Floating Idaho - Trueblood Chapter meeting

Floating Idaho

With Scott Pentzer and Angela Sherman

Wednesday, May 14, 6:00 pm

Cascade River Gear / Maravia Rafts
602 East 45^th Street, Garden City

Join us on for private tour of Maravia Rafts Garden City manufacturing facility, where Angela Sherman— former river guide and current COO of Cascade River Gear and Maravia Corporation— will walk us through and explain the process of designing and building inflatable whitewater boats.

After the tour, Scott Pentzer, owner of Streamtech Boats, will discuss the differences in whitewater boat designs, shapes, styles, and talk about where and in what types of water each boat (hard-side drift boats, cata-rafts, framed and unframed rafts) excels.

When:
Wednesday, May 14^th
Social time: 6:00 pm
Tour: 6:30 pm

Where:
Maravia Rafts
Cascade River Gear / Maravia Rafts
602 East 45^th Street, Garden City

Scott Pentzer bio

Raised as a farm boy in northern Idaho, adventure on the river was ingrained into Scott Pentzer, now owner and CEO of Streamtech rafts, yet his first notable encounter on the river came as a shock. At eight years old, he found himself trapped under the Salmon River’s swift current where he felt a gulp of water rush into his lungs and the world turned black. Upon emerging on its banks as his father rescued him, he miraculously came-to and coughed the gulp back up to catch his breath. Logically, from then on, he had “zero desire to get into a boat.”

Time passed as Scott worked in the medical device industry for nearly twenty years. He remained unaware of the great adventures that laid before him. Aside from starting his beloved family with his wife and their four boys, he travelled the world in the name of humanitarian work, and created a software program for non-profit organizations to help the cause further.

At 30 years old, 22 years after his near-death experience, he climbed into a raft for the first time, which hardly proved to be helpful in overcoming his fear of the river as the guide flipped the raft once and he was tossed over its gunnels another time. This may have been the end to his boating ventures, but on the banks of the Boulder River, in the shadow of Montana’s towering Absaroka Mountains, he fell in love with fly fishing. Rather than a foe, the river became his ally, and the Boulder became one of his most cherished places. He made a point to return every year.

Fly fishing eased Scott back into a boat, a small two-man raft, which soon turned into a three-seater and a willingness to challenge bigger waters thereafter. He was hooked, and what once embodied one of his greatest fears became his journey: a “passionate quest for the perfect raft.” He cycled through boats like Vin Diesel through The Fast and the Furious sequels always searching, so he rotated through 20 different boats across makes and models before he knew it.

Then, he built the perfect boat… or so he thought. The second he rowed a Streamtech, he realized this was the perfect raft, and he immediately moved to acquire one, but he didn’t stop there. Scott intended to buy the company. It took time, but after five years, he convinced Link Jackson, the previous owner of Streamtech, to sell him the company. In January 2024, the deal went through – Streamtech, the perfect rafts, were his to deliver to the world of boaters, fishermen, and whitewater junkies.