Boat Maintenance & Management Solution?

[er9]

Originally Posted by Aeon

Unless someone has a 10ft old wooden boat and just a pair of oars, record keeping is a must, let alone reminders and probably some cost tracking!

@tkeithlu respectfully disagree on the simple problem - too complicate solution approach. Have you counted how many electro-mechanical systems a modern 40ft recreational boat has?! Furthermore, if you consider the components and parts of each of them it does get complicated and needs tracking.

@sailorboy1 true about trying to type on a small screen on a rocking boat! Still, you may keep a paper-note and do the data entry when the seas will get calm again. Let's not forget that cruising/maintenance/etc paper-logs are not searchable neither can do pop-up reminders! If i may propose, you get a cheap tablet (plenty of these around) with an even cheaper keyboard (e.g. bluetooth) and you put them on the Nav Station. On a flip of a switch the tablet is on (no boot time, compared to a laptop), you do the data entry and you are done.

it think it depends how well you know your boat and how much time you actually spend on it. my guess is the more experienced sailors who regularly sail their boats and maintain them would find additional layers of tech for maintenance and cost tracking bothersome. I spend a ton of time on my boat working on her and sailing her. I have to admit im a tech guy and a hardcore app nerd. when I first got the boat I quickly made extensive spreadsheets to track every little detail. i quickly abandoned all of them for notes in the log book and a whiteboard. i think there is wisdom in keeping boat systems simple and robust. that being said i do like gauges and instruments to tell me whats going on in the primary systems at a glance.

to answer the op's question though it sounds like such a system would be better suited to a fairly large vessel that has a hired crew or a charter boat maybe? i had a friend that managed a very large private yacht. not an easy job. in that case the systems and inventory probably were complex at a very different level than a small private yacht. i could imagine such a system would be very useful in that case but imagine they must already exist?

[MarineDataCloud]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

I call this a "logbook." It's a bound journal with date and time on the left, then deck entries such as lat/lon, then on the right page engine hours plus engineering notes, including repair squawks. The First Mate does provisioning, and lots of gauges keep track of things like when fuel will be needed and remind me to turn on the raw water. I think it was invented in 1,300 BC.

One step up is a checklist. Again, it's paper, but a single sheet with everything to be checked and done before starting down the runway. Every pilot uses one.

Give yourself some time in your boat. What you can't remember, write down. As you get older, you'll write down more.

There may be a use for dedicated software when managing a ship. I'm sure the various Navies have their systems, and maybe they need a new one. Ditto merchant ships. But, realistically, for the simple job of managing a 40' recreational boat you're trying to solve a simple problem in a very complicated manner.

Yes, I understand! But, what about the storage? I mean how do you keep a clean and understandable archive without the help of the technology?

Lets say you have been sailing for almost 1 Year and you want to make some statistical report for understanding all of the expenses that the boat management has cost you! This will help you to better understand how to optimize the expenses.

I think that having a storage database which gives you meaningful reports about all of the expenses, by filtering them of course, its better than returning to all the sheets you have in your archive and finding meaningful data!

Let me know what you think!

[MarineDataCloud]

Originally Posted by slug

Yes and no

I frequently must perform service work on yachts and the ships manuals, technical sheets ,equipment specs, serial numbers , users guides , installation guides .... that were originally supplied with the boat, have been lost or destroyed

Bad news..cost me much time just identifying the equipment



It would be a good service if a company scanned and stored these documents when the boat was new ..then permanently stored them on the cloud for future reference

I agree, storage is a must so you don't get confused about inventory or other technical stuff. Let the Sailor focus on the important stuff when sailing and let the storage software provide useful information for the sailor!

[MarineDataCloud]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, George.

Thank you very much! Very happy to be here

[MarineDataCloud]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

I'm with you on the documentation, slug. That's a set of four notebooks full of owner's and service manuals in the forward cabin. It sometimes takes me as long to find the right one as it does to warm up a laptop.

Or you could just scan them, rename them properly so the title can be meaningful to the type of service, upload them in the database and later on research them directly through your phone! This could help you find the right information in no time!

[MarineDataCloud]

Originally Posted by Aeon

Unless someone has a 10ft old wooden boat and just a pair of oars, record keeping is a must, let alone reminders and probably some cost tracking!

@tkeithlu respectfully disagree on the simple problem - too complicate solution approach. Have you counted how many electro-mechanical systems a modern 40ft recreational boat has?! Furthermore, if you consider the components and parts of each of them it does get complicated and needs tracking.

@sailorboy1 true about trying to type on a small screen on a rocking boat! Still, you may keep a paper-note and do the data entry when the seas will get calm again. Let's not forget that cruising/maintenance/etc paper-logs are not searchable neither can do pop-up reminders! If i may propose, you get a cheap tablet (plenty of these around) with an even cheaper keyboard (e.g. bluetooth) and you put them on the Nav Station. On a flip of a switch the tablet is on (no boot time, compared to a laptop), you do the data entry and you are done.

Totally agree! The purpose here is to retrieve meaningful data for what you log, that can help you better manage your boat.

[Checkswrecks]

As Slug wrote, there are already numerous apps and electronic logs available, so you are asking to re-invent a wheel.

Further, I've been burned a couple of times by apps which I relied on then had the makers shut down. Google is famous for this!

I'm sticking to a spreadsheet with several tabs, good old WORD, and pdf scans kept in folders labeled by category. Similar to what Aeon wrote, I have a printed copy of the scheduled mx and to-do list on a clip-board with a storage compartment. Receipts go in the storage compartment and I can scribble notes on the print-outs, then scan the receipts and type in the scribbles when I get a chance.

[MarineDataCloud]

Originally Posted by Albinvega27

Prefer to go as sailor and not as Computer freak...

