The Lakeside Life Blog
Lewis Smith Lake Alabama | Smith Lake Alabama
Get your boat ready – it’s almost spring! Groundhog Day 2024 brought news that lake lovers want to hear for the upcoming boating season… early spring! BUT… that also means we only have about 6 more weeks to prepare marine vessels for spring break and beyond. Now is the time, before spring, to put boats in the shop for servicing, maintenance and upgrades. Local shops are overloaded during spring rush and that can sometimes result in serious delays to your boating season. Maintaining and servicing a boat annually protects your investment, and upgrades can substantially help resale value. See a list of suggestions below (in alphabetical order): 1. AFTERMARKET BOAT & TOWER ACCESSORIES - This can be anything from a depth finder to a trailer tail light to board racks for the boat's tower, or even a new tower and so much more. Try these local companies: Duskin Point Marina, MasterPro Audio, Rambo Rambo Marine, Inc., Russell Marine - Smith Lake, and Trident Marina. 2. BOAT DETAILING - unlike basic auto detailing, boats have a gel coat surface over thick heavy fiberglass which is different from metal and plastics used on cars, so different methods, products and materials are needed for repairs, cleaning and refurbishing the finish. Make sure you use a company that is experienced with delicate boat detailing needs. We recommend local companies like Bama Detailing, Duskin Point Marina, MasterPro Audio, Rambo Marine, Inc., Russell Marine - Smith Lake, and Trident Marina. 3. BOAT LIFTS - for a new lift, installation, and good annual servicing to keep your investment safe and sound, get quotes from HydroHoist of Alabama, Free State Boat Docks, MasterPro Audio and Smith Lake Republic. 4. DOCK SERVICE & CONCIERGE - this can be anything from dock servicing, repairs, cleaning, solar installation, dock accessories, marine grade audio/video for outdoor entertaining, etc. Try getting an estimate from local companies who can help like Free State Boat Docks, MasterPro Audio, Smith Lake Republic and Wetsteps of Alabama. 5. FINANCING - looking to buy a NEW BOAT or upgrade to a NEW DOCK? Visit Duskin Point Marina, Rambo Marine, Inc., Russell Marine - Smith Lake and Trident Marina to discuss pricing and consider financing with them locally through banks like Bank of Walker County, Citizens Bank and Trust, Cullman Savings Bank, First National Bank and Listerhill Credit Union. Many homeowners are not aware that they can obtain financing for a new dock. Contact Listerhill Credit Union to get your application underway. 6. INSURANCE - make sure you’re properly covered for the year or re-evaluate your coverage if you've made any changes recently regarding your boat, home or dock. Grant Thomas of Alfa Insurance can help you. (Side Note - Grant's family are long time residents of Smith Lake - check out their company Smith Lake Rentals and Sales for local rental homes and sign up early for rentals as they get booked super fast early each year.) 7. MARINE AUDIO/VIDEO - Upgrade the entire boat's A/V system if it is not performing on its limited stock system, or if the system is older and needing a few upgrades or component additions. Perhaps everything is functioning fine, and the system just needs some tuning, repairs or refurb. Be sure to use professionals who understand the nuances between name brand equipment and how to get the most sound bang for your buck. A company we recommend who has over 35 years experience in high end professional audio is MasterPro Audio with experience not just in marine audio and basic 12V, but also for commercial/home/worship/sports venues, entertainment venues, etc. Ask to hear their demo boat system, on the water from a very far distance - you'll be shocked at what their patented tower speakers and component system are capable of - clean, clear high performance sound ready to energize your day on the lake. 8. MARINE FLOORING - whether it's carpet, engineered marine flooring to upgrade an entire boat, or just pieces of surface material for a back platform, gunwales, or to artfully replace a torn or damaged section, the following local companies can help get your boat looking the best - Duskin Point Marina, MasterPro Audio, Rambo Marine, Inc., Russell Marine - Smith Lake and Trident Marina. 9. MECHANICAL SERVICE for BOATS & TRAILERS - schedule to get your boat serviced, tuned up, de-winterized and ready to take on the season. Local companies we suggest: Duskin Point Marina, Rambo Marine, Inc., Russell Marine - Smith Lake and Trident Marina. 10. TOWING SERVICE - get your annual membership NOW and boat worry free all year. Contact Captain Terry Russeau of TowBoatUS Smith Lake. 11. UPHOLSTERY - repairs or new - contact Bama Detailing or MasterPro Audio. 12. WATERSPORTS EQUIPMENT - new equipment or rentals - try local shops like Lakeside Gear, Pine Valley Outdoor Living, Rambo Marine, Inc., Russell Marine - Smith Lake, Trident Marina, and Triple Creek Marina. Once you've got the boat tuned up, spruced up, fully loaded and ready to go, check out our other informational blogs to make sure you are fully prepared for the best boating season every year. Check back on our blog often as we add new material. HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY BOATING SEASON!
