Fishing Boat Caskets Splash into the Niche Memorial Marketplace

This has been a big month for novelty caskets (more to come…) and the latest to make headlines is by a company named Glory Boats. Founder Joel Schmidt makes fishing boat caskets for the outdoor enthusiast. These novel caskets are the perfect eternal resting place for people who spent much of their earthly life in boats too.

Founder Joel Schmidt was inspired while dealing with his 74-year-old father’s near death experience. He was joking with his father at his hospital bed-side about his funeral – making light of a difficult time.

“If you hadn’t told me what you wanted, I might have just buried you in your fishing boat,” Schmidt joked.

This was the catalyzing moment for Glory Boats, an idea that Schmidt has turned into a business offering his products nation-wide. During his first year of operation he has shown his niche end-of-life product directly to his target audience at various outdoors shows. Now, when these people die, their loved ones will be coming to your funeral home asking for a custom boat casket.

CBS News Reported that, “The boats, listed at $2,800, come in three different colors: woodland camo, marsh grass and pink camo. Schmidt explained that he wished he had the idea of the pink camo before his mother died several years ago. She was an avid lover of the outdoors, just like him and his father, he said. He described her as a tomboy who loved to fish and hunt, and thinks the pink camo model would have been a wonderful resting place for her.”

Their mission is simple: “Celebrating the lives of outdoorsmen”

Glory Boats is a family business run by Joel in partnership with his brother-in-law and son-in-law. They build each casket by had, welding the boats using metal from a local door company. Although the Glory Boats company is just getting started, it is receiving inquiries from people across the United States, Schmidt said.