6 Hot Boating Trends

By all accounts 2020 was a crazy year in boating, as the global coronavirus pandemic put the kibosh on international travel and drove people to focus on spending family time closer to home. People turned to boating in a huge way, and by mid-summer it was tough to find dealerships that actially had boats still in stock. But through 2020’s hot boat market some major trends began to clearly emerge, painting a clear picture of what boating is going to look like in the years ahead. We’ve crunched the numbers, and present these 6 hot boating trends for the near-future.

Big Outboards Rule

Formula’s new 500 comes with four Mercury 600 horsepower outboards.

Big outboards keep growing more popular every year, with sales of outboards over 200 horsepower up by 20 percent last year over 2019. What’s more, sales of outboard-powered fiberglass runabouts between 16 and 40 feet grew by a whopping 48 percent over 2019 figures. Some of these big day boats now top 50 feet in length and come with over 2,400 horsepower bolted to the transom. That used to be unheard of for an outboard-powered boat but today, boat builders can’t ship them to market fast enough.

Jet Boats Are Hot

Jet boats like Scarab’s 215ID are perfect for wakesurfing.

The other big growth category based on last year’s sales figures are jet boats, with sales up by 20% over 2019 numbers. It’s easy to understand why, since jets can run in super-shallow water where outboards and sterndrives can’t go thanks to their lack of an exposed propeller. That propless design definitely gets mom approval for safety any time the kids jump over the side for a swim, and makes jet boats ideal for wake surfing. The addition of wake surfing features in several models has only driven jet boats sales higher, so expect to see even more of them on the lakes this year.

Aluminum Fishing Boats Still Own The Market

Thanks to their incredible versatility, aluminum fishing boats remain strong sellers everywhere.

Sales of aluminum fishing boats grew by 9% last year, and while that doesn’t sound as impressive as the double-digit growth of jets and big outboard-powered day boats, in terms of whole numbers it’s huge, since boat builders sell far higher quantities of aluminum fishing boats than anything else. Updated features like fully synthetic flooring to replace old-school vinyl, state-of-the-art livewell systems, and killer electronics packages are leading anglers to upgrade to new boats as fast as they can.

Twin-Engine Pontoons Are Catching On

Twin-engine pontoons offer a lot of advantages beyond more power.

When the first twin-engine pontoons showed up on the market a few years ago, most people thought them to be a niche thing that would never amount to much – the same way people once viewed pontoons with outboards of 200 horsepower or more. Now, of course, pontoons with big engines are everywhere and it looks like pontoons with twin outboards could follow a similar path. Twins bring a lot of advantages besides more power of course, including snappier handling, and the ability to add joystick docking control for super-easy operation. The downside is a higher purchase price, and a bit higher fuel bill at the end of the year. But for those who have them, the improved handling justifies the higher costs.

Air Conditioning – Even On Open Boats

Even open boats like pontoons can now be found with climate control systems.

Luxury yachts are fully air conditioned, and so are a growing number of day boats. But even pontoons now feature different forms of cooling systems to keep people from overheating on those really sweaty summer afternoons. Michigan-based JC Marine, for example, offers onboard misting systems on its pontoon boats for greater comfort. The builder says the system will drop the temperature onboard by 10 degrees in just a few minutes. Best of all, mosquitoes won’t fly through the mist to bother boat occupants.

Diesels Are Coming

With their amazing fuel economy, longer range and lower maintenance demands, diesels appeal to big water anglers.

Although they were designed for the commercial market, diesel outboards are attracting a lot of interest from offshore fishermen who value their greater fuel economy, which translates into greater range and an opportunity to chase fish that other anglers can’t even get to. Swedish manufacturer OXE Marine sells diesel outboards from 125 to 300 horsepower based on GM and BMW engine blocks, and recently opened a new factory in Georgia to help it meet demand from American buyers.

British competitor Cox Marine, which builds a high-end 300 horsepower diesel designed from the ground up as an outboard, and is also setting up manufacturing in the US to meet equally surging demand.