Avalon insurance,
through NBOA.

What makes an Avalon different. Built in Alma since 1972.

Avalon has been family-owned by the Parker family out of Alma, Michigan for more than fifty years. In a category dominated by volume builders and private-equity rollups, that's genuinely uncommon — and it shows up in the product.

Where most pontoon lineups are optimized to hit a price point, Avalon is optimized around interior fit-and-finish: real wood-grain deck options, deeper upholstery, cleaner fabrication on the rails and fencing. That's also why Avalon competes head-up with Bennington's L-series and Manitou's flagship models — not with the entry-level pontoons at the bottom of the category. For insurance, the implication is straightforward: when something cosmetic goes wrong on an Avalon, the repair bill is meaningfully higher than on a commodity pontoon of the same length.

Tubes, tritoons, and a premium deck.

Avalon builds on 25-inch, 27-inch, and 30-inch aluminum tubes, with tritoon (three-tube) configurations available across most lines. The underlying pontoon-boat physics are the same as Bennington or Manitou — aluminum logs, welded cross-members, marine-grade decking — but Avalon layers premium interior components on top: deeper-foam upholstery, furniture-grade vinyl, and wood-grain deck options on the higher trims. Mercury outboards are the factory standard across the lineup.

• Aluminum tube sizing from 25" on entry trims up to 30" tritoon on Ambassador/Excalibur — 30" tubes unlock the higher horsepower ratings
• Tritoon availability across most lines — center tube + lifting strakes deliver the speed and handling most Avalon buyers are actually paying for
• Premium upholstery and wood-grain deck options — beautiful, but a higher cosmetic-claim ceiling than vinyl-floor commodity pontoons
• Mercury outboards standard — mainstream parts and service network, which keeps claim repair timelines reasonable

Lake-focused, upper-middle-income, detail-conscious.

Avalon owners are inland-lake people — Midwest, Tennessee and Kentucky, Great Lakes states — who've usually owned a pontoon before and moved up because the fit-and-finish finally mattered to them. They're upper-middle-income, often second-home or lake-house owners, and they keep the boat covered, slipped, or in a lift. Lower theft exposure, lower transport exposure, and typically lower annual hours than a coastal cruiser — but when they do file, they're particular about how the cosmetic work gets done.

The insurance angle. Where premium pontoon shapes the policy.

Pontoons as a category carry a well-understood claim profile: tritoon high-horsepower incidents, onboard fire risk, grounding in skinny water, canvas and enclosure damage, and low theft. Avalon sits on top of that baseline — same physics, but a premium interior that pushes settlement dollars higher on anything cosmetic.

• Agreed-value on 27+ ft Ambassador and Excalibur — these trims hold value and carry interior components that ACV would dramatically under-settle. Agreed-value locks the number at bind; worth the small premium over ACV.
• Cosmetic-claim ceiling is higher — wood-grain decking, premium upholstery, and furniture-grade vinyl cost more to replace in-kind. Underwriters who know Avalon price it accordingly; underwriters who lump it with commodity pontoons sometimes under-reserve.
• Tritoon horsepower risk — 30" tritoons on Ambassador/Excalibur can be rated 350+ HP. High-HP pontoons have a distinct claim pattern (passenger-ejection, prop strike, steering-at-speed). Disclose HP honestly; it changes the rate.
• Fire risk — pontoons have a disproportionate onboard fire rate versus other segments (fuel systems over the deck, enclosed battery compartments). Most carriers handle it in base coverage; make sure the policy doesn't carve it out.
• Canvas and enclosure — Bimini tops, full enclosures, and changing-room canvas are routine claims from storms and trailering. A canvas-specific sublimit is worth asking about on Ambassador and Excalibur with full enclosures.
• Low theft, but check the trailer — Avalons aren't a high-theft target on the water, but trailered pontoons left at a ramp or launch do get stripped (outboards, electronics). Trailered-theft endorsement is cheap.

This is where an expert at NBOA can step in. As an independent marine insurance brokerage, NBOA quotes Avalon owners across multiple carriers and matches the policy to how the boat is built, where it runs, and how you actually use it.

Avalon models we quote.

Beyond the top brands.

NBOA places insurance on 1,100+ boat manufacturers across our catalog — from aluminum skiffs to mega-yachts. If your boat isn't listed here, it's almost certainly one we still write.