Larson Powerboats for Sale

Larson

Larson was a brand for people who wanted to get out on the water – nothing more, nothing less.

An American yard with a very long history

Larson is one of the historic names in American powerboat building. Its roots go back to 1913, when Paul Larson started building boats in the US state of Minnesota. That makes Larson one of the oldest powerboat brands in North America. Over the decades, the family yard grew into a broadly positioned production brand for leisure boats of widely varying sizes and usage profiles.

Technically sound production expertise

Larson was not a yard that became famous for trend-setting or even avant-garde engineering. Its reputation was based more on well-balanced planing boats for the broad market. Trade tests of the LXi 238 highlighted build quality, handling and the overall coherent value for money. In US tests, the FX 1850 DC was described as a practical, versatile fishing and family boat with outboard power of up to 200 hp. So Larson did not build exotics, but solid leisure boats with a clear idea of how they would be used.

Sport cruisers – surprisingly fast

The brand becomes interesting where it moved up into the larger cabin boats. In tests, the Larson 330 Cabrio was described as a surprisingly fast sport cruiser alternative with strong range; in a comparison test at BoatTEST it was out in front on cruising speed and at the same time offered the greatest range in the field. Boats like these show clearly what Larson was aiming for in the upper leisure segment: not luxury superyachts, but affordable American planing cabin boats with plenty of weekend and holiday potential.

A yard history with breaks

The yard's long history was by no means a straight line, however. Larson did not remain the independent family brand from Minnesota for good, but later became part of larger American boating groups, among them Genmar Holdings. After the collapse of Genmar, brands, responsibilities and production structures changed hands several times. In 2019, Larson came to Polaris through the purchase of the Larson Boat Group. As early as 2020, Polaris then announced that it would discontinue production of Larson FX and other fiberglass brands.

Today more a brand with an echo than a large active yard

That is exactly why Larson is mainly of interest on the used boat market today. Many of the brand's boats are still around, spare parts and know-how circulate through dealers, workshops and the owner scene, but as an active, broadly positioned yard Larson no longer plays the same role today as it did in earlier decades.