Great Lakes Skipper Blog

Great Lakes Skipper is proud to have sponsored Kristine Fischer, champion angler and fishing guide, in the Hobie Bass Open Series tournament last May. We were thrilled when Kristine took top honors in that competition.

Tubing and water skiing are summer fun at its finest. While water skiing and wakeboarding take practice and a certain amount of bravery, riding a towable tube is easy for almost everyone. Like so many other fun things, though, water sports are not without risk. With a little knowledge and some common sense, you and your friends can stay safe while you have fun.

Boating is like vanilla ice cream: it's refreshing and enjoyable just as it is, but adding a little something extra makes it really special. Music is the perfect ingredient for a stellar boating experience. It's never been easier to take your tunes wherever you go, including on the boat; a smartphone or MP3 player lets you carry a whole music library right in your pocket, and boat stereos now come with Bluetooth® capability so you don't even need a cord to connect.

Despite all the jokes revolving around beer-soaked boat rides, boats and booze don't always mix well. Having an alcoholic drink or two is all right if you're not the one at the helm, but even for passengers, overindulgence on the water isn't wise for safety's sake. Continue reading →

Meet Miss Blue, Denise Frye's pride and joy! Denise and her husband, David, have lovingly restored this beautiful Wellcraft Scarab III boat over the last couple of years, using some parts from Great Lakes Skipper. The couple has put an enormous amount of work into this project, and the results are impressive. Denise was kind enough to answer our questions about it and share some photos of Miss Blue. 

With the right boat and a wake surfboard, the surf’s up whenever you want! No one knows for sure who was the first brave soul to try surfing a boat's wake, but the sport has come a long way since the 1960s, with specially-designed boats and boards. Continue reading →

Summer! It's finally time for long, sunny days, warm weather - and storms, which can cause more damage than just wet clothes and dampened spirits. Strong winds can whip up waves to dangerous heights, and lightning can be lethal.

Shop the Skipper's hatch sale! Get 10% off hatches, doors, and portlights through April 30. 

You're ready for boat season! Your fiberglass is shiny, your decals are brilliant, your chrome is so bright that it shines like the sun itself. How about those hatches? Is the Plexiglas® hatch lens cracked or clouded? Are the frames discolored? Maybe it's time to swap them out for something new.

Get 'em while they're hot! All boat seats are 10% off through April 14, 2019!

New boat upholstery is so beautiful: flawless and firm. As much as we wish it, it doesn't stay that way; the elements inevitably make their mark. When that time comes, you can look at it as a wonderful opportunity to create a custom seating configuration for your boat.

In 1732, an engineer named Henri Pitot got the job of measuring the flow of the Seine, the famous river that bisects the city of Paris. A late bloomer, Pitot seems to have been an unremarkable student until age 19, when he fell in love with geometry after picking up a book on the subject in a shop. Pitot went on to accomplish many feats of engineering in his career, but it's the contraption he devised to measure the speed of water flow that has made his name famous among boaters.