Boat Loan Calculator

The monthly payment shown is principal and interest only. Boat loans run longer than car loans, so a small change in the rate moves the total cost a long way — enter the rate you were actually quoted, not an advertised one.

A boat loan is an ordinary annuity: the same payment every month, each one covering the interest accrued since the last and putting whatever is left against the balance. What makes marine finance worth a second look is not the rate — the loan is secured against the vessel, so it is cheaper than an unsecured one — but the term. Lenders will write ten, fifteen, even twenty years on a movable asset, and the term drives the total interest even more than the rate does. The defaults show it plainly. 45,000 at 7.99 percent over fifteen years costs 429.78 a month, modest enough that nobody questions the length at the point of sale. But 180 payments repay 77,361, which is 32,361 in interest — 72 percent of the purchase price. The same loan over ten years costs 545.74 a month and only 20,488 in interest. The caveat that matters most is that this figure is principal and interest only. Insurance, mooring or berthing fees, winter storage, haul-out, antifouling and servicing are all substantial, and none of them is part of the loan. Treat the payment as a floor for what ownership costs rather than a ceiling, and remember that over a long term the balance can sit above the resale value for years.