"I COULD NEVER GO BACK TO A REGULAR BOAT WITH NO LANDING GEAR"

“I COULD NEVER GO BACK TO A REGULAR BOAT WITH NO LANDING GEAR”

January 24, 2023

The owner of an Iguana X100 in Maryland, USA, tells us how much he appreciates the boat and its unique ability to travel on land. George Tunis joined the Iguana family in 2020 and the X100 is his first Iguana.

"I LITERALLY CANNOT IMAGINE NOW HAVING A BOAT WITHOUT A LAND DRIVE SYSTEM"

Once you have had an iguana it’s impossible to go back to a regular boat. I think most boat owners have experienced this: when you get a boat all of a sudden the bays and the ocean become your backyard, your territory expands enormously. The freedom is just incredible. And with an Iguana, you can almost double that because now just about everywhere you go, you can land. It should be on almost every boat. It’s a brilliant evolution of boats. I think people that try an Iguana and go up on a beach once, can’t undo it. Iguana boats are very addictive.

"THE EXPERIENCES I CAN ACCESS ARE PROBABLY ONE OF THE GREATEST LUXURY IN MY LIFE"

We are in Ocean City and we often use the boat to go to Assateague Island. I would say we use the boat once to five times every weekend. Some of the islands we live close to are marshy and muddy, there’s places you really can’t go without an Iguana.

The boat is cavernous inside, it has a lot of really good storage. We have underneath the center console, beach chairs, umbrellas, beach toys, firewood, and boogie boards. We use the boat as a giant toy box, a safari vehicle to go have fun.

Driving the boat up onto a deserted beach, having a bonfire, roasting some marshmallows with the kids, and letting the stars come out, then everybody jumps back on the boat and we’re home, is probably the greatest luxury in my life. You could give me a billion dollars and there’s no way I can have more fun.

The boat has great lighting, a FLIR camera, and radar. So I feel very safe driving the boat at night.

"IT MAKES YOU APPRECIATE THE NATURAL BEAUTY WITHOUT EVER HURTING IT"

Our region gets really crowded in the summer. There are about 10 miles of paved roads in the Assateague National Park, there’s nowhere to turn around, and you could be trapped for hours in your car. The cars are all running and keeping their air conditioning on. The carbon footprint of that is terrible. That’s just not a very environmentally sound way to get there. With my electric drive Iguana, I get directly to the beach. To leave, I drive another 20 yards and I am back in the water again. Our tracks are always erased by the next high tide. It makes you appreciate the natural beauty, instead of parking lots. It’s really been good for our little girls to understand the water, the beach, and the environment.

"THE BOAT IS EXTREMELY CAPABLE ON LAND AND ON WATER"

We land in some decent-sized waves. Three to four-foot surf is very safe with families on board. It’s incredibly safe in the surf because you’re above the waves when you’re on the tracks.

It is the driest boat I’ve ever owned. At sea, because of the way it deflects the spray with the tubes, it really keeps you dry, even when it’s choppy and windy. It is an incredibly seaworthy boat in surf conditions and it has a very low center of gravity.

I have found that the boat passes in really soft mud. It will get through just about anything. The thing’s incredible on land and extremely capable on water. It does well in both environments.

"THIS INVENTION HAS ELIMINATED ALL THE STRESS AND HASSLE"

Near the inlet where we live, there’s a big sandbar. When the tide is changing, there’s a lot of current so it takes at least two anchors to attach your boat securely. When the tide comes back in, you’ve got to change all your anchor lines. It’s no fun and there will be hundreds of boats trying to get good anchoring spots in the summertime. This invention has eliminated all of that stress and hassle. When it’s six inches deep, we can just crawl right up with the caterpillar drive and get out on dry land.

"THE BOAT IS OUR CAR"

In the summertime, and even in the wintertime, the boat is our car. When there is a traffic jam for miles we can just jump in the boat.

You go from some of the best surfing spots all by yourself and then literally 10 minutes later you’re in giant crowds of people running up to get some pizza, and then go home and get everybody to bed at night, no car involved at all. Because it is so easy to go from land to water and back to land, you can really take advantage of the weather. When the sun pops out, we jump on the boat and we are on the beach.

Over the years our bay got filled in with a lot of sand that was washed in from the ocean. No other boats can get to the docks as the water is very shallow.

We’re one of the few boats that is used all year round. We have a plastic enclosure that we put on at the back of the boat.

"IT IS MUCH SAFER FOR LITTLE KIDS AND ELDERLY PEOPLE"

My mom is 87 and I can still get her to the beach. There’s no other way I could. One of the best parts of the boat is the ladder. The ladder is absolutely magic. Most boats are really hard to get on and off. It is not too bad jumping onto the sand but getting back in is almost impossible. And the Iguana just solves that whole problem brilliantly.

What I really like about the RIB is that it is incredibly easy to dock and you can embark on a lot of people. It’s just an incredibly soft boat. There’s not much to really hurt yourself on an Iguana which is great for little kids.

"I HAVE HAD SOME OF THE BEST CONVERSATIONS AND IDEAS ON THIS BOAT"

The back of the boat is such a nice living area back. I’ve had some of the best discussions with my older son and my older daughter, on this boat, talking about life, boyfriends and girlfriends, studies, and their careers now. It’s an extraordinary connection that the Iguana has given us to one another but also to the water, to the land, and to the environment.

The ability to get away from your work life and make the jump into family life is what an Iguana does. I’ve had ideas up on the beach for my company, when you get total decompression, you let go of work, that’s when the good ideas happen.

DO NOT HESITATE, GET YOUR OWN!

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