The pontoon
Flat deck, rails the whole way round, shade over the middle and a swim ladder off the back. It sits steady when everybody stands on the same side to look at something, which is most of the day.
Boat rentals
Boat rentals in Murrells Inlet
The rental fleet is pontoons, tritoons and deck boats. Tell us the dates and the head count for Murrells Inlet and we route it to operators who have one free, instead of you calling round every marina on the coast.
- Free to send
- No obligation
- Local operators only
Boat club membership
Going out more than ten times a year?
Then dues usually beat paying a day rate every time you go. Answer eleven questions about how you actually use a boat and a rep comes back with the clubs near Murrells Inlet worth your time, not all of them.
Under ten times a year? Renting is almost certainly cheaper, and we will tell you so.
Here, the tide runs everything
Murrells Inlet is a true saltwater inlet rather than a stretch of canal, and it behaves completely differently from the Waterway further north. Water moves here. The creeks fill and empty on the tide, and the difference between high and low changes not just the depth but where you can go at all.
The MarshWalk runs along the creek on the village side and is the landmark most people picture when they think of the inlet. Out in the middle sits Drunken Jack's Island, and beyond it the jetties run out toward open water.
Behind all of that is a maze of marsh creeks that are genuinely lovely on a rising tide and genuinely unforgiving on a falling one. This is the part of the Grand Strand where checking a tide table stops being optional.
Planning it
Reading the tide before you book
A rental day here goes better when it is planned around the water rather than the clock. These are the things worth knowing before you pick a start time.
Ask your operator to point you at the tide for your date, and plan the day around it rather than around a start time that suits you. High water opens up the creeks. Low water leaves you a much smaller playground and a real chance of finding the bottom.
The inlet itself and the water past the jetties are usually off limits to rental pontoons. Fishing here, or running out past the jetties, means a center console, and that comes through a club or a captained trip rather than the rental fleet.
Before you book
- Ask how fuel is billed. Top off on return, flat fee, or by the hour. All three exist locally.
- Ask for the damage deductible in writing. The number you personally owe, not the coverage.
- Ask where the boat may go. Inside water only is the norm for rental pontoons.
- Ask who calls a weather cancellation, and whether you get a refund or a credit.
The rental fleet
Pontoons and tritoons only
Two aluminium tubes or three. That is the whole decision on the rental side, and the right answer usually comes down to how many people you are taking and what the forecast is doing.
The tritoon
Same deck, third tube underneath. More power, a firmer turn and a noticeably better ride once the water chops up behind a passing boat. Ask for one if your group is large or the forecast is breezy.
Want a center console instead? That does not sit in the rental fleet. Regular access to one means a club membership in Murrells Inlet.
Read this before you pack rods
Can you fish from a rental?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on the operator. It is the single question people forget to ask until they are standing on the dock with a tackle box.
Why some operators say no
Hooks, bait and fish do real damage to a rental pontoon. Treble hooks tear vinyl seating, cut bait soaks into carpet and never fully leaves, and scales and blood turn a same day turnaround into a deep clean. Plenty of operators solve that by banning fishing outright on their rental fleet.
Others allow it with conditions. Common ones are no live bait, no cast nets, no bottom fishing, rods kept in holders under way, and a cleaning charge if the boat comes back messy. None of that is unreasonable. It just needs agreeing before you book rather than discovering after.
Ask it exactly like this
"Is fishing permitted from this boat, and if so what are the restrictions, and is there a cleaning fee?" Get the answer in writing. If fishing is the whole point of the day, say so in your request and we will route you to operators who allow it rather than ones who turn you away at the dock.
Worth knowing too: the rental fleet is pontoons, tritoons and deck boats. If you want a proper fishing platform with a live well and rod holders, that is a center console, and regular access to one comes through a club membership rather than a rental.
Where people fish near Murrells Inlet
- The jetties at the inlet mouth. The best known structure on this part of the coast. Coast Pilot notes an unmarked shoal to six feet just southwest of the entrance channel, reported 2023.
- Main Creek and the marsh behind. Tidal creeks that fill and empty hard. Tide rips run strong at full ebb or flood where the channel turns north into Main Creek.
- Nearshore, outside the jetties. Reachable on a settled day in the right boat. Not a rental pontoon, and not without watching the forecast.
Locations from NOAA Coast Pilot 4. A South Carolina saltwater fishing licence is required for saltwater fishing, and size and catch limits apply and change through the year. Check the current rules with SCDNR before you go, and confirm with your operator where that particular boat is permitted to run.
Straight answers
Questions about Murrells Inlet
Anything else, put it in the message box on the form and we will answer it before we route your request.
More than anywhere else on this coast. This is a working saltwater inlet with a real tidal range, and creeks that carry a comfortable depth at high water can be mud at low. Get the tide for your date from your operator and let it set your start time.
Almost certainly not on a rental pontoon. Operators keep those boats inside, and the jetties and the water beyond them are a center console job. Tell us that is what you want and we will route your request to clubs and captains that can actually take you there.
Request quotes
Check dates in Murrells Inlet
One form, about a minute. The more you tell us about the day you have in mind, the fewer back and forth emails you get from operators.
- Free, with no obligation to book anything
- Goes only to operators who can serve your dates
- You deal with the operator directly on price and terms
Nearby on the Grand Strand
North Myrtle Beach boat rentals
Boating out of North Myrtle Beach, the north end of the Grand Strand.
Myrtle Beach boat rentals
Boating out of Myrtle Beach, the middle of the Grand Strand.
Little River boat rentals
Boating out of Little River, the top of the South Carolina coast.