Yes, prices are crazy high for new pontoons. I had a friend just buy one. I think he paid MSRP + shipping + dealer prep. There was no negotiating on anything.
Then he had to pay for the outboard separately (apparently its common to price these separate from the boat), and then the trailer too. Out the door I think he ended up with a final bill that was +50% higher than the "advertised" price of just the boat itself because of all of the things not included.
So long as the person buying is fully aware that they are buying at the peak of the peak of the market and it is not an investment in any way, then go for it.
That dealer is not the norm for all pontoons, but at least one or two as drawing card configs. They obviously are advertising a unit to hit a particular price point. As many of the MFG's are partnering with certain motor MFG's to package at the factory. At least rig them at the factory. As the rigging (throttle, fuel, etc) is specific to the motor OEM. And many dealers are also certified for particular boat/motor brands.
So this dealer did a disservice to their customers by playing that game. It is common to have a particular brand boat rigged for one motor MFG, and then allow the dealer to package it with a range of sized motors. As many pontoons may be rated for a much higher HP than packaged to cut costs, but still provide adequate performance. And many buyers will not realize that a tritoon version of a pontoon they are looking at, could be rated a full hundred horse or more higher. In fishing boats, the common practice is to rig them with the max HP rating, but not so much with pontoons as many will never utilize full hp on a regular basis.
Trailers are another story. In our region, central MN, trailers are always an option. Just like the 275 series Yamahas, the majority of owners will never trailer these boats, other than to pull them out in the fall to go to storage, and then back in, in the spring. The dealer will many times charge a winterization, storage, wrap, pull out, put in package. And the home owners on 10,000+ lakes love that option, rather than owning a large storage building.
For those that do buy a trailer for this purpose, they will buy a cheap scissor trailer, as it allows them to drop the boat on the ground. As it is not advised to trailer on a regular basis without a full bunk trailer. Anyone that has towed a big pontoon on a scissor trailer any distance will agree, it's not fun at all.
Good luck in your search. Pontoon MFG's are in the same boat as SXS, Jetboat, Truck mfgs in component availability.
