5 West Marine Finds That Will Enhance Your Next Camping Trip

Whether you're tenting, renting a cabin, or taking a camper van for a spin, there are a ton of different ways to go camping these days, and no matter what you're doing, there are always interesting ways to spice things up. If you have some time before your next trip, you might consider heading over to West Marine and checking out what they have available. You might think you have everything you need, but there are plenty of upgrades that can help make your trip more memorable.

What you end up leaving with will likely come down to what your overall budget is, as picking up a bunch of new accessories can get expensive very fast, especially since West Marine products tend towards the more expensive side of things. If you're looking for something that will keep the spending down, Harbor Freight has many camping items you can pick up for cheap. If budget isn't a concern, however, West Harbor has plenty of good finds.

Anybody who has gone camping knows how important it is to have a comfortable chair to sit in. This is especially important for the beachgoers out there. Instead of sitting in the sand on a towel all day, having a nice beach chair to invest in is a great idea. 

West Marine offers a Backpack Beach Chair that can be carried like a backpack all the way to the water, and the chair itself also offers some key features that help it stand apart from the competition. You'll have a built-in head pillow, a cup holder, and a storage pouch. To top it all off, it can fully recline if you want to spend some time in the sun.

The only potential hangup here is the $89.99 price tag. That's a high price to pay for a chair, but if you look at it from the perspective of spending a whole weekend sitting in it, perhaps it'll begin to make sense. You can also use this chair outside of camping, so there's some added value there, too.

If you're trying to really enhance your camping trip, consider bringing a gas grill along with you. If you do, you won't have to worry about starting a fire and cooking unevenly over an open flame ever again. Of course, you'll have to be willing to spend $499.99 on the Magma Newport 2 gas grill. 

While that's a healthy chunk of change, there are plenty of ways the grill justifies its price. Most importantly, you're getting a dynamic combustion system that will allow the grill to stay lit even in windy conditions, something you might run into while camping or out on the water on a boat. Beyond that, this grill also has a lot of versatility with its mounting options. If you are on a boat, you can mount this to the railing and cook over the water. Of course, you're still able to place this grill on a tabletop or the ground and cook with ease as well. 

Magma boasts that this grill is perfect for cooking anything from burgers and steaks to chicken breasts and fish. In addition, the grill has a glass viewing window that'll allow you to see how done the food is without having to open up the lid. Finally, an electric start means you can get it fired up and ready to go in a hurry. 

If you're spending all day on a boat or the beach, you'll probably want to bring a bunch of snacks and drinks with you. Getting a cooler is a great way to bring all of that with you while keeping everything cold, and the Igloo Marine Ultra Cooler is an excellent option. You're getting a foam-insulated lid here that says it can provide up to five days of ice retention, which can significantly cut down on having to buy ice over and over again over a long trip. The cooler top doubles as a cup holder that can hold up to four beverages at once, and they all drain off the side of the cooler automatically, thanks to special cutouts.

The large 100-quart size can also be used on a boat for fishing trips. Instead of keeping your drinks cold, you can keep your freshly caught fish in it. For $129.99 you're getting a well-built and reliable cooler, and while that's a bit pricy, you should be able to use this one for years without running into any issues thanks to the rust-proof design.

If you don't want to spend extra money on ice, you can opt for a reusable ice pack. For $20, you can pick up a Yeti Ice Pack from West Marine, and you'll be able to solve any ice-related problems you might have. It freezes fast, which means you can get it ready to go in a hurry. This ice pack is also impact-resistant, so you don't have to worry about it breaking if you accidentally drop it on the ground. 

If you pair the ice pack with a cooler, you should have no problem keeping the interior cold throughout an entire camping trip. Of course, you might need to end up buying a few of them if you want to keep a lot of things cold at the same time. Of course, at $20 a pop, these can get expensive fast, but if you go camping enough, they will eventually pay for themselves. For the time being, however, you can start with one and see how well it fares. 

If you're going camping somewhere with water, then you probably want to spend as much on it as you possibly can. A great option to maximize your time on the water is a big inflatable dock, and West Marine offers one. The massive six-foot by six-foot West Marine I-Dock will float out in the middle of a lake and allow you and a group of friends to hang out all day in the water.

This is a big purchase to make as it'll cost $659.99 from West Marine's website, but you'll be able to get a lot of use out of it. The dock has enough surface area to set down a cooler, some chairs, and even fishing supplies. It has a dual-action hand pump that makes it easy to inflate, and it's highly durable. The only real downside to it is the price, but you'll quickly get your money's worth by spending a few weekends out on the lake. When you're done with it, you're able to deflate the dock and roll it away for quick and easy storage.