Here in the United States, recreational boating has swelled in recent years. In fact, it’s now estimated that up to 87 million people all throughout the country participate in some type of recreational boating on a regular basis, with more than 141.5 million people going boating at least once in the year of 2016 alone. And with the growing number of people interested in this leisurely and wholly enjoyable activity, there are more people than ever who are interested in buying a boat as well.
As a whole, boat sales are up in the United States, from pontoon boats for sale to speedboats to even yachts. In fact, more than $36 billion was brought in throughout the year of 2016 alone, all of these sales attributed to recreational marine activities, from the pontoon boats themselves to a variety of boating accessories. This marked a more than 3% jump in sales from the year previous, the year of 2015. This year of 2016 also saw, as a direct result of these sales, more than 11.5 million registered boats all throughout the country.
But from pontoon boats for sale to used boats of other natures, why has recreational boating become so common? Simply put, because it’s an ideal activity for many people here in the United States, especially since the accessibility to it has increased. After all, recent research has found that up to 70% of all boat owners in the country, whether they own pontoon boats or used pontoons, have a total household income of no more than $100,000 for just one year. No longer is recreational boating an activity to be enjoyed only by the rich and the very well off, but something that can be appreciated by just about everyone here in the United States.
In addition to this, most people live close enough to where they would potentially go boating to make use of this body of water on a regular basis, meaning that the investment of a boat would be well worth it in the long run. In fact, up to 95% of all residents of this country live no more than an hour’s drive away from some type of navigable body of water, making it ideal for them to go boating whenever the water is nice. If they own pontoon boats or another type of boat, storage might also be available for them at that body of water, as it is in so many places in the United States.
However, there are certainly a number of considerations to make when looking at premier pontoons for sale and other types of boats, such as what your budget is for buying any type of boat in the first place. Fortunately, new pontoon boats are not the only option when it comes to buying a pontoon boat for sale. Used pontoons for sale are also commonplace and in fact make up a huge chunk of all boat sales all throughout the United States. After all, nearly one million boats that had been previously owned were sold in the year of 2016 alone, a number that has really only increased in the years that have followed. Knowing the history of used pontoon boats, however, will be incredibly important before actually buying one, as you want to be sure that you buy a boat that, though used, is still of a very high quality.
You’ll also, of course, want to consider the size of the boat. For most people when it comes to buying a boat, smaller is better, and up to 95% of boats purchased for the purposes of recreational use are actually no longer than 26 feet, if even that. Smaller boats are likely to be far less expensive than boats of a larger size, of course, but they are also likely to be easier to store as well. After all, storage solutions will need to be thought of for the colder winter months, and smaller boats will be much less expensive to store and much more flexible in terms of the storage space that actually ends up being used. Smaller boats, it must be said, are easier to transport too.
