3" speakers are all the rage these days. Everyone wants them.

X2 on the Jobsite Radio. I have both the Dewalt and the Milwaukee. The Milwaukee has a bit more bass and sounds better overall, cheaper too!

Thanks for all the input guys!

The XM boom box sounds awsome we have one at the shop it gets plenty loud with great base and runs on D cells or ac

How much do you want to invest?

Got one of these. Love it so far. Scroll down a bit, Bosch Powerbox. Sub in the bottom, great battery life, tough as nails.
http://www.homedepot.com/b/Tools-Har...tialmax&NCNI-5

That thing from west marine looks like a POS if you are set on a portable get a quality one, http://www.klipsch.com/kmc-3-wireless-music-system, the little bose sound docks have great sound inside a house but out in the open they don't have enough volume.

Way too small to listen around other boats. Great if you wanted to find the score of a ball game but you phone can do that better most likely.
I give it a "thumbs down"

Floating a river with little ambient noise and a couple canoes maybe but I would opt for one of the setups using a cooler with car battery and larger speakers for a float trip.

Surely you have other friends that can supply the tunes?

I wasted money on a Sony waterproof boom box several years back for my last boat. BOSE Sound dock is the way to go all day and sound will blow away any boom box or most stereo systems. BOSE online has no interest payment plans. If you go to a BOSE outlet store they sell refurbed products with full warranties for even less.