Dam West Pontoon Rentals, LLC - Carlyle, Illinois

Julie Cankar

My family had an excellent experience with renting a pontoon boat here. Rates are great! Staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Absolutely would recommend using Dam West Pontoon rental. We for sure will be back!

James Clarida

Been meaning to do this a while now, but just never got around to it (usually forget to do it after arriving back home), but now that I'm remembering it, I absolutely have to give this place 5 stars. Really wish I could do more than 5, because they totally deserve it. They're all great people. I don't know why some people are so disgruntled at them for petty things. They go over everything with you before you take one of their boats out, and as long as you follow the rules, there shouldn't be a problem. If you're that worried about being blamed for existing damage, you can take pics yourself too before you go out. I've been renting both boats and kayaks with them for a while now (5+ years), and never had any problems, but I always do what they want with their stuff, like only going into certain coves, don't smoke, don't go in areas they don't want them in, and also try to bring everything back exactly how it went out (a couple times the anchor was getting stuck, and murder to pull out- felt like trying to pull an elephant out of the water, so if you want a major workout, try pulling a stuck anchor out!). Either way, that's the lake's fault for swallowing the anchor to begin with!

And yes, there was a time when Mother Nature decided she was going to storm (even though the forecast initially had it for the following day), so that meant having to cancel my reservation. It happens, and you should know this lake is shallow (big, yes, but also shallow), so you should be cautious with a shallow lake. Remember the Duck ride that sunk in shallow waters in Branson during a storm? That's why you should be cautious on a shallow lake if there's a storm coming. I don't know why people blame them for erring on the side of caution. I'd be the same way, you want everyone to be safe, even if it means having to cancel a reservation. It sucks, but it is what it is.

Lastly, as busy as I've seen them, I'm sure there are more like me; those who leave happy, but don't actually take the time to review them. So, now I am, and thank you guys for everything! By the way, I'm still working on getting my neighbor to join me out there, and if not her, there's another friend I've been trying to get out there too. She now lives over in St Louis though, and really doesn't like to return to Illinois, so that makes it a bit difficult trying to convince her to go to an Illinois lake. Eventually, I guess. I just have to be more persistent. 🙂 Oh, and your snacks are so awesome!! Love the variety you've got!

Cassie Robins

We rented pontoon boats for two days. We had a blast! The boats were new, reliable, and they took safety seriously which is something that I really love! I will definitely do this again!

Oday Bisharat

We had a blast and rented the tube as well.
We should have did the all day rental and bring food with us next time!
Staff was friendly. A piece that held the top was broken and we were worried that we would be blamed but the dock guys said it’s a simple fix and not to worry about it.
We will come back again for sure!

Amber Boyce

BEWARE AFTER BAD REVIEWS THEY HAVE FRIENDS COME REVIEW THEM OR DELETE THEIR PREVIOUS REVIEW AND POST NEW ONES!

I reserved a pontoon boat through west access marina boat rentals in Carlyle, IL. I did not look at google reviews prior as I should have. We got there, were advised the rules and how to operate the boat. Me and my brother signed the form stating we understood. We went out, we had fun. We came in into the marina early to have time to gather our belongings and clean any mess. They were rude, rushing us, even though we still had time that I paid for ahead of time! The young man employee cussed at my friend stating he didnt fn care what we were doing that he had a job to do and then proceeded to unsafely take off with her still on the boat and standing up which is a rule!!!! She could have fell, she could have fell over and even died as she was in the back by the motor!! This obviously caused an altercation with the guys we had with us and there was alot of yelling and cops were called but we never did speak to them. I had this bad feeling there was now going to be a problem and I checked my acct to find they had cleared every last penny out and texting me telling me I still owe more per the contract stating smoking is $500. There was no smoking on this boat!! Yes they sent me pictures and that means nothing to me, it was either prexsisting or pictures of another boat. There is absolutely no way we did that!! They are doing this on purpose because of what happened. I then read google reviews and they have charged numerous people for damages they didnt do as well as charged them for inoperable boats with no refunds and weather cancellations with no refunds.OH AND TO ADD THEY DONT LIKE BIKERS! THEY ANNOUNCED OVER WALKIES "THE BIKERS ARE UNHAPPY"

J Reign

The boat was great and the rental price was good but they do not mention that you have to pay for gas when you return. It was a $75 dollar charge I wasn't expecting and we only used a half a tank. It's worth the money to get the tritoon instead of the pontoon. Much smoother and more room to love about. If it says holds ten people stick with 8 or less. Also make sure you wear sunscreen we are all burnt. Also take the boating course early on and don't wait until the last minute.

jason lamar

I will start off by saying you could tell they were judging us by our motorcycles the moment we pulled up. The lady explaining the rules was rude and treated us like children. We came back to dock with enough time left that we paid for to clean and gather our items. We were rudely rushed and cursed at. A friend was told it didnt fn matter what she was doing that he had a job to get done even though she told him we still had time left we paid for. He then proceeded to drive off in the boat with her standing at the back! He couldve killed our friend. When we explained to the lady up front she did attempt to apologize for the young ones but made excuses they are just young. Then over the radio we heard "the bikers are not happy" us being bikers is irrelevant!! No we werent happy being treated like trash and disposable! Then they wiped out our friends debit card after stating there was a burn hole which wasnt possible as only like 3 people were smokers and smoked only on floats in the water. This place is rude and obviously has something against bikers although we were quiet, polite, and not rowdy until they were.

Brittney Nichole

The lady inside the establishment was super nice but the young folks that were working the dock had no customer service skills were telling people to get out of there way when we still had time left on our boat came back in early to make sure we had time to get everything together with there being 2 groups of ten in our party. They were rude and disrespectful definitely will not recommend this place to anyone wanting to have a great time all the way thru your experience