The Basics of Boat Maintenance
VesselWise Helps Owners Overcome the Maintenance Blues
October 2015
As a boat owner, you understand that your boat requires a lot of care. The safety, integrity and market value of a boat depends on how well it is maintained. Regularly checking your boat can keep issues in check, but it is also important to occasionally get your boat thoroughly surveyed by a surveyor. A surveyor’s trained eye will reveal issues that owner-operators may not be able to catch. Hiring a marine surveyor may seem like a high cost, but getting your boat surveyed often saves far more money than it costs. So when it comes to boat maintenance, though it may be tempting, never take the cheapest route.
A boat that is looked after diligently will give you every reason to smile. But if it doesn’t get regular and proper maintenance, it really can turn out to be the proverbial hole in the water into which you throw money. Keeping your boat well maintained will help justify your decision to invest in a boat, and when you decide to sell it, it will get you a good price.
Boat ownership requires a lot of commitment. A boat is an expensive asset, and if that’s where you’ve decided to invest your money, you must take good care of your investment. So if you already own a boat, or are getting ready to buy one, here’s a basic guide to help you overcome the boat maintenance blues.
Know that boat maintenance is a work in progress. You can’t expect to own a boat and not face some issue or another, given the many complex systems on board. A boat has many structural, electrical, mechanical and cosmetic components tied together to form one complex piece of engineering. So with a boat, expect maintenance to be an ongoing affair.
Preventative care minimizes costly repairs. It’s not that a boat is guaranteed to develop a defect every time you take it out on the water, but you have to be proactive in your approach to maintenance, so that you can identify issues and fix them before they become much worse. Boats require proactive preventative maintenance. If you wait until something stops working completely before you take action, the damage to the boat will be severe. With boats, a seemingly minor problem can often lead to a serious situation that could easily have been prevented. So, although it may seem like a drill, preventative care ensures that your boat remains safe and you don’t end up paying a heavy price for a small issue.
You get out what you put in. This common saying holds true when it comes to boat maintenance. If you give your boat regular surveys, engine inspections and needed repairs, it will bring you plenty of good times with friends and family year after year. If you ignore maintenance, the neglect may later end up burning a hole in your pocket. Even worse, these unattended issues can compromise safety and may ultimately cause an accident. So in addition to regular surveys and repairs, make sure to provide proper winter storage, cleaning, hosing, responsible sailing, docking and, of course, general upkeep.
Maintenance itself isn’t really difficult. What makes it challenging for boat owners is the lack of tools and resources available to both boat owners and maritime service providers to carry out maintenance without hassle. In the absence of an effective way to capture the issues that inevitably crop up, or to communicate those issues to warranty managers, owners face a lot of challenges. To overcome these challenges, VesselWise provides a software-driven solution.
VesselWise allows owner-operators and marine surveyors to capture onboard issues using an iPad. It allows the user to take a photo or shoot a video clip of the affected area, add captions and then upload the issues as survey items for later resolution. The VesselWise platform also introduces a systematized workflow management process to make warranty management more streamlined, transparent and efficient.
By bringing together boat owners and service professionals on a common platform, VesselWise creates a collaborative ecosystem for service seekers and providers to overcome maintenance-related issues. To make VesselWise even more accessible, it will soon be available to owner-operators in a compact and powerful mobile app for iPhone.
If you would like to know more about VesselWise, send us an inquiry.
