Boatly Maintenance System Launched

[psedman]

Hi,

A few months ago I floated the idea I had for a web based system to help with boat maintenance.

I've now finished the software and its live at:

https://boatly.com

The app runs through your browser on you laptop/desktop or mobile device and it's free to join and use.

Basically, the app enables you to make an inventory of the equipment you have onboard and provides you with reminders of the service schedules for each item of equipment and access to spare part numbers and a knowledge base which is shared with other users.

The shared database of equipment can be updated by all users, enabling you to add details such as service schedule, spare parts, equivalent parts how to guides and useful web links.

I've primed the database with around 300 items of equipment from engines to gensets, electronics, windlasses etc.

I've added the most detail for items of equipment that I have on my own boat (as I'm very familiar with these and have a significant list of spares and part numbers).

If you sign-up take a look at the 'Yanmar 3JH5E' engine for example. This is the engine I have on my boat, so I've added the complete service schedule and all the common spare parts with some equivalents.

If you search the database and don't find the equipment you're looking for or it's lacking in detail then you can either enter those details yourself or I can do it for you (there's a link in the software to request an item to be added to the database). Once the equipment/details have been added to the database they're available for all users to add to their own boat.

My vision for the app is for it to become a go to source for finding parts or other knowledge for any equipment you might have on your boat.

The idea came from my own frustration of trying to find spares for equipment, especially when cruising away from home where familiar or original parts were not always available. There are many times I've ordered and waited for oil filters or pulley belts only to find out they don't fit. With Boatly, everytime you use a new part you can add it to the database to confirm that it works with that item of equipment and thereby help out other sailors with the same equipment.

This is the first release, so I'm sure there will be a few issues to iron out and the database is a little light on detail at the moment but I'm happy to add anything if you drop me a request through the app.

I'm also very keen to have any feedback that you may have for improvements to the system. I have my own long list of future features, but I wanted to get the system up and running and some initial feedback before adding too much more.

Hope you find time to take a look and that it's useful.

Thanks,
Peter

[Letterkenny]

Hey Peter - thanks for putting this together! I signed up and plan to use for my new boat. This has some of the features that I was looking for and was building out myself via Google Sheets and inputs via Google Forms (as I put my web development and coding days behind me). Going through this briefly, there are a couple key items that I think would be great additions and would really help the utility of the web app.

- First and most important, I think there should be a more intuitive or obvious way to add engine hours. I see you can do it once you add an engine to your equipment but if you have a place to input this easily, especially if you were to make a mobile web app that can be bookmarked for data population, it would be easier to have this cross populate so that on the home page it would show all upcoming maintenance.
- Add a vessel maintenance section similar to vessel equipment that would enable users to enter in the miscellaneous maintenance items (anode replacement, bottom paint, rigging checks, greasing through hulls, etc.) for the boat versus specific equipment. Enable to user to add in the hours or time interval so that when something is coming due from the time side or hours side, it will pop up on the home page.
- On the maintenance log, add in a dollar field for expense tracking and add a field that enables users to track expense by mechanical type, general boat items, etc. (low priority)
- A general comment note to add for items such as engines to add any specific notes or issues identified (e.g., high oil burn) to keep an eye on and to log and track to see trends (low priority)
- Visualization of what is coming due and what has been done (low priority)

Ultimately, I would like a web app/app/service that would enable me to set up all the maintenance items for my boat (from daily intervals/checks to 10 year repaint), the intervals for which they are to be done which would then populate from the passage of time or engine hours, and be reset once a new maintenance item has been added to address the service notification.

[psedman]

Hi Letterkenny,

First of all, thanks for signing up and taking the time to put together some feedback ... it's much appreciated.

I'll take each item point by point as I think I have some of them covered and others I can make updates to the system quickly:

1. Update engine hours
If you view the equipment from your vessel there is a button next to the hours value with the caption 'UPDATE' which enables you to quickly set the hours for that item of equipment.

I think I'll make the button more prominent as it's clearly not intuitive.

As soon as you update the value, the maintenance schedule for that item of equipment is recalculated and any overdue or upcoming maintenance tasks are displayed on your home page and under the equipment in your vessel's details.

2. Vessel maintenance section
If you click on the 'LOG' button in the menu the Maintenance Log will be displayed.

When you complete scheduled maintenance tasks, the log is automatically appended to.

However, you can click the 'NEW TASK' button at the top of the Maintenance Log screen and you can enter any maintenance task past or present (to do in the future). For example, bottom paint, launder the sails etc general maintenance just as you've described.

You can also add labels to maintenance tasks so that you can group and filter them.

I haven't enabled a next hours/interval for general tasks entered, but I'll add that to the list of features and get to work on it.

