Maxum Bowrider Boats

Maxum has been building boats in United States since 1988, and like almost every long-lived boat builder the story starts small: a workshop, a handful of tradespeople, and local customers who wanted something better than what they could buy. The founding generation built to order, learned from every boat that came back for repair, and turned those lessons into a production range once demand outgrew the shed. As volumes grew, hand-built one-offs gave way to tooled production, and the company moved from making boats to engineering them: hull moulds or jigs, repeatable laminate or welding schedules, dealer support and a proper spare parts chain.

The move into bowriders was a natural one. Families wanted seating forward of the windscreen rather than a closed foredeck, and the bowrider layout delivered more usable space per foot than anything else on the market. Maxum adapted its existing hulls to the open-bow format, then began designing specifically for it — walk-through screens, convertible cushions, under-seat lockers and transom lounges — and bowriders have been a core part of the range ever since.

Fibreglass is the material that made the modern bowrider possible. Moulded hulls allow sculpted bow lounges, integrated liners, flush hatches and the smooth compound curves that give the class its ride and its looks. Hand-laid or vacuum-infused laminates, foam or composite stringer grids and moulded interior liners are all standard practice here, and the result is a boat that is quieter under way, drier at speed and far more comfortable at rest than any flat-panel hull.

Maxum was Brunswick's mid-market sport boat brand, sitting between Bayliner and Sea Ray, and although production ended in 2009 the boats remain everywhere on the used market. That makes Maxum one of the cheapest routes into a well-equipped fibreglass bowrider. Models such as the 1800 SR, 1900 SR and 2100 SR3 offered wide beams, deep cockpits, decent upholstery and mainstream MerCruiser stern drive power, and they shared much of their engineering with Sea Ray hulls of the same era. Because the brand no longer exists, badge value is low, which is exactly why buyers get so much boat for the money — but parts are not a problem, since the engines, drives, hardware and trim were common Brunswick components still supported today. Condition is everything: check stringers, transom and floor for moisture, and budget for bellows and gimbal service. Get a sound one and a Maxum delivers 90 percent of the family boating experience for half the price of a current model.

Ask anyone at a boat ramp to name a Maxum and you will hear 1800 SR, 1900 SR, 2100 SR3. These are the boats that built the brand's reputation, and each one is documented on its own page on this site with specifications, layout notes, engine options and a real-world price guide.

The Maxum 1800 SR is the model most buyers start with, and it sets the template for the rest of the range: open bow seating, a walk-through windscreen, a helm and companion seat amidships and a convertible transom lounge. Moving up the range adds beam and freeboard rather than just length, and beam is what you actually feel — a wider boat carries more people comfortably, stays flatter at rest and gives deeper lockers under the seats. Trim levels layer on top of the hull sizes, so the same hull can be bought as a plain family boat or fully optioned with tower, sound system and premium upholstery.

Maxum is particularly recognised for 1800 SR, 1900 SR, 2100 SR3 — and the full list of every model, series and range we have documented from this builder appears further down this page.

Maxum's core market is North America — the Great Lakes, the inland reservoirs, the Florida and Gulf coasts, and the Pacific Northwest — where a bowrider is the default family boat and watersports drive the specification. Dealer networks are dense, which is a real advantage for owners: parts, warranty work and trade-in values are all easier when there is a dealer within a couple of hours. Boats are exported widely into Europe, Australia and the Middle East, and the used market outside America is well stocked with grey-import examples.

Being a North America builder matters more than it sounds. Boats are designed around the water their designers use, so the Maxum range reflects North America conditions in freeboard, deadrise, cockpit drainage and seating priorities. If you boat somewhere similar, the boat will feel like it was designed for you — because it was.

Discontinued Brunswick brand that remains one of the best-value used bowriders anywhere. Longevity is its own achievement in this industry: boat building is brutally cyclical, and a company trading since 1988 has survived multiple recessions, fuel shocks, ownership changes and complete generational shifts in what buyers want from a family boat. That kind of continuity is why parts, dealer knowledge and used-boat values all stay healthy for this brand.

Maxum bowriders are especially common in North America and Scandinavia, where large numbers were imported through the 1990s and 2000s.

The brand is known in the trade for 1800 SR and 1900 SR, and among owners for something less measurable: boats that get used every weekend instead of sitting on the driveway. That is the highest compliment a family bowrider can be paid.

Day to day, a Maxum bowrider is judged on the small things. How quickly can two people get it off the trailer and back on again? Where do the wet towels, the ski rope and the cooler live? Is there shade at midday, and somewhere dry for phones and keys? Moulded fibreglass liners with flush hatches make the boat quick to clean and easy to keep looking new. These boats are set up so a single adult can launch, retrieve and pack up without help, which in practice is the difference between a boat that gets used most weekends and one that stays in the driveway.

Running costs are modest for the class. Servicing is conventional and any competent marine mechanic will know the drivetrain, which keeps labour costs sensible. Insurance, storage and trailer registration are the same as any comparable trailer boat, and because Maxum is a recognised name, both insurers and finance companies value the boats without argument.

New production has ended or moved on, which makes this brand a used-market proposition — and a genuinely useful one. Prices are the lowest in the class, the hulls are conventional and well understood, and mechanical parts are mainstream. Buy on condition rather than model year: a covered, dry, well-serviced example will outlast a newer boat that has spent its life uncovered in the weather.

Whatever you buy, inspect it the same way. Check the transom for flex with the drive or outboard lifted, tap the floor and stringers for softness, look hard at the bilge for staining and weeping, run the engine to temperature and confirm steering and trim work through their full travel. Upholstery seams and covers are the first things to fail on a boat stored outside, and they are also the most expensive cosmetic items to put right. On fibreglass, look for gelcoat crazing around fittings and stress lines radiating from the transom or trailer supports.

Finally, buy the layout rather than the badge. Sit in the bow, sit at the helm, sit on the transom lounge and imagine a full day aboard with your own family. Maxum builds budget used fibreglass bowriders with stern drive power, and if that combination matches the water you use and the way you use it, this is a brand that will serve you for years and sell on well when you are ready for the next one.