Hot Tubs Aren’t Just For Megayachts
I have been in the marine media business for a long time. One of the fun parts of being affiliated with a lot of boatbuilders is that they invite you to their rendezvous. These brand specific dockside parties often feature themes, contests, dinghy races, live music, abundant food, and typically a healthy amount of beverages. Being on the media side, I am allowed to bring my boat to these group parties even though it is not a boat the rendezvous host built. Brands with larger luxury cruisers that cost millions of dollars each tend to have affluent owners, which often translates to fancy catered food and cool entertainment like professional magicians, comedians, and bands. My wife and I have attended many of these events, had a lot of fun, and met some very interesting people. There is a camaraderie amongst boaters that stands true even if their boats are widely different.
One year we were getting ready to make the trip up to Roche Harbor for the Ocean Alexander (OA) Rendezvous. Ocean Alexander is known for building high quality motoryachts in Taiwan. They used to make production boats 60 feet and under, but they now specialize in semi-custom motoryachts 85 to 120 feet. Either way, their boats are pretty fancy and since our boat was a Cutwater 26, we expected to be outshined by these larger boats.
While preparing for the trip I had an idea on how we could up our game and perhaps impress, or at least amuse, all those Ocean Alexander owners with their big fancy boats. I had seen online an ad for an inflatable hot tub. We could bring the hot tub up to the rendezvous, set it up, and show our friends at Ocean Alexander that small boats can be decadent too!
Portable Hot Tub
The Intex Pure Spa comes in two sizes and at the time we bought the smaller four-person unit. Once inflated, the outer dimensions are 77″ wide by 28″ tall. The inflatable walls make it smaller inside but there is plenty of room for two adults, four if you are pretty friendly. If you need more room, there is a larger 85” wide six-person unit. The hot tub comes with a pad to put beneath it, a heater/pump that also acts as an inflator, and a cover. We ordered our new hot tub which at the time was around $350. Recently online the four seems to be $550-$650 and $725-$825 for the six. There are also other similar tubs available from brands like Coleman, but I have only used the Intex ones.
With the new hot tub disassembled in our cockpit, we headed to the rendezvous. We had checked with long time harbormaster Kevin Carlton who thought what we were doing was funny and got us a slip on a dock big enough to handle the hot tub. Since our cockpit was only 72” wide, the hot tub was not going to fit aboard once inflated, plus when filled to capacity with 210 gallons of water and people it can weigh 2,500 lbs. or more. Sinking my beloved Cutwater was not an option. I do think on some boats you could put a hot tub like this onboard, but it is a lot of weight, so I encourage you to use caution and make sure your boat can safely accommodate this kind of weight before proceeding.
Easy Install
The hot tub is easy to set up. You simply lay down the base pad, plug in the heater module to a 120V/15A GFCI protected electrical outlet, and use the supplied hose to blow up the tub itself. Then once it is inflated, you fill it with water from a hose, switch it to the heater setting, put the cover on, and let it warm up. Depending on starting temperature, it can take 24 hours or more to get the tub up to the 104°F (40°C) maximum temperature, so this is not a fast process. We were going to be at the rendezvous for multiple nights. If different people will be using the tub or you are going to have it set up for a while, water treatment chemicals (chlorine) can be added, they are not included. We use a FROG® @ease® Floating System which is like a little plastic ball that floats around in the spa and treats the water. It doesn’t seem to be as harsh as powdered chlorine and keeps the water fresh.
Get the Party Started!
The next day after the hot tub was up to temp, we climbed in. You sit on the floor of the tub, and the water comes up to chest level. It works really well and is very soothing. While it doesn’t actually have jets, there is a bubbler system that pumps air through a series of holes that surround the inside of the tub that create a massaging sort of jet-like effect. Our portable hot tub was a big hit at the rendezvous. The OA owners applauded our set up with our hot tub plugged in adjacent to our little boat. I wish I had bought more of those hot tubs back then because I probably could have sold half a dozen to other boaters that happened by including several OA owners.
You don’t have to own a large yacht to have a good time, and the portable hot tub is really a lot of fun. Be aware that not all marinas can handle even this little hot tub. Even the sizeable dock we were on seemed a little weighted down and we did create a bit of a distraction. Even though Kevin had OK’d this, Troy the marina manager pulled me aside before we left and asked me very nicely to please not bring the hot tub back. It was OK, we had our fun and now the hot tub mostly lives in our backyard. If the right situation arises, you never know, we might take her boating again.
https://intexcorp.com/products/spas
https://www.frogproducts.com/product-category/hot-tub-products
Ask first! https://www.rocheharbor.com/marina/
