Lake MacBride Boat Rental

I’ve rented both a canoe and pontoon here now. My first time here I was wowed by how nice the boat house, docks, and beach are! Seriously, I can’t believe this park is free to enter and that you don’t even have to pay to use the beach!
For the canoe rental…
So cheap! $ 10 per hour! There wasn’t a wait so we were able take our canoe out for as long as we wanted and just paid our balance once we were finished. We packed a picnic lunch and ended up finding a picnic spot on the far South side of the lake where we enjoyed some shade and the beautiful view. There is a fair amount of sailing on this lake too, which is always fun to watch. The canoes are nice and as far as lakes go, Lake Macbride is a fun one to explore by paddle — lots of small bays and it really winds around, making it far more fun and interesting to explore.
For the pontoon rental…
$ 50 for a fishing pontoon (standalone chairs instead of built-​in seats, plus a flat «fishing dock» off the front,” $ 55 for a regular pontoon (built-​in cushioned seats).

We joined up with some friends out here on a lazy Sunday afternoon and what a great little gem this place is!
You basically drive through Solon and dead-​end into Lake MacBride park, where a public beach for kids to play resides as well as this boat rental spot.
For $ 45 an hour you can rent a pontoon boat that seats 10. Word to all dudes — floating around as the skipper is totally boss! It’s been a long time since I’ve driven a boat and while we topped at about 7 mph, it was a great time.
Totally worth checking it out!

Cheap boat rentals on a decent size lake? Yes please. If you want to escape for the day in Iowa, they offer affordable fun on a nice state park.
The best part is that it is surrounded by trees, not the typical scenery in Iowa.
Great place to get on the lake.

I visited the Cedar Rapids area recently to visit some great friends.
We decided to rent a pontoon boat and hang out on Lake MacBride for a while. I was utterly stunned at how cheap the boat rentals were here. For the 2013 season, to rent a standard pontoon boat for 1 hour was 45. For 2 hours, it was 90 dollars. I found this to be really cheap in comparison to many other places in Iowa. I come from the western side of Iowa and to rent any kind of boat for an hour on just about any lake is at least $ 100/​hour. This place is definitely a great deal. Plus Lake MacBride is absolutely gorgeous. We had zero problems with our boat and the staff were really nice.
We are definitely looking forward to coming out here next summer to hang out on Lake MacBride again!

It started raining 5 min. after getting our rentals, but we got partial refunds. A tad bit pricier than I expected.

THIS IS IOWA? I’m in!!! Gorjuss scenery, peaceful, easy to get to– WATER… we canoed the lake, we walked the reservoir and marvelled at the tranquility that was free for the taking. This is living.

What a great summer job this would be, if only I still lived here. Anyway, an occasional outing to Lake Macbride State Park would lead us down the ramp to the boat rental place, where they rent out fishing pontoons, rowboats, weird water-​bicycle-​floaty-​things, paddle-​boats, and of course, my favorite, CANOES.
I LOVE CANOES. One of my favorite visits to Lake Macbride was with my father and brother. We all hopped in a canoe and did a little paddle-​tour of the lake. Loads of fun. I highly recommend renting a canoe… they’re also more affordable.
I never ate any of the snacks or instant food sold at the counter, but I’m sure they were perfectly disgusting and filling, just the ticket.