News — pontoon boat

Hey Boat Santa! Christmas is Here and We're Your Elves

Well, Christmas is here and you still haven't finished your holiday shopping. OK, so you're not exactly the most efficient Santa in the world.

You're forgiven.

The good news is, you still have a little bit of time — and a whole bunch of options if one of the outstanding gifts is for the boat lover in your life.

Let's start with accessories. You can scoop up some high-end, low-maintenance boat tables for less than $200. Is your budget even tighter? How about drink holders, cleats or battery boxes for inside $100?

For about the same price range, you could also delight your boat lover with some awesome high-tech electronics. I'm thinking fish finders, receivers and marine speakers — all of which are in the same price range as the other stuff we mentioned.

If that's a little too much for you, you can still pick up a gift that can wow just as much. Let's talk lighting. We've got standard lights, folding lights, LED lights, clamp-on round lights, bow lights and sidelights, all for less than $50.

Looking to splurge? Check out our discount kits — there is simply no better value in the entire world of boating. Our discount seating and flooring kits run the gamut from small two-seaters to the biggest family affairs.

All of them come complete with high-quality seating and storage and MariDeck flooring, which will blow away the pathetic boat carpeting your boat lover has been settling for. All of it designed to endure for years in the most demanding marine conditions.

So, you're not the most diligent Santa that's ever wandered out of the North Pole. That's OK. You still have time, and when you're shopping for a boat lover, you've got all kinds of options for every budget.

Shopping For The Boat Lover In Your Life Just Got Easier

If your holiday shopping schedule includes getting the perfect gift for a boat lover, consider yourself lucky — you've got it easy.

Boat lovers are easy to shop for. Why? Because no matter how amazing a boat is, you can always make it better.

Take Marideck flooring, for example. There's a very good chance that the boat lover in your life is traipsing around on gross, grimy boat carpeting. You can fix all that this holiday season by giving the gift of vinyl flooring.

With Marideck flooring, you've got options. Choose the thickness, texture, pattern and color that's right for your boat lover. No matter what you choose, that primitive old boat carpeting becomes a beautiful, safe, non-slip, easy-to-clean surface that can stand the test of time — and feet.

You want to take it a step further? Let's talk about boat tech. Fish finders are always a good gift — unless, of course, your boat lover isn't an angler. You don't have to be a fisherman to love music. You could hook your boat lover up with a stereo package, audio receiver or new speakers.

If you're looking for a more practical gift, how about on-board charges, which always charge at precisely the right temperature. There are a million and one accessories, seats, tables, drinks holders and fence savers to choose from.

See, told you it was easy.

It's up to you, maritime Santa. You know your boat lover better than us. But either way, consider yourself lucky — you won't have to visit a mall this winter.

Is Your Boat Worth Saving? Keep In Mind That It's More Than Just A Boat

Your boat has seen better days. Getting it back into shape will require some time, some effort and, of course, some money.

Is it worth the hassle? Should you just sell it while it's still worth something and get what you can while you can?

It depends. What's the value of a memory?

When people spend time on the water, especially when they're young, those memories have a way of turning out to be the best and most important of their entire lives.

Boats are transportation. They move people and things across bodies of water. But anyone who's ever spent time on the lake with their family knows that a boat can be so much more. Fishing with your dad. Tubing with your kids. Watching sunsets with your husband ... or your wife, depending on who's driving.

Either way, those outboard motors do more than displace water to create motion. They're memory machines. If you grew up on a lake and you hear the sound of a boat engine starting up years or even decades later, the nostalgia you feel for a time and place that's gone forever can be overwhelming.

That old boat of yours is rusty and worn and outdated. Is it worth salvaging? It may be tough to justify on a dollars-and-cents calculation, but you should keep in mind that value can't always be measured in cost.

If you do decide to invest in resurrecting your boat and then question your decision when the going gets tough, take comfort in knowing that your salvaging a lot more than just metal and fiberglass. Your breathing life back into the thing that's most likely to give birth to a even a few more irreplaceable memories — and you can't put a price on that.

5 Reasons Why No Experience On Earth Compares To Boating

The Boat is Just A Thing That People Float On

They call it boating, but it should actually be called people-ing. Forget the machine; the real joy of boating is the friends and family who you take out on the water. A boat is just fiberglass, metal, wood and — if you're smart — quality vinyl flooring. The memories are made by and for the people on board.

Miles Don't Matter

Whether you're on the open ocean way out past the horizon or just a few dozen yards off shore on the lake, you're always a million miles away. When you crank that engine and hit the water, your stress, your problems, your worries and your drama stay back on land.

Healthy Body, Healthy Mind

Boating is good for you. It's all about fresh air, physical activity and sunshine. Even better, boating has meditative qualities that can still the mind and quiet the psyche. Get up, get out, go boating.

Fun. For. Everyone.

You don't have to be certain age to go boating. There's no such thing as too old or too young. There's no height requirement — you don't even have to know how to swim. Men, women, girls, boys, young, old — everyone. Boating is for everyone.

Facebook before There Was Facebook

Boaters wave and smile when they pass each other on the water. They talk while they're waiting to fuel up. They chat and share stories while they're in line for the ramp. Before there was social media, there was boating — and there still is. What are you doing on your computer — the water's beautiful.