3. Add dollar field
Great idea... I'll add it. Obviously I need to put some thought into currencies. Not an issue if you're in the states I guess as will generally always be in dollars but if you sail to the Caribbean or Canada you may want to be able to enter other currencies.

Perhaps I have a default currency that each user can set and enable them to enter a value in the local currency and their default currency e.g. US Dollars & Canadian Dollars. I can then sum up the costs in your default currency (US Dollars).

Maybe I'm overthinking it??

4. General comment note
When you complete a maintenance task or enter one manually in the log there is a 'Notes' field exactly for this purpose.

5. Vizualization of tasks
Think I've got this... Your home page shows you one of three things:

- If you have overdue maintenance tasks it displays these.

- If you don't have any overdue tasks, but a task is within 10 hours or 7 days of requiring completion then it is shown as an 'Upcoming' task on your home page.

- If you don't have either, then the home pages displays the tasks that are next due by date so that you have some visibility on what's coming up in the future.

You can also visit the 'VESSEL' page where you see a. list of all equipment on your boat and badge shows how many Overdue/Upcoming tasks there are for each item of equipment. Clicking on the equipment displays those tasks.


Please let me know if these features satisfy what you're looking for. You can contact me at anytime with feedback at support@boatly.com and I'm happy to work closely and quickly to get the app they way that you find it most useful. You seem to have a good handle on how you want to track the maintenance on your boat, so I'm sure any features that you want will be useful for everyone + the feedback you've given is spot on.

Also, if you have equipment that needs to be added to the database as it's currently missing please feel free to email me a list and I can add it quickly for you. Alternatively you're quite welcome to update the shared database yourself.

I know I need to do more work on making the user interface more intuitive. There's actually quite a lot going on in the app but a lot of it you don't see until you add equipment to your vessel that has the maintenance tasks defined for it.

As soon as possible I plan to put together a shore set of videos taking users through Boatly, from getting started to adding general maintenance tasks ... each one a two or three minutes long.

Also, just for a bit of fun and a challenge on my boat I'm planning to build and fit network connected hours meters so that the equipment can update Boatly automatically when the hours run increases. I've got two engines on my boat, an outboard, generator and watermaker all fitted with hour meters and it would be great if I didn't have to key the hours into the system at regular intervals and let the equipment do it themselves. If I can get something working reliably & cheaply I'll make it available as a DIY project that other people can use.

Thanks again for you input.

Peter

[HankOnthewater]

Over the years I have been using Excel spreadsheets, that is working sofar, but happy to try new things.
Good initiative and I signed up, but..... trying to add equipment: EPRIB, liferaft and tender and none of this equipment is recognised. Yes there was an box asking for a request to add such equipment, but should such basic equipment be part of an inventory already?
Or is this for engine stuff only?

[psedman]

Hi Hank,

Thanks for the message.

Point taken. I've currently have around 400 items of equipment in the database. I've had to start the database from scratch as there is nowhere I can bulk import this data from and also I want to make sure it's accurate.

I'm personally checking each new item of equipment to make sure it's as accurate as possible, so that the database is as useful as possible.

The downside of this is that early adopters (you!), may not find the equipment that you're looking for. If you don't find it, then there is a prompt to add it or request for it to be added. You can send me the equipment you want in the database (make and model) and I'll add it within an hour and I'll also find spares parts and any associated maintenance schedule for it.

You can also send me a list of equipment and I'll make sure it's in the system and get back to you when it's ready. You can do this either by using the 'Contact Us' menu (click on the lightbulb icon in the top menu) or send me an email with the list to support@boatly.com.

If you've got any other feedback or suggestions, please send those as well and I'll do my best to update the system as possible.

Many thanks,
Peter
Boatly.

[Letterkenny]

Hey Peter - I will take a look at some of those items later. Recognize I just signed up and that time of post was about 1am for me so I need to spend some more time with it for further feedback. On item #2, this isn’t really what I meant. There are a lot of maintenance items on a boat that are more generic in nature and outside of items that I would list as equipment. That said, I think the user workaround would be to add a custom piece of equipment and name it the name of the boat and add in the maintenance intervals for said items into this piece.

One thing I haven’t tried yet but am curious about is that can you set the maintenance items as being recurring? Meaning if I need to change the engine oil every 100 hours or 1 year, that I can keep that recurring and show up time after time?

On the hours monitoring, what might be good is to add a page that has all equipment with hours associated so after a day out on the water, you can log onto your phone and go to the one page and update the hours for everything.

[Nauticus]

I also signed up. I don't use anything so this could be useful. Certainly can't hurt.
Thanks