Protecting Pontoon Boat Decks

Written by Thomas Holley


Continued from page 1

A pontoon boat that has been treated well, and routinely covered when not in use will also have a higher resale value than a comparable model that has not been protected. A regularly protected pontoon boat will look cleaner and newer overall, and be a much more desirable vessel for boating adventure.

Another part of your pontoon boat deck to look at protecting is any seats and upholstered items that you have located on an exposed part of your deck. When exposed torepparttar sun,repparttar 137409 colors in these items tend to fade and can begin to look old and dilapidated. The upholstery in a chair that has never been sat in, can eventually wear out due to sun and wind exposure, as well as exposure to other elements. For this reason it is important to cover your deck and upholstery when your pontoon boat is not in use. You may also want to consider purchasing a canopy of some sort to go overrepparttar 137410 deck; this can help not only shield your furniture from harmful UV rays, but your passengers as well.

Thomas Holley is owner of Pontoon-Boat-Products.com where you can find all your pontoon boat products and accessories. Pontoon-Boat-Products.com, because we know where you'd rather be. Also, be sure and sign up for our free newsletter, "The Pontoon Boating Life."


Rafters Rapture - Chiriqui Panama River Running

Written by Jim Hollister


Continued from page 1

Sanchez leads us to a van where our young guide Leignadier “Len” Santos awaits. At twenty-one Len has four years experience with Chiriqui River Rafting and is one of those seen inrepparttar company video skillfully maneuveringrepparttar 137408 big rapids. We pile in with our gear, wave goodbye to Sanchez, and head south forrepparttar 137409 hour’s drive torepparttar 137410 Esti. Near our put in point we pick up another young man who will driverepparttar 137411 leap-frog route down river meeting us for lunch and, we trust, an end-of-day ride back torepparttar 137412 town of Boquete .

This part of Panama still feels quite wild, and as we approachrepparttar 137413 river, we see it is wide and moving very fast. We don our life vests and helmets take charge of our plastic paddles, and with some trepidation slide intorepparttar 137414 surge. Len works to get us oriented by calling out a number of commands and soon we are doing 360s downrepparttar 137415 middle ofrepparttar 137416 flow. Overrepparttar 137417 next two hours we handlerepparttar 137418 rapids well, gain confidence in our abilities and feel relaxed for most ofrepparttar 137419 morning’s ride. Alongrepparttar 137420 way we see egrets, kingfishers, cormorants, blackbirds, hawks, and impressive vultures hovering overhead. We joke about how they are working this part ofrepparttar 137421 waters in anticipation of our demise. Onrepparttar 137422 river banks we see lizards and large iguana. Thriving inrepparttar 137423 massive shade trees overhangingrepparttar 137424 river are numerous epiphytes with varieties of purple and red flowers. We watch a river otter catch fish and then swim alongside close enough for us to look into his eyes. Twice we see Ngobe-Bugle (Guaymi) Indian women washing clothes alongrepparttar 137425 river’s edge. The air smells soft and fragrant withrepparttar 137426 flowers that surround us. Ofrepparttar 137427 climate in this part ofrepparttar 137428 country it is said to be like eternal Spring. We climb inside our thoughts for brief stretches of time and soak up Panama's luscious nature. In silence we seem to acknowledge that we are somewhat awed by where we find ourselves on this particular mid-week day.

After shooting two hours worth of Class II rapids, Len guides us to a landing under a highway overpass and we meet our number-two man who has lunch already set out. We make sandwiches with cold cuts and fresh bread, slurp sodas like we’ve been inrepparttar 137429 desert, and polish off sweet treats as though they might be our last. After thirty minutes of rest we are back inrepparttar 137430 raft and heading forrepparttar 137431 homestretch.

Underway only a few minutes we get sideways in what appears to berepparttar 137432 only Class III section

To read this entire feature FREE with photos cut and paste this link: http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/sports02/raft/panama/chirqui/chirqui.html

Jim Hollister, Jetsetters Magazine Editor – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com



Jim Hollister, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com


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