Life is Better on the Water — Issue #1
Life is Better on the Water
Issue #1 — by Better Boat
Something new from Better Boat: You're getting this because you're a Better Boat customer and we thought you'd like it. Life is Better on the Water is our new bi-weekly newsletter: boating news, featured boats, fishing stories, and a bad marina joke, twice a month. Your regular Better Boat emails continue as normal. No strings attached. Just good boating content.
This Week in Boating
Their Life Raft Failed at the Worst Possible Moment. Here Is How They Survived.
Five anglers jumped off a burning 47-foot sportfisher 50 miles off the Carolina coast when the engine bay and galley went fully engulfed just five minutes after lines hit the water. The life raft was current on certification and still refused to inflate. One crewmember grabbed a horseshoe life ring and just stared at the fire instead of putting it on. A GPS smartwatch, a floating handheld VHF, and nearby tournament traffic saved all five lives in eight minutes.
Read more at Boating Magazine →
158-Year-Old Shipwreck Found in Lake Erie, But the Search Cost Its Leader Everything
The Clough spent 158 years sitting on the bottom of Lake Erie before Cleveland Underwater Explorers finally found it. Built in Ohio in 1867, it sank just one year later hauling limestone. The discovery came at a painful cost: CLUE founder David VanZandt died diving for the wreck in June 2024. The National Museum of the Great Lakes is now running a temporary exhibit honoring both the ship and the man who gave everything to find it, open through April 19.
Read more at Lakeland Boating →
Man Faces 10 Years in Jail for Lying About Where He Caught a Bass to Get a Free Replica Mount
A Louisiana man caught a 12-pound largemouth on Vernon Lake, then told officials he caught it on Toledo Bend to score a free replica mount worth $1,200. Game wardens matched the fish by a distinctive bloody tail marking and a social media photo where he wore the same clothes from the day before. The prize he was chasing: a fiberglass replica. The price he now faces: up to 10 years in jail.
Read more at Outdoor Life →
ABYC Celebrates the People Who Keep Your Boat Running
Marine technicians don't get nearly enough credit. ABYC is trying to fix that with the fifth annual International Marine Service Technician Week, running April 20-24. It's a social media celebration, which means the best thing you can do is find your mechanic and say thanks (or at least not complain about the labor rate for one week).
Read more at Boating Industry →
Jarrett Bay's Randy Ramsey Built an American Sportfish Empire, One Boat at a Time
Jarrett Bay is one of the most respected sportfish builders in the world, and Randy Ramsey started it all 40 years ago with nearly 70 builds and counting. His story did not begin with the company and it does not end there either, which means there is a lot more to the man than the boats he has made. Power and Motoryacht sat down to dig into how an American dreamer actually built something that lasts.
Read more at Power and Motoryacht →Featured Boat
Aquila's New 49-Foot Cat Puts Living Space First
Aquila debuted the 2026 50 Sail at the Miami International Boat Show, a 49-foot catamaran built around a forward fixed cockpit designed as usable living space rather than neglected bow real estate. Below deck, owners choose between diesel or a fully integrated hybrid electric system, and the interior scales from 4 to 6 cabins with a galley sized for real cooking on long passages. For anyone weighing a liveaboard purchase or a charter investment, this boat signals a shift toward asking what people actually need after 60 days at sea.
Read more at Boating World →Gone Fishing
Florida Keys Charter Captain Wins a Five-Hour War With a 480-Pound Swordfish
A 480-pound swordfish. Five hours. A family fishing trip. That is not a catch, that is a story someone will be telling at boat ramps for the next decade. The captain hauled one of the largest swordfish seen in the Florida Keys in years, which says something about both the fishery and whoever was on that rod. The town, apparently, ate well.
Read more at Coastal Angler →What Your Boat Really Needs
NeighborSense Anchor Alarm
NeighborSense continuously monitors surrounding vessels and emits a low-frequency tone detectable only by the offending boat's hull when another anchor comes within 200 feet of yours during the night. Clinical trials conducted at a marina in Sarasota show a 94% compliance rate among boats within the first warning cycle.
Overheard at the Marina
The boat ramp on a Sunday morning is the only place where a grown adult will spend 45 minutes backing a trailer perfectly, finally get it right, and still get unsolicited coaching from four strangers who are worse at it than he is.
Better Boat Pick
