Pontoon boats for sale

Shallow-draft watercraft designed with tubular floats ideal for a wide range of activities, including entertaining as party barges or as small ferries with large capacity seating.

Read our helpful guide to Pontoon Boats

Pontoon boats

Pontoon boats are great for entertaining, fishing and watersports

Pontoon boats, also sometimes called "party barges," are designed with two metal pontoons (also called tubes or even “logs”). Unlike earlier versions that were basically just platforms fixed on top of two floating pontoons, the new designs often feature three pontoons known as "tri-toons" that are hydrodynamically shaped and efficient in the water, with the middle pontoon lower than the two outboard ones to promote banking and steering that can often rival that of monohulls. Combined with high-powered modern outboards, some of the new breed of pontoons can skim over the water at top speeds over 40 mph, making fast passages between home and fun zone. They're still relatively uncommon in areas where the water can get downright rough, but they’re certainly gaining momentum on the coasts. Meanwhile, inland boaters are experiencing increasingly refined fun aboard their pontoon boats, not only with higher speed and maneuverability, but with pop-up changing tents, enclosed heads, built-in coolers, outdoor cooking and refrigeration, and ever-better ergonomics in seating and swimming areas.

A great boat for entertaining, some models can be adapted for freshwater fishing or for sport-like performance. You can find a pontoon that will fit every need: performance pontoons, watersports pontoons, luxury pontoons, fishing pontoons, family-friendly pontoons, and value pontoons.

For sheer comfort afloat, combining an ideal platform for swimming, lounging, and partying with enough speed and maneuverability to tow skiers, tubers, and wakeboarders, it’s hard to beat a modern pontoon boat.

What are pontoon boats?

Pontoon boats are medium-sized, trailerable vessels commonly used for boating pursuits such as day cruising, freshwater fishing and watersports. This type of vessel can span in size from 16.01 feet to 27.98 feet with an average length of 23 feet. These boats are built by a wide variety of boat builders with hull types including pontoon, modified vee, catamaran, deep vee and other designs. Boat Trader currently has 15,823 pontoon boats for sale, including 13,920 new vessels and 1,903 used boats listed by both individual owners and professional yacht brokers and boat dealerships across the country.

What are the best pontoon boats?

Some of the best-known manufacturers of pontoon boats presently include: Bennington, Sun Tracker, Harris, Manitou and Barletta. These builders construct pontoon boats models with outboard, outboard-4S, inboard/outboard, outboard-2S and inboard propulsion systems, available in gas, electric, diesel, LPG and other fuel systems.

What are the most affordable pontoon boats?

Pontoon boats for sale on Boat Trader are offered at an assortment of prices from a sensible $6,500 on the lower-cost segment all the way up to $142,158 for the more costly models. Models with more power can accommodate motors up to an enormous 2,560 horsepower, while lighter-weight utility models may have as modest as 25 horsepower engines on them (although the average motor size is 150 HP).

Why are pontoon boats popular?

Pontoon boats are popular for their exceedingly deep draft and exceedingly wide beam, qualities that make these boats ideal for day cruising, freshwater fishing and watersports.