Family adventures are great. When they take place aboard your boat, they are even better. Creating lifelong memories on the water with people you care about is, in fact, one of the best things about boat ownership.
Family boating adventures can take on many styles and many flavors. Finding a vessel that can deliver on all of the adventure attributes you’re looking for can take your boat days to a whole new level. Here are five of our favorites.
Gator Tough: G3® Jon Boats
The Gator Tough Jon series from G3 presents some great family adventure options. Rugged, durable, and maneuverable, jon boats are perfect for fishing and duck hunting. In fact, they can accommodate a wide variety of on the water activity.
What makes these boats so great for family boating adventures? The rugged aluminum construction makes them perfect for teaching your kids how to use (and grow with) a boat. Navigating tight spaces or shallow backwaters? No problem. And while bumps and scrapes are part of the adventure, these boats are built with durability in mind. Still, always follow proper handling and safety guidelines.
The G3 line runs from 17-20 feet and includes center and side console options. The boats are sold as a package—motor, boat, and trailer. You can add a trolling motor to the bow and you’ll be ready for all manner of family boating adventure for many years to come.
Veranda® Pontoon
Pontoon boats are incredible family adventure platforms. What really sets them apart is the space and passenger capacity they provide.
While a bass boat or bay boat might start feeling a bit cramped with four or five passengers, the pontoon allows you to bring plenty of people. When your kids are young that might mean your family and the family of your kids’ friend. As the kids grow into teenagers, this likely means bringing your kid and four or five of their buddies.
Not only do pontoons allow you to bring more people, but also more gear. Tubes, floating rafts, coolers, fishing gear… bring it all. Just make sure you always observe the boat’s maximum occupancy and weight limits to ensure safe operation.
Veranda Luxury Pontoons bills their line of vessels as a “lifetime of luxury, quality, performance, and enjoyment.” Manufactured using the company’s proprietary all-aluminum, all-welded interlocking deck system, Veranda Pontoons combine quality and style. The result is a tastefully appointed, versatile family adventure platform.
Shallow Sport Boats
Does your brand of family adventure involve chasing inshore gamefish through really shallow water? Like casting to tailing redfish in 8-inches of water shallow water?
If so, you and your family might need a Shallow Sport. Born in Texas in 1982, the first Shallow Sport was hand-built, designed specifically to take advantage of Texas’ vast network of shallow bays and backwaters.
The company’s iconic flats boats employ a quadrahedral double tunnel design that delivers a stable, dry ride, even when conditions get choppy. The tunnel system encases the propeller, delivering a consistent supply of non-aerated water. The boats not only deliver extreme shallow water performance, but are but are designed to be extreme durable.
Shallow Sports are available in three hull styles—multi-hull, quadrahedral and modified v. Models range from the 18’ Sport to the 32’ X3. All models feature the same innovation, technology and performance.
Just how much performance? The 25 X3 has a draft of 5-inches while on plane and 9.5-inches while at rest. That’s a boat with a dry weight of 2,500 pounds that is 25-feet long, that can drive across 6” of water. Pretty incredible.
Sportsman®: A Classic, High-Performance Bay Boat
Hailing from Summerville, South Carolina, Sportsman Boats leads with its commitment to making “family-friendly offshore center consoles.” Sportsman boats are well-made and beautiful.
The bay boat is a well-rounded family adventure vessel. It is ideal for days at the sandbar, cruising up and down the intracoastal, docking at waterfront restaurants, and of course fishing, snorkeling, and the like.
Sportsman’s bay boats are appointed with a great deal of fishing amenity. The quality of the fit and finish matches the thoughtfulness of layout and design.
Sportsman makes three lines—Open (boats designed for offshore applications), Heritage (Classic center consoles. The company bills the Heritage 261 Center Console as “All-Family. All-Cruising. All-Fun”), and Masters (its bay boat line).
Which model is right for you depends on your specific brand of family boating adventure. No matter which direction you go, there are plenty of reasons why an offering from Sportsman makes the list of top family adventure boats.
Skeeter® Deep V - Big Water Fishing Adventures
If your idea of family boating adventure involves chasing walleye, muskie, and northern pike, Skeeter’s Deep V lines have you covered. They are well-made and designed to stand up to big waters on big lakes.
Skeeter’s seven deep v models include all you need for this type of thing. They can accommodate kicker motors on the stern and trolling motors on the bow. They have plenty of seating, storage, and are available with a customizable range of graphs and multi-function displays. These packages are made for serious fishing applications. They could well provide you and your family with years and years of adventure. This is the type of thing that lifelong memories are made of.
Back to Blue Life
Family boating adventures can take on many styles and many flavors. Finding a vessel that can deliver on all of the adventure attributes you’re looking for can take your boat days to a whole new level. Here are five of our favorites.
Gator Tough: G3® Jon Boats
The Gator Tough Jon series from G3 presents some great family adventure options. Rugged, durable, and maneuverable, jon boats are perfect for fishing and duck hunting. In fact, they can accommodate a wide variety of on the water activity.
What makes these boats so great for family boating adventures? The rugged aluminum construction makes them perfect for teaching your kids how to use (and grow with) a boat. Navigating tight spaces or shallow backwaters? No problem. And while bumps and scrapes are part of the adventure, these boats are built with durability in mind. Still, always follow proper handling and safety guidelines.
The G3 line runs from 17-20 feet and includes center and side console options. The boats are sold as a package—motor, boat, and trailer. You can add a trolling motor to the bow and you’ll be ready for all manner of family boating adventure for many years to come.
Veranda® Pontoon
Pontoon boats are incredible family adventure platforms. What really sets them apart is the space and passenger capacity they provide.
While a bass boat or bay boat might start feeling a bit cramped with four or five passengers, the pontoon allows you to bring plenty of people. When your kids are young that might mean your family and the family of your kids’ friend. As the kids grow into teenagers, this likely means bringing your kid and four or five of their buddies.
Not only do pontoons allow you to bring more people, but also more gear. Tubes, floating rafts, coolers, fishing gear… bring it all. Just make sure you always observe the boat’s maximum occupancy and weight limits to ensure safe operation.
Veranda Luxury Pontoons bills their line of vessels as a “lifetime of luxury, quality, performance, and enjoyment.” Manufactured using the company’s proprietary all-aluminum, all-welded interlocking deck system, Veranda Pontoons combine quality and style. The result is a tastefully appointed, versatile family adventure platform.
Shallow Sport Boats
Does your brand of family adventure involve chasing inshore gamefish through really shallow water? Like casting to tailing redfish in 8-inches of water shallow water?
If so, you and your family might need a Shallow Sport. Born in Texas in 1982, the first Shallow Sport was hand-built, designed specifically to take advantage of Texas’ vast network of shallow bays and backwaters.
The company’s iconic flats boats employ a quadrahedral double tunnel design that delivers a stable, dry ride, even when conditions get choppy. The tunnel system encases the propeller, delivering a consistent supply of non-aerated water. The boats not only deliver extreme shallow water performance, but are but are designed to be extreme durable.
Shallow Sports are available in three hull styles—multi-hull, quadrahedral and modified v. Models range from the 18’ Sport to the 32’ X3. All models feature the same innovation, technology and performance.
Just how much performance? The 25 X3 has a draft of 5-inches while on plane and 9.5-inches while at rest. That’s a boat with a dry weight of 2,500 pounds that is 25-feet long, that can drive across 6” of water. Pretty incredible.
Sportsman®: A Classic, High-Performance Bay Boat
Hailing from Summerville, South Carolina, Sportsman Boats leads with its commitment to making “family-friendly offshore center consoles.” Sportsman boats are well-made and beautiful.
The bay boat is a well-rounded family adventure vessel. It is ideal for days at the sandbar, cruising up and down the intracoastal, docking at waterfront restaurants, and of course fishing, snorkeling, and the like.
Sportsman’s bay boats are appointed with a great deal of fishing amenity. The quality of the fit and finish matches the thoughtfulness of layout and design.
Sportsman makes three lines—Open (boats designed for offshore applications), Heritage (Classic center consoles. The company bills the Heritage 261 Center Console as “All-Family. All-Cruising. All-Fun”), and Masters (its bay boat line).
Which model is right for you depends on your specific brand of family boating adventure. No matter which direction you go, there are plenty of reasons why an offering from Sportsman makes the list of top family adventure boats.
Skeeter® Deep V - Big Water Fishing Adventures
If your idea of family boating adventure involves chasing walleye, muskie, and northern pike, Skeeter’s Deep V lines have you covered. They are well-made and designed to stand up to big waters on big lakes.
Skeeter’s seven deep v models include all you need for this type of thing. They can accommodate kicker motors on the stern and trolling motors on the bow. They have plenty of seating, storage, and are available with a customizable range of graphs and multi-function displays. These packages are made for serious fishing applications. They could well provide you and your family with years and years of adventure. This is the type of thing that lifelong memories are made of.
Back to Blue Life