Family is now all-in on their Monaco

Laughter fills the air on this particular summer day as the Gerstlers just happen to have all of their children at their lake home together. This includes daughters Madison and Hannah who attend different colleges in Indiana, their son Sam who is on leave from the Air Force while serving in Germany, and the youngest Ethan who is still in high school. It's days like this when Steve and Marcie Gerstler know they made the right decision to invest in a Monaco pontoon from Godfrey Marine.

Sometimes it's best to just jump in with both feet when you know what you want. For this Indiana couple the decision to buy a pontoon to enjoy with their family was an easy one. They had recently purchased their lake home, the kids had grown up on the water and loved boating, so the couple considered buying a pontoon to be a very logical next step.

So they decided to jump in, but life has a way of altering your leap sometimes. The Gerstlers were in the process of buying a different pontoon when the lack of customer service had them abruptly changing their minds.

“We had a bad buying experience and we ended up backing out of the deal completely,” says Steve. “A friend then referred us to Wyland's and it was a completely different experience.”

At the South Bend Boat Show in Indiana, the Gerstlers began talking to Wyland's Marine about having a pontoon specifically built for their needs. Those needs included satisfying their older children and their watersports needs, comfortable seating for everyone, plus enough power to satisfy Steve.

“We're at the boat show and we're in the process of customizing a boat with Wyland's and we keep looking over at this Monaco on display and keep saying, 'like that one, like that one,'” recalls Steve. “Eventually we questioned ourselves on what we were doing and decided to just get the Monaco that was the display boat at the show. We had done a lot of research prior to the show and knew Godfrey is a well-established brand and known for its customer service.”

Why A Pontoon
The couple wanted a pontoon all along and the Monaco 235 Dual Flip Lounge (DFL) from Godfrey only solidified their love for these particular vessels.

“Pontoons can do it all, from one stage of life to another,” says Steve. “From tubing for 10-year-olds to just us hanging out and cruising, pontoons can do it all.”

Adds his wife Marcie, “We both have aging parents who we wanted to extend a welcome to with our boat and with a pontoon it's easy for them to get on the boat. And with a big engine we knew the kids would be happy too.”

By going with the GTP 27-inch Center Tube package that was already on the boat show model, the max horsepower rating jumped from 150hp to 300hp so the Gerstlers were able to go with the Yamaha 200hp Super High Output (SHO) engine. The V6 V Max SHO four-stroke outboard turned out to be a great pairing.

“I was all about the engine because I wanted the boat to be able to do everything,” says Steve. “That was my main objective while Marcie was more about the layout, the accessibility and the versatility of the seating.”

Even during those rare times when all four of their kids are at the lake house together and using the boat, there is still plenty of room for everyone with plenty of features to enjoy and appreciate.

“The kids enjoy the dual flip lounge in the back where they can lay out,” adds Marcie. “They also love all the accent lights and the Fusion stereo.”

Getting Away
The Gerstlers live in Granger, Ind., and a few years ago they bought a house on Donnell Lake in Michigan, which is about a 30-minute drive away. The couple feel their lake home is far enough that they're getting away, but still close enough that they can go back home if they forgot something. They felt inspired to buy the lake house during the COVID pandemic.

“With the whole COVID thing going on instead of traveling we decided to just plant a stake and start having fun locally,” recalls Steve. “It was something we had talked about earlier, but the pandemic clearly motivated us to do it.”

Steve is a radiologist, which he says still leaves him plenty of time in the summer to enjoy the boat with his busy schedule. At one point he also mentioned he's a “master griller,” but based on Marcie's reaction to this comment, there's probably a deeper story behind that title. Grilling is a big part of the lake house experience.

Wyland's
With two locations in Indiana, including Elkhart and Mishawaka, the Gerstlers truly enjoyed working with the Mishawaka crew at Wyland's Marine.

“Wyland's really took care of us in so many different ways, especially Abe and Tim,” recalls Marcie. “Wyland's has such wonderful people, we just really enjoyed working with them. We wouldn't recommend anyone else.”

The Gerstlers had such a positive encounter buying the boat they ended up coming back to the dealer for another purchase.

“We had a great experience with the boat so we came back a month later and bought more toys,” says Steve. “We decided to get a couple of Kawasaki Jet Skis from Wyland's as well.”

Looking Ahead
It is relatively uncommon nowadays to have all four kids at the lake with so many busy schedules, but the boat continues to be a huge draw.

“The older kids are transitioning into hanging out at the sandbar with the boat and taking it out with their friends,” says Marcie. “Our boat is a huge part of the lake experience and will keep our kids coming back for many years.”

While the Gerstlers were determined to have a great all-around boat for their kids to enjoy now, the parents might have been looking into the future with this investment as well.

“The reason we bought the pontoon is so we can create memories now with the kids so eventually they'll want to come back with their own kids so we can be the really cool grandparents,” concludes Marcie with a smile.

Future cool grandparents indeed.