John Gadbois of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, took home a brand-new Lund 1775 Adventure Sport boat this month as the winner of the Sea Foam Marine PRO Boat Sweepstakes.
Sea Foam partnered with Fleet Farm on the giveaway to help introduce its new Marine PRO product, a fuel treatment specially formulated to help marine engines run smoother and last longer. The Lund boat was on display throughout the summer at a Fleet Farm store in Minnesota before the Sea Foam team, along with fishing legend Al Lindner, personally delivered it to Gadbois at another Fleet Farm store near his home.
Lindner made a surprise phone call to Gadbois beforehand to share the news of the win. Recently retired, Gadbois is an avid angler who also runs an invitation-only fishing guide service in the Sioux Falls area. A long-time Sea Foam user, he entered the sweepstakes after seeing Marine PRO on the shelf for the first time.
“The fact that I use Sea Foam and I have been using Sea Foam for such a long time in my small gas engines and in my previous boats, it caught my eye so I signed up for it,” Gadbois says. “And I kind of wrote it off and forgot about it after a week or so, but then, bam! I get a call and I won it. I didn’t see that coming.”
Having Lindner deliver the news and the boat itself was an extra treat, he says. Gadbois has four grown children and 10 grandchildren, and the family has watched Lindner on TV for years. Some of his family was with him when he took delivery of the boat.
“I feel blessed and thankful that Sea Foam put this out there,” Gadbois says. “Not only the product, but having Al Lindner endorse it. I think pretty highly of that guy. It was just an awesome experience.”
Gadbois plans to outfit his new boat for his guide service, which involves a lot of running and gunning for walleye on glacial lakes in the area. He also plans to use the boat frequently with his grandkids, who he calls his pit crew.
Fleet Farm, which has stores throughout Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and North Dakota, was the exclusive retailer of Marine PRO throughout the summer. Sea Foam and Fleet Farm have been partners for decades and thought the boat promotion was a perfect fit for the area, which has the highest boat ownership per capita in the U.S.
“We couldn’t be happier with the way the sweepstakes went,” says Brian Miller, director of Marketing for Sea Foam. “And I can’t think of a more perfect home for this boat than with John. We know he’ll put it to good use.”
