US Tow Boat Snapshot

Tow Boats are fiberglass inboard boats between 17’ and 25’ used primarily for tow sports, including skiing, wake boarding and wake surfing. The tow boat category has been growing consistently over the last ten or so years, driven in part by the introduction and increasing popularity of wake boarding and wake surfing. 

Here’s a quick summary:

• There are currently just under 280,000 tow boats registered in the U.S., over half of them (54%) were purchased new or pre-owned during the past 5 years.
• The average tow boat is relatively young at 17 years old and roughly 4,700 of them are being retired from the fleet each year.
• During 2023, 23,400 tow boat were purchased pre-owned (9,800 New).
• 28% of the people that purchased tow boats in 2023 were first-time-boat buyers and 39% of them own another boat (including PWC).
• Tow boat buyers tend to be well established. 76% of them are over 40 years-old; almost all own their home; and they have usually lived there for a while.