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Five Easy Ways to Spruce up Your Boat

Ever feel like the inside of your boat is a bit…blah? Want to spruce up your boat but not spend a lot of money?

Here are five affordable items to spruce up your boat and help make your home away from home a bit more exciting.

Imtra St. Maarten Light

Make your boat a little lighter and a lot brighter. Accentuate a painting, illuminate small spaces, or swivel to illuminate your reading with the Imtra St. Maarten Light. The stainless-steel mount with a hand-crafted, blown glass swirl globe by the Pairpoint Glass Company, located off the Cape Cod Canal, also includes a built-in USB port.

MSRP $199

imtra.com

303 Mold and Mildew Cleaner + Blocker

Before you spruce up your boat, you’re going to have to clean it!

As the summer winds down, get a head start on your winter cleanup with 303 Mold and Mildew Cleaner + Blocker. Perfect for any water-safe surface, including vinyl and fabrics, it also prevents future mold and mildew stains from reoccurring. The biodegradable, bleach and dye-free formula provides an environmentally safe clean.

MSRP $14.99 for 16 oz. bottle

goldeagle.com

Pelican Pillow from Shoreline Style

We’ve never met a pelican we didn’t like and this is no exception.

Enhance your nautical décor with this Pelican Pillow from Shoreline Style. The family-owned, Florida Gulf Coast company offers a variety of coastal designs in pillows, rugs, furniture, and accessories. Made with outdoor, fade-resistant, 100-percent polyester fabric, the corded pillow is machine washable and available with teal or cream background.

MSRP from $29

shorelinestyle.com

Fitz and Floyd Dinnerware Collection

Nothing adds a little pizzazz like some new dishes!

Add a new design to your table settings with Fitz and Floyd Starfish & Coral Dinnerware Collection. Featuring a starfish, coral, and shell pattern, the set is crafted of porcelain and is microwave and oven safe. Platters are also available.

MSRP $31.95

bedbathandbeyond.com

Creekkoole Cooler

A ‘kooler’ looking cooler will make you feel like your whole boat got an upgrade.

Enjoy the dog days of summer floating on the water, and keep your favorite food and beverages close by with the Creeekkool The insulated, floating cooler has superior ice retention, and its kayak-style design tags along easily with your kayak, canoe, SUP, or raft.

MSRP $165

kanoolerproducts.com

Palm Cay

Palm Cay is a welcome addition to New Providence, Bahamas

The Bahamas’ legendary gin-clear water, 700 islands and couple thousand coral reefs await those who depart the U.S. East Coast and cross the Atlantic Gulf Stream. But if all that hasn’t been enough of a reason for you to throw off your dock lines and take your family and friends cruising, here’s another one: Palm Cay Marina.

At the southeast end of Providence Island, Palm Cay’s 157-slip marina (up to 110’ LOA, 8’ draft at full low tide) is only 28 miles to the closest point in the Exumas, so it’s an ideal base from which to begin and end your Bahamas cruising. “Palm Cay is the ideal location for cruisers. We are close to ATMs, postal services, and grocery stores for provisioning, and we have three courtesy cars we provide to marina guests complimentary for two hours,” says Dockmaster Demaro Demeritte. The marina also has a snack bar that serves Starbucks and a laundry service.

New Orleans-based Lloyd and Marcelle Frischhertz cruised The Bahamas for four years but kept their boat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for closer access. They saw the Palm Cay booth at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in 2017 and decided to keep their Intrepid Sportyacht Happy Daze there the next year. “We’ve had our boat at Palm Cay since June so we could take better advantage of our Bahamas cruising permit. We just fly back and forth whenever we want to cruise,” said Lloyd, whose childhood friends and boat-mates, Mickey and Pam LeJeune join them frequently.

The two couples also enjoy the amenities of the Palm Cay Beach Club, where a three-day member for $15 per person provides access to the pool and pool bar, lounge chairs, towel service, and beach swimming area.

Southern Boating, September 2018

Learn more about The Bahamas

Center Console Roundup

Center (Console) of Attention

Far beyond the basics, today’s center consoles offer features to make boating more fun. And, in some cases, more luxurious. Our Center Console Roundup has options for anyone.

Essential features on today’s center consoles include outboard engines, spacious cockpits, high gunwales, helm areas aft of the console, and open bows. Fortunately, for the boating enthusiast who wants a little more oomph, today’s builders also offer extravagances like cabins, comfy seats, side doors for easier boarding, swim platforms, air conditioning, stabilizers, and quad 400-horsepower engines. These extra features do not take away from the center console’s utility. Rather, they smooth out the rough edges, allowing modern boaters a more satisfying experience in a bespoke vessel purpose-built for diving, fishing, luxury cruising, water sports, or whatever they desire.

The marriage of the center console design with quiet, efficient, four-stroke outboard power that pushes 400-horsepower per engine and beyond has helped models grow to 40 feet LOA and longer. While 20-footers with single engines still make up the largest market share, bigger center console boats showcase the best the marine industry has to offer. What follows is a look at some of the top center consoles on the market today.

By Doug Thompson, Southern Boating July 2018

Want more Center Consoles?

Download the 2017 Center Console Roundup

Download the 2016 Center Console Roundup

Preserved Fruit Parfaits

It doesn’t get much easier than this. Fruit, yogurt, and nuts are basic ingredients, yes. But together, they meld into a simply delightful dessert, these preserved fruit parfaits.

Ingredients:

½ cup slivered almonds (or other favorite nuts)
1 cup fruit preserves (strawberry, raspberry, cherry, blueberry, peach, apricot, or combine to use up)
2 cups plain unsweetened yogurt

Directions:

Toast almonds in a skillet on medium low until they are slightly golden and set aside. Heat jam gently in a microwave or on stove top until just warmed. Place ½ cup yogurt in each of 4 dessert bowls and pour ¼ cup jam over each bowl of yogurt. Top each with a sprinkling of slivered almonds and serve.

By Lori Ross, Southern Boating September 2018

More Cleanout the pantry recipes:

Pineapple Punch

Seafood Bites

Bean and Bacon Soup

Muffaletta Pasta Salad

It’s all Greek to me! And I’m glad it is. This Greek-style muffaletta pasta salad uses the best of what you’ve got aboard to make a meal that would make anyone want to say Opa. Opt for high-quality ingredients here. It makes all the difference in terms of flavor.

Ingredients:

1 lb. small pasta (macaroni, orecchiette, rigatoni or fusilli), freshly cooked and drained
4 Tbsp. oil, divided
1 cup onion, finely chopped (or 1 Tbsp. onion powder)
2 garlic cloves, minced (or ½ tsp. garlic powder)
15 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
5 oz. can roasted peppers, drained and diced
1 ½ cups diced summer sausage or salami
2 cups feta, kasseri, mozzarella or other favorite cheese, diced or crumbled
2 Tbsp. capers, drained (or pepperoncini peppers or sour pickles, chopped)
3 Tbsp. pitted green or black olives or a mixture of both
10 sun-dried tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
1 tsp. dried oregano
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
¼ tsp. each salt and pepper

Directions:

Toss warm pasta with 2 tablespoons oil and set aside. In a skillet over medium, heat 2 remaining tablespoons of oil and sauté the onion and garlic until soft, about 7 minutes.

Combine onion and garlic with remaining ten ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Pour the warm pasta into a bowl and toss. Add more salt, pepper or lemon juice to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.

By Lori Ross, Southern Boating September 2018