Hot Tub Boats Will Be Available To Rent Along Our Riverfront This Summer
They’re hot tubs. They’re boats. And they’ll be cruising our section of the Mississippi riverfront this summer, with up to six passengers at a time booking 90-minute reservations.
The Minneapolis Park Board just gave final approval for a new company, Minnesota Hot Tub Boats, to start taking off from Boom Island Park. Company owner Matt Witt says he’s crossing his fingers that two of his boats will be ready to launch in three weeks, for Memorial Day weekend.
Photo credits: Spacruzzi
The floating spas are made by a company in Montana, Spacruzzi, and Witt first encountered them when he visited Seattle.
“I used to travel for work a lot and when I was visiting Seattle, I rented out these boats, and I was like, these would totally work in Minneapolis,” he said, “just with our boating culture here, how much people love the outdoors. There’s always people around the lakes and rivers.”
Some of the basics about these boats, according to the company’s FAQ page:
- They move very slowly because they’re powered by a 6hp electric motor
- They stay clean with an internal filtration system and a cartridge filtering process that takes place between before and after each rental
- The water temperature is 101-104F, and if you get too hot onboard, there’s a sun deck for you to rest on. (No swimming in the river, though)
- Alcohol is allowed–in a “reasonable amount”
- You’ll be allowed to cruise as far north as the Broadway Avenue bridge and as far south as the Nicollet Island railway bridge, near the skyline
- Total cost of the rental (to be split by the number of passengers) will range from $300 on Thursdays to $425 on Saturdays and holidays
- People with a Minneapolis ID will get a 10% discount
“I’m sitting in the Boom Island parking lot right now and I can see North Loop,” Witt said in a phone interview. “That’s one of my target areas that I really want to make sure people know we exist.”
He’s been busy fielding a lot of reservation requests after recent news coverage.
“My website’s been blowing up with people making reservations which is great,” he said. “People can reach out and fill out the ‘contact us’ form for now. Our automated booking software should be up this weekend, though.”
Although a typical boating season in Minnesota ranges from May to September, Witt says he’ll have his hot tub boats out from March to November.
“We added on like 3 more months that people could be on the water,” he said. “So it’ll be interesting to see which season ends up having our most demand.”
By Mike Binkley, North Loop volunteer