For more businesses in the categories you are looking for, try our Business Listing - Alphabetical, and our Business Listing by Category, and check out more information in our LOCAL INFO tab. Latest update to this blog: 2/2/24.
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1/20/2022 0 Comments Social Media Tip - using @ vs #Proper use of "@" vs "#" for Smith Lake AL AdvertisersThis tip is primarily for all our advertising businesses in the Smith Lake Alabama area, but is a good tutorial for anyone who is not aware of how the "@" and "#" features work on social media and particularly as it concerns your advertising/marketing perks - FREE advertising for those who utilize. Quick descriptions of what each feature does: "@" (mention) feature - this activates a live link for Facebook/Instagram users to click and go directly to the "@" mentioned business page, and additionally (which is most important for our advertisers) produces a notification to the "@" linked page/user (our marketing team) that you want them to see a post and/or act on a post. "#" (hashtag) feature - does not link or send a notification to anyone or any page - but is simply a "search" feature for both Facebook and Instagram (& Twitter), and honestly this feature is getting less and less important. We encourage our Smith Lake advertising businesses to join our main page The Lakeside Life - Smith Lake Alabama, and our Facebook Groups, Smith Lake Community and Smith Lake Small Businesses @smithlakebiz as your company page(s), not just as an individual person; otherwise your company cannot be properly linked/tagged, and your company is not being auto-notified by Facebook (or Instagram) when recommendations for you are being made by our team through our pages, or by members or customers who try to "@" mention/link your company for others to find you quickly. Not joining as your company page causes others to not easily discover your company with a simple click. Again, if you are not a member of a page as your company page, when an "@" tag for you is attempted, it will show as simply grayed-out/not highlighted indicating Facebook (or Instagram) is not auto-notifying you, so you never know that you were recommended or mentioned in a post or comment and readers of the comment were unable to connect quickly to your business. In short, if you are one of our print advertising businesses who wish to take advantage of FREE reposts on our social media, please use the "@" (mention) feature - again it activates the link and produces a notification to the linked page/user (i.e our marketing team) so we know to check out your post and repost it on our social media. Remember, the "#" (hashtag) feature does not notify our marketing team; therefore you will miss out on free reposts. It's so important for businesses not to miss out on FREE social media help - so please simply use "@" mention - it only takes a nanosecond. If you have any questions or need help with social media, please connect with us, we're here for you and ready to help. Remember, for certain levels of advertising, reposting is a complimentary feature of your print package (provided you use the "@" mention feature properly, so use in a caption, comment, or on a photo OR simply send the post to us either via social media or email. Please do not miss out on our help and assistance. If you need additional social media services, we can connect you with a great team of reputable LOCAL resources for every level - all very affordable. We caution businesses to be very careful of any person(s) who represent themselves as social media or marketing representatives but are actually only targeting your accounts to gain access to and capture your database of followers/customers/connections for personal gain. This can be very damaging to your business. Sadly this type of parasitic behavior has been going on, and it is unfortunate that we have seen local businesses fall prey to being used and targeted this way. It is not wise to give out passwords to your businesses social media and email accounts too easily without proper research and recommendations. Just reach out and ask when you have questions, we're here to help by phone or email. Thank you! 5/1/2020 2 Comments Boat Equipment Check List
We hope the checklist above helps you get ahead and geared up for a great boating season. A little work on the front end of the season saves endless needless headaches, stress or worst yet, unnecessary and unwanted citations. Again, we stress this emphatically, be sure to follow all instructions from the ALEA website first and foremost, and use our suggestions only as additional advice. Here’s the link again: Alabama Law Enforcement Agency – Alabama Marine Patrol Division: https://www.alea.gov/dps/marine-patrol.
Other Links that you should check:
Be sure to check our other lists on our blog and through our magazine - samples below. (these will soon be linked for ease of navigation...)
Contact, message, or comment if you'd like us to add anything specific to the list or if we need to revise or repair a broken link. We'll be updating the list annually. Thank you! Updated: 05/01/2023 |
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February 2024
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The Lakeside Life
767 County Road 437 Cullman, AL 35055 thelakesidelife@gmail.com www.thelakesidelife.com (256) 708-7679 Main (205) 470-8250 Marketing Pinterest: @thelakesidelife Instagram: @thelakesidelife_smithlake Facebook: @thelakesidelife Facebook Group: Smith Lake Community Also check out our stores: The Lakeside Life Store Lakeside Gear MasterPro Audio Amazon Store |
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