Some boaters like to use the roll-up foam mats for their crew to float on at the sandbar or raft-up party, but over the past few years, the inflatable dock has become all the rage. We’ve tried what seems like every floating toy imaginable from from spring floats and giant inflatable unicorns to the giant foam mat and even an inflatable poop emoji that one of our daughters got as a gift! However, the inflatable utility dock is by far our favorite. Once inflated, they are super-rigid and support a lot more weight than their foam counterparts which means they keep people, dogs, chairs, and whatever else you want to put on them up out of the water instead of dipping below the surface like foam. Their rigid design gives them the ability to hold a ton of weight while still being compact when deflated. I’ve even seen people strap trolling motors to them and take their crew out to the party (not USCG recommended lol), or tow them behind their dinghy. My kids love to throw some dish soap on them and jump on it from the swim platform like a slip and slide! Unlike the foam mat that takes up your entire swim platform when stowed, at the end of the day, simply deflate your dock and it stows in a much smaller footprint, which we all know is at a premium on every boat.