The few hours between charters
On changeover day, a boat comes back in the morning and goes out again in the afternoon. In between, it is cleaned, refuelled, restocked and fixed. The fixing is where things go wrong.
Returning guests mention that the heads pump was stiff, the anchor windlass tripped twice, and the cabin light in the aft cabin does not work. Some of this is written on the check-in form. Some is said to the person on the pontoon, who tells an engineer, who is already working on another boat. A skipper on a skippered charter sends a WhatsApp about the autopilot. The base manager has a mental list. By early afternoon, some of it is done, some is waiting for a part, and some has been forgotten.
The next guests find the aft cabin light still does not work. On the second day, the windlass trips again in a quiet bay, and they ring the base.
Why defects go missing
| Source of the defect | How it is passed on | How it gets lost |
|---|---|---|
| Returning guests | Told to base staff at check-in | Remembered, or not, by the person who heard it |
| Check-in inspection | Written on the paper form | Form not read by the engineers in time |
| Skippers on skippered charters | Phone or chat message | Buried among other messages |
| Mid-charter calls from guests | Phone to the base | Fixed on the spot or noted, not recorded against the boat |
| Engineers' own findings | Memory | Deferred and forgotten |
There is also no clear picture of priority. A broken cabin light and a failing bilge pump are not the same, and the boat leaving first should get attention first.
What an unfixed defect costs
- Guests who start their charter with something broken and feel short-changed.
- Callouts during the charter, which take an engineer away from the base.
- Repeat faults that are fixed in a hurry rather than properly.
- Parts ordered late, because the defect was only confirmed on the morning of the next departure.
- No history for each boat, so recurring problems are not spotted.
Whether a boat is fit to go out is a decision for your base and your technical team. What we can help with is making sure they have every reported defect in front of them in time to make it.
A turnaround job list for every boat
What we build gathers defects from every source into one list per boat, and follows each one to done.
- Defects are logged from the tablet check-in, from a simple form for guests and skippers, and from the base team's phones, each with a photo and the boat it relates to.
- Each defect gets a category and priority set by the base, with guidance from your own rules about what must be fixed before departure and what can wait.
- The job list is sorted by the next departure time for each boat, so the boat leaving first is worked on first.
- Engineers mark jobs as done, deferred or waiting for parts from their phone, with notes and photos.
- Parts needed are recorded and can be sent to your chandlery or supplier as an order.
- Deferred jobs stay on the boat's record and appear again at the next turnaround.
- Before each departure, the base manager sees which boats are clