Gift Guide for Family and Pontoon Boat Owners

Whether it’s towables, loungers, standup paddle boards, or “islands,” inflatables add fun to a day on the water. Blowing them up, though, can be a hassle with a portable electric or manual pump.

The new ATMOS waterproof built-in air station, on the other hand, provides on-demand air via an eight-foot hose and can inflate a typical SUP to 20 psi in six to eight minutes.

So a trash container may not seem like the most exciting gift, but a practical trash management system on a boat is a big deal.

Most boats don’t have any kind of built-in trash receptacle, so water bottles, cans, wrappers and so on tend to get stashes in corners and compartments.

Then the boat owner has to collect all of it at the end of the day.

An inexpensive, highly practical gift idea, the SubSafe elegantly solves the age-old problem of pulling a soggy sandwich out of the cooler at lunchtime.

It can also work as a waterproof, secure container for phones, wallets, medications and other small items.

There’s nothing quite like grilling on the water or pulled up at the beach or sandbar, but garden-variety grills don’t work well on boats. Not only are they susceptible to corrosion, but they can let heat and drippings leak onto the deck.

Magma’s Kettle Grills, Cabo Grill, and Chefsmate Grill, though, are purpose-built for marine use. They can be mounted in a variety of ways, including clamping onto a round or square rail and dropping into a flush-mount rod holder. All of them also make great tabletop grills for shoreside picnics.

For the “less athletic” boater on your list, an aftermarket trailer step can make launching, retrieving, and maintenance much easier. The FlexStep Pro mounts easily to most trailer frames with four bolts and can be adjusted to 16 different combinations of angle and length. This is definitely preferable to climbing over your trailer winch or spare tire.

Made to clamp onto a standard square pontoon rail in seconds with no assembly, tools, or modifications required, the Pontoon Drink and Wine Bar securely holds cans, glasses, Yeti-style tumblers, Solo cups, soda bottles, wine bottles and even stemware.

A larger version with a center serving tray is also available, and both sizes can be ordered in white or tan.

For pontoon owners who like to do more than wet the occasional line, check out this freestanding fishing center, which securely holds four rods and four tackle trays and features a deep storage drawer and a convenient cutting surface.

The drawer and tackle tray slots are lockable, so gear can stay on the boat. And because this is a freestanding unit, the only mounting requirement is a 21” x 10” open area on deck.

No stereo? No problem. This universal-fit phone/speaker holder accommodates both a smartphone and a wide variety of bluetooth speakers and mounts in seconds to a standard square pontoon railing with no tools or modifications.

It’s just as easy to take off when not in use or to move around to different parts of the boat.

Lots of pontoons are designed with a popup changing/privacy room built into the back of one of the loungers.

They generally don’t work as well in practice, though, as they do in theory, and many end up musty, dusty and unused. But on many models, the changing room can be easily replaced with a clever folding entertainment table that mounts into the exact same cutout in a matter of minutes. 

For boaters who like to have a rod or two on board but don’t want to install anything permanently, this handy grab-n-go tackle caddy is an ideal solution. It clamps easily to a standard square pontoon rail with no tools or modification and holds two rods, two tackle trays, pliers and a knife.

Best of all, it includes a built-in carrying handle so it can be simply lifted off the railing and carried fully loaded back up the dock at the end of the day.