I disagree! Everyone sails because they love sailing. Keeping automatic records about your boat data does not make you a computer freak. It just lets you focus on the important stuff and helps you to better understand your boat.

Think of all of the important metrics that a boat needs to navigate smoothly. You can just set a reminder everytime a specific metric is below the requested standard and you can have real time alerts, also with specifics. Need I remind you that some metrics could not be calculated alone...there is some math needed somewhere.

This is not just a computer freak sailing. It's a sailor who needs to better manage his boat!

Let me know what you think, and thank you!

[MarineDataCloud]

Originally Posted by Checkswrecks

As Slug wrote, there are already numerous apps and electronic logs available, so you are asking to re-invent a wheel.

Further, I've been burned a couple of times by apps which I relied on then had the makers shut down. Google is famous for this!

I'm sticking to a spreadsheet with several tabs, good old WORD, and pdf scans kept in folders labeled by category. Similar to what Aeon wrote, I have a printed copy of the scheduled mx and to-do list on a clip-board with a storage compartment. Receipts go in the storage compartment and I can scribble notes on the print-outs, then scan the receipts and type in the scribbles when I get a chance.

I see. I agree with you. Finding a reliable software is mission impossible nowadays. Still, i think that finding the right one (software or app) can facilitate the way a sailor manages his boat.

[MerMike]

At this point in my life I spend half my time looking for my phone, the other half trying to log into some #$%@#$ app to get a menial task done and the third half trying to recover yet another ^%&#$%! password. NO. MORE. APPS. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the nether regions of app developers trying to make our lives "easier".

[conachair]

Originally Posted by MarineDataCloud

Lets say you have been sailing for almost 1 Year and you want to make some statistical report for understanding all of the expenses that the boat management has cost you! This will help you to better understand how to optimize the expenses.

I think that having a storage database which gives you meaningful reports about all of the expenses, by filtering them of course, its better than returning to all the sheets you have in your archive and finding meaningful data!

Let me know what you think!

ExpenseIQ on android does all that expense side of things for me, as much as I'll ever want anyway. Lets you define projects as well so you can track refits etc. It's extremely useful for cruising, if you are minor league obsessed enough to keep it up to date.
Other stuff which has evolved regarding what you're talking about :- opencpn has a small but handy section in the logbook plugin where you can log all the gear you own and set up todo & maintenance lists and warnings based on distance or engine hours etc. Not used that part of the logbook much so can't comment. It is handy for printouts of crewlists, boat reg numbers etc.
I tend to use evernote a lot for boat stuff, all part numbers, oil filter sizes etc go in there so next time some down the filter shop you know what size to get with a moment on the smartphone. Evernote will set reminders as well.
Then there's openplotter/signalk which can store all nmea, sensor data etc to a database, more for moment to moment watching but lots of very useful data will go in there.
I suspect most people end up with their own system, an 'app to rule them all' seems unlikely for what is quite a broad remit for what you want to log on a boat.

[dannc]

An open source spreadsheet can handle these tasks and can be as complicated or as simple as one likes/needs/wants. If one knows what one is seeing, the Delos crew uses Agile practices for boat chores which simply requires a pen/pencil and post it notes.


Later,
Dan

[HeinSdL]

I think for the average pleasure vessel, there's not so much need for any kind of management system. I have a log book for sailing/navigating (which will always remain a physical document), a notebook with everything engine related (OK could be in an app but maybe a bit of an overkill), a file with ship docs (registration & insurance: need them physically to register at marinas) and a bunch of manuals (which I suppose I could find as PDFs as well, but when I need to consult these manuals, I still prefer hard copies).


Importantly, I also have my own way of doing things with no-one instructing me how to run my boat. This is part of the freedom dimension I particular enjoy. An App as suggested would inherently require me to adjust to the app's way of doing things. Given how much I get told how to do things in my day-job by half baked applications built by eg SAP the last thing I want is to replicate this on my boat.

[Aeon]

Originally Posted by MerMike

At this point in my life I spend half my time looking for my phone, the other half trying to log into some #$%@#$ app to get a menial task done and the third half trying to recover yet another ^%&#$%! password. NO. MORE. APPS. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the nether regions of app developers trying to make our lives "easier".

...for better or worse(?) the next evolution of human kind is with/through technology! We used to spent much time for things that are now trivially done on a computer on the palm of our hand (i.e. our phone). Exorcising Apps is not the solution. If there are "crappy" Apps? Yes, there are. The user has the control. You give it a try and you see. You like it, you keep it and maybe pay a small fee. You don't like it, you press uninstall and tranquility restored in a minute!

Simply put, you use any mobile phone, you use Apps! your "dialer", contacts, calendar, etc, are Apps!

[Aeon]

For Checklists, i have been using Trello. For Cost Tracking, I have tried many different Personal Finance Management apps, making various expense categories for parts, fuel, repairs, etc. I have also tried quite a few "Maritime" Apps but there is fragmentation. Meaning, there are some apps dealing with the cruising log (logbook) others focusing on maintenance and cost tracking, some simple ones for checklists, some other ones for documents management (manuals), etc. At best, some offer a few of these functions but not all of them and also requiring a subscription fee (for some even calculated by foot-lenght, monthly). Lastly, the majority of those apps out there are OLD! You see interfaces that resemble - almost - MS-DOS, providing poor user-interface and poor overall user-experience. Data export is a very critical point. Is a must, in ANY app. The user should be able to download the data in some popular format (e.g. Excel) and dump the App if crappy!

Bottomline, tough to get something to have all needed functionalities under a single umbrella app, to be modern/updated (...I can settle this being 2, 3 maybe 4 years old) and preferably free!