Boat Loan Calculator

Stretching the same loan amount over more months divides the payment into smaller pieces, so the monthly payment goes down. But interest keeps accruing on whatever balance remains outstanding each month, and a longer term means more months of that balance earning interest before it's paid off -- so total interest paid, and therefore total cost, goes up even though the individual payments feel more affordable.

Many marine lenders look for an LTV at or below roughly 80-85% before extending their best rates and terms, meaning a down payment of at least 15-20% of the out-the-door price. This calculator measures LTV against that out-the-door total (boat price plus sales tax plus documentation and title fees), not the bare sticker price, because that is the ratio lenders actually underwrite — a down payment that clears 20% of the sticker can still fall short once tax and fees are financed alongside the boat. Boats depreciate faster than houses and can be harder to resell than cars, so lenders generally want more equity cushion built in from day one than a typical auto loan requires.

Because sales tax and documentation/title fees are rolled into the loan. The calculator computes sales tax on the boat price only — the flat fees are added on top untaxed, which matches how most states treat boat sales, though a handful of jurisdictions do tax certain dealer fees, so confirm the rule where you are registering the boat. Your down payment then comes off that out-the-door total. A $45,000 boat at a 6% sales tax rate with $500 in fees comes to $48,200 out the door, so a $9,000 down payment leaves $39,200 financed rather than $36,000. Both fields default to 0 — leave them there and the amount financed is simply price minus down payment, exactly as before.

Every dollar added to the down payment is a dollar that no longer needs to be borrowed, so it directly shrinks the loan amount the monthly payment is calculated from -- a bigger down payment produces a smaller monthly payment (and less total interest) at the same price, rate, and term, as long as the down payment doesn't exceed the boat's price (at which point there's no loan left to finance). The exact dollar-for-dollar effect depends on the interest rate and term you're financing at.

Yes -- raising the interest rate increases both the monthly payment and the total interest cost by payoff, since interest is calculated on the outstanding balance every month. A higher rate means each month's interest charge is larger, which compounds across the full loan term into meaningfully more total interest paid by payoff.