By Meggie Welch
Geist Lake Marina has been offering pontoon rentals for over 15 years, and has grown in popularity so much, the marina began to offer kayaks for rent.
Kent Duckwall, the director of marina operations at Geist Lake Marina and Morse Lake Marina, says a great deal of their renters are families, but sometimes corporations will rent them out for a company event or a bachelor/bachelorette party will rent out a pontoon boat for the night.
At first the customers were only from around the area, as only people from the neighborhoods of Geist were allowed to rent, but in recent times the renting has become available to anyone and has reached from northern Indiana, southern Indiana and all the way to western Ohio. When there are big events in the area, such as the Indianapolis 500, Duckwall will notice an increase in demand, along with around the holiday seasons.
While the marina is opened from mid-April to mid-November, the most popular time to rent is on the weekends in the summer months from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Duckwall is interested in putting enclosures on the pontoons to lengthen the time people could enjoy the lake.
A neat service the Geist Lake Marina offers is the rental of two smaller pontoon boats for beginner boaters to learn the rules of the water. The marina also gives every renter an orientation before leaving for their trip.
“A lot of people will either return to rent often and continue to do so,” Duckwall said, “or will decide to buy a boat for the long-term.” The opportunity to rent for a day or evening is appealing to former boat-owners that do not get out on the water enough to own their own vessel, but still want to be out on the water.
Geist Lake Marina is located at 11695 Fall Creek Rd. in Indianapolis and it offers rentals of pontoons and kayaks every day, either for the whole day, the evening or hourly (two hour minimum). To find out more about renting availability and rates, go to www.marinalimited.com or call 849-9455.
