”
Hayden Hall, sales manager across Hall’ s Sport Center ' s four locations in Michigan, noted that manufacturers like Bennington are intentionally targeting entry-level buyers to build long term brand loyalty.
And“ entry-level” doesn’ t necessarily mean first-time boaters. Both dealers noted a shift away from the surge of first-time buyers seen during Covid-19, toward more repeat customers – experienced owners trading up from used boats, who know what they want before entering the showroom. They are more critical of product quality, features and brand reputation.
“ Today’ s buyer is much more likely to have a trade-in and a better idea of what they’ re looking for in a boat,” Schraedly said.“ They are knowledgeable and we often have a relationship with them from previous buying experiences.” www. boatingindustry. com january 2026
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