To celebrate their 50th anniversary, Avalon Pontoons held a giveaway where they awarded a brand-new Avalon Venture Cruise for the oldest Avalon-brand pontoon still in use. Among 150 entries from all over the country, the winning boat belonged to Adam Josephus of Vestaburg, Mich. He and his family were currently fishing from a 1975 Playbuoy, a weathered blue and silver King Fisher with a languidly slow 15hp engine. Originally founded under the name Playbuoy Pontoons in the early 1970s, the company changed its name to Avalon in 2005.
And they couldn’t have found a more fitting winner. Adam and his wife April, with their two kids Javin and Janelle, are the all-American family spending summer evenings at football practice and on motorcycle rides, and weekends camping and fishing at Crystal Lake and on the Muskegon River. They searched for a fishing boat five years ago, but their budget didn’t allow for a new pontoon so Adam trawled Facebook marketplace for his favorite brand, Playbuoy. He was thrilled to find the King Fisher for sale nearby from a family friend. The listing price was over his budget, and his wife of nearly 20 years said, “You don’t need another boat.” But when the seller finally accepted his lower offer, Adam quickly drove to Six Lakes and bought it.
Adding a front rail and LED lights with a small generator, Adam often took his son and his uncle bowfishing at night on many local rivers and lakes.
Keeping Busy
Since then, he also balances his time fishing from the old pontoon with working as an engineer, volunteering as a part-time and 2nd generation firefighter, and presiding over the 37th chapter of Brother’s Keeper’s Motorcycle Club, a national club of firefighting motorcycle enthusiasts who also raise money for local charities. Their largest annual fundraiser, the Burn Run, donates thousands of dollars to the Great Lakes Burn Camp, an organization that provides enriching camp experiences for burn injured children to bond with other burn survivors.
Contest Details
While scrolling Facebook on his lunch break, Adam saw the posting about Avalon’s contest and realized he met all of the qualifications. He entered just days before the deadline, but didn’t hear any news for weeks. He figured it would be unlikely he would win such a large contest, so he was surprised to return home from his family’s Fourth of July camping trip to find an email requesting proof of ownership and pictures of the boat.
Only a week later, Avalon contacted Adam by phone to let him know he had won. He quickly phoned his wife, who laughed in disbelief.
April, a pharmacy tech working at a local hospital, couldn’t believe they’d won a new boat. “It just didn’t seem real until we were at the dealership picking out colors and options,” April said.
Customizing Their Pontoon
Working with the dealer, the Josephus family was able to select both standard and add-on options, paying just the difference in cost for the upgrades. Initially overwhelmed with all of the variables, the family eventually decided on customizing the layout and seat covers, adding side keels, a ski/tow bar, a rear extended patio pad, and LED lights on the rub rail and throughout the boat.
But as all boat owners know, the expenses don’t end with the boat. And even though they’d been given a new pontoon, the Josephus’ still had many costs still to cover: a motor, trailer, insurance, registration, and taxes. When the family showed up to be recognized at the anniversary event, Avalon’s reps gathered to share the great news: Honda had stepped in and offered to donate a 60hp motor and Avalon dealer T&M Marine out of Grand Rapids, Minn., offered to sell them a brand-new trailer for just $1. The dealership builds and sells the Grand Island trailers.
Javin and Janelle’s only wish for the new boat was that it would be fast enough for tubing, since the family planned to sell their speed boat to spend more time on the pontoon. So they decided to upgrade the 60hp engine for a swift 115hp Honda, the max ponies the Venture Cruise is rated for, paying just the difference. Avalon additionally included a depth finder so they didn’t accidentally ruin the new motor or prop.
Happy with their choice in contest winners, Avalon Marketing Manager Miranda Doan said, “Our 50 years in business is such an incredible accomplishment. We realize that we wouldn’t be the company we are today without our valued owners. It was great to see all of the contest entries and see how many 40-plus-year-old boats were still on the water today. The boat we gave away couldn’t have gone to a better family, and we look forward to them making new memories on the water.
So far the Josephus family has loved the new pontoon, declaring it luxurious and fun, and considering it a gift of good fortune. They christened their pontoon Beyond Blessed and took their maiden voyage to Crystal Lake to get used to handling it. Since then they’ve also taken friends and family tubing. However, the new boat won’t be used for fishing because, Adam said, “We definitely don’t want to get fish guts on this.”
And what about that vintage silver and blue King Fisher? Avalon asked if they could fix it up and place it in their showroom. The family saw it as a delightful trade, and April said, “I’ve always heard the adage, ‘I gave my boat away,’ but we actually did!” It’s now refurbished and displayed in Avalon’s showcase window at the headquarters in Alma, Mich., where it sits alongside sleek new models—the perfect illustration of how far the company has progressed in half a century.
