grand haven pontoon rental
 

My family and I are renting in Grand Haven, MI in a few weeks. Any ideas about where to rent a pontoon boat for a day or a few hours? The sites I've checked are all really far from Grand Haven (over 50 miles) and considering this is a "beachtown" in MI, I was hoping to find a place to rent a pontoon. Any ideas???

Will you be renting a room/cottage? If so, ask the person you are renting from. If not, call the Grand Haven Chamber of Commerce - I know their Chamber is very knowledgable!

We are renting a cottage but the person we are renting from does not seem to be too knowledgeable about this topic.

I googled "grand haven mi marinas" and came up with 3 that are within 3 miles. Worth giving them a call to see if they do rentals.

I am no help with the pontoon rental, but couldn't help clicking on your thread when I came across it. Grand Haven is one of our favorite places (along with the surrounding area)!
We always stop by Butch's Beach Burritos when we visit the boardwalk.
Enjoy your trip and good luck with the boat rental!

I am in no way an expert but IMHO a pontoon on Lake Michigan is very dangerous. We sailed Lake Michigan for 8 seasons and I cannot remember seeing any pontoon boats. Again, IMO, a pontoon has no ballast and could be easily flipped.

I'm going to agree with CD - I don't think you'd want to take a pontoon on Lake Michigan. The Grand Haven channel is very choppy at times, and the big lake can get pretty rough at times too. I wouldn't take a pontoon boat out there! You might have better luck renting a fishing boat, or finding a charter company. Nearby Spring Lake might have some pontoon rentals though. You might want to check the classifieds on mlive.com.

Thanks for all the help. We weren't considering going on a pontoon on the Big Lake, but I have heard about Spring Lake. How far is that about from Grand Haven and is that a good place to visit for a day and maybe rent a boat there? What is there to do in Spring Lake? Is it worth going Saugatuck or South Haven to rent a boat for a day? What are the thoughts out there???

Thanks again for all the help...keep it coming!

Spring Lake is a rather large lake surrounded by beautiful homes. I don't know of any places to rent boats there though. You may want to call a couple of the marinas in Grand Haven for boat rental recommendations - The Wharf and Grand Isle are two that come to mind. And yes, if you can find a boat to rent, the trip to Saugatuck, or even Holland, is worth it. You may also want to consider going north past Muskegon to White Lake/Montague, Pentwater or Ludington too.

Good luck!

Travel Addict
Just for clarification, I do not believe he meant to boat to Saugatuck but rather to drive there and rent a boat for a day if any rentals and calm lakes available. He wants a pontoon boat which could not be taken from Grand Haven to Saugatuck.

Good point, CD. I was thinking if they could find a powerboat to rent, the trip from GH to anywhere north or south of there is worth it - if nothing else, just to check out all the expensive homes along the water. Definitely not for pontoon boats though!

Driving to any of those places is worth it too - especially Saugatuck.

We just spent 5 days in Grand Haven at my aunt's house and although we did not have an opportunity to check it out in person we were greatly interested in the sailboat rental available in South Haven (http://www.shaulsails.com/). the prices seemed very reasonable.

Thanks so much for all the responses everyone. And yes, we were talking about renting a boat outside of GH but a powerboat is not great for us at this time...but the trip to the other towns will most likely be our best bet.

Any ideas for kids in GH? Places to eat, bike paths, good beach ideas...well, you get the point.

Last week we took a great bike ride along Lake Shore Drive. The paths look brand new. We stopped at Kirk Park which had beautiful dunes and beaches. They also had nice hiking trails with great scenic stops along the way. A list of the local parks can be found at http://www.grandhavenchamber.org/At_Play/beach.html