How did you get into boating?

[willyswagon]

Just had a feed tonight. A buddy called me up 2 nights ago and asked if i had any plans for supper Sunday night. I said "no, why".
He said he'd be by in 5 min. Showed up in the driveway with 10 1.5 lb lobsters. Some treat!

[Motex2011]

Started slow for me. A friend's family had boats and I rode on them a few times and knew right away that being near a body of water just relaxed me and made me happy. Married a wonderful woman who’s family rented houseboats on Table Rock Lake almost every year and I was eventually included in 1991 and I was hooked. So, I leached rides on the boats of friends and family members (Rinker, Celebrity, Glastron, Pontoons, Formulas, etc.) until my wife and I bought a lot on a small private lake with her best friend and her husband and we bought a new 24’ pontoon with a 2 stroke Yamaha 115HP in 2002. We used the snot out of that boat and watched all of our kids and several of their friends grow up swimming and tubing and coving out. We didn’t have cell service at the lake house or a TV. Just boating, music, games and laughing. Al (the best Friend’s husband) and I wanted to go faster, so we bought and installed a Pontoon Water Glide (See Pic) and “performance sheeting to cover the bottom of the toon. It was AWESOME. We could achieve well into the 30s after being stuck in the 20s and it really upped the game on tubing for the kids.

Along the way, I also wanted a ski boat and started to horse trade boats on my own. Started with a 16’ Galaxy tri-hull. I personally redid the vinyl and cleaned it up. Bought it for $500 and sold it for $1,200 a few years later. I actually took it to TRL just to see what it would do and it was SCARY. Imagine a 16 foot tri hull on a weekend at TRL around 2007 down around the dam. After I sold that, I found a wonderful 1971 IMP Aztec. It was built like a tank and was in great shape for it’s age. I pulled that boat all over and made a ton of memories. Had it several years and pulled it to Texas when we moved and eventually sold it when we got too busy to use it and the lakes didn't impress us. I don't know the history of IMP, but I can tell you that it rivaled Cobalt in quality and toughness. That boat was a freaking heavy and the helm was pretty far forward, so the cockpit area was pretty big. I will always have a soft spot for IMP boats.

Fast forward to July 2019. Take my wife to Possum Kingdom Lake for a weekend and rent a 19’ Chaparral and spend 4 hours remembering how much we loved boats. While floating in the cove, my wife said “I’m not saying we can get a boat, but…..” Three weeks later, drove 1,200 miles round trip to buy our current boat.

[Big Block Power]

That's a awesome story motex!
Loce the IMP!

I've never seen that glide thing. It's a trihull pontoon.

[AsLan7]

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Yes,enjoyed reading the family boating history. With pics no less!...thank you Motex for sharing!