Center Lift Pontoon Trailers - What You Need to Know

Center lift pontoon trailers fit between the pontoon tubes and lift the pontoon boat on the bottom of the floor cross members. Center lift pontoon trailers, sometimes called Scissor or Up/Down trailers are popular with marine dealers, lake homeowners associations, or anyone else who wishes to pick a boat out of the water, set it down elsewhere, and free up the trailer to use again. The other advantage is that the center lift pontoon trailer allows you to launch and retrieve your pontoon boat in the shallowest water. You can back the center lift pontoon trailer into the water, crank it up, and pull your pontoon boat from just about anywhere it will float.

The drawback of a center lift pontoon trailer is that the pontoon boat rides on a narrow axle (most are 44") and the pontoon trailer is not as stable on the road as our 96" wide Flote-On models. If you are going short distances, launch in shallow water, or have a few friends who might "chip in" to buy a trailer, the center lift pontoon trailer may be for you.

We handle three different styles of center lift pontoon trailers, all made by national manufacturers.

The CL16-18 is a scissor trailer that raises straight up or down. It will drop your pontoon boat exactly where you stop the trailer. It is a single-axle trailer and has a carrying capacity of only 2000 pounds. The CL-18 is 48" wide and will fit between 19", 21", and most 23" diameter pontoons.

The CL-20 and CL-20T are scissor lift trailers - the frame raises and lowers in straight up and down.  This style pontoon boat trailer drops your pontoon exactly where you stop the trailer.  One has is a single-axle and capacity of #2000 and the other has a carrying capacity of #4000.  Each trailer is 48" wide and will fit between 19"-21" tubes easy and most 23" pontoon tubes

The CL-25 is the finest, heaviest-duty center lift pontoon trailer available. It is a cantilever style, like the CL-20 and CL-22, but with a "super sized" construction. The frame is 4" x 3", 12-gauge steel and the trailer rides on "torsion axles" for a smooth, anti-sway ride. A pulley lifting system in the stern of the trailer raises even the heaviest pontoon boats. This is the type of trailer that marine dealers trust of their use and is the only center lift pontoon trailer that we recommend for the heavy, modern pontoon boats.

Our center lift trailers come with everything you need, including a swing-away tongue jack. All models take a standard 2-inch trailer ball and the common flat 4-plug wiring, standard on most vehicles.  The CL-16/18 & CL-20/22 are 48" wide, the CL-25 is 44" wide.  To know for sure which Center Lift pontoon trailer will fit on your pontoon boat, measure the distance between the pontoon boat tubes.  Be sure to measure in the BACK because some styles of pontoon boat nose cones slop in the front.