A New Boat on a Quiet River
In early September 2009, there was a calmness in the air at Regatta Pointe Marina in Palmetto, Florida. On the water sat a boat unlike anything the Manatee River had seen before. Captain Tom Hanchett and his wife Susan had just launched Riverside Tours Inc., a small family operation with a big vision.
At the time, Captain Tom competed with six other tour businesses on the river. One by one, they fell by the wayside as Riverside Tours' expert crew and superior service stood above the rest. The River Skipper was the last one standing.
Enter River Skipper II
Their first boat, a green Trident 34, served them faithfully for four years. Susan, a Florida Master Naturalist, elevated the tour experience far above anything else on the river. Word spread. The crowds grew. The original boat couldn't keep up.
In 2013, they upgraded to a 2006 Trident 45, capable of carrying 44 passengers. Christened the River Skipper II, this larger vessel was the nail in the coffin for any remaining competition. The new boat could accommodate the larger crowds and bigger events that Riverside Tours had earned.
A Full Renovation — and a New Chapter
By end of 2022, the River Skipper II was showing her age. On January 3rd, 2023, operations shut down for a full-blown rebuild. For two and a half months, the crew worked tirelessly to rejuvenate the old girl from stem to stern, new systems, new finishes, new life.
On March 16th, 2023, the River Skipper II received her new Certificate of Inspection from the US Coast Guard and returned to the water, reborn as Florida's largest tiki boat. Today she operates as the first and only tiki boat on the Manatee River.
From a Boat Search to a New Home
Daniel Perez came to Palmetto with a simple plan: buy a tiki boat, trailer it down to his slip in Miami, and call it a day. Tom Hanchett had the River Skipper II for sale, and Daniel came to take a look.
He never made it back to Miami with the boat. One afternoon on the Manatee River, surrounded by the Palmetto and Bradenton community Tom and Susan had spent over fifteen years building, and Daniel knew this wasn't a boat to relocate, it was a business worth carrying forward. So instead of a trailer, he signed a deal: the boat stayed, the name stayed, the history stayed. Daniel bought Riverside Tours, Inc. in its entirety, determined to keep "Tiki on the Manatee" exactly what it's always been, just with fresh energy behind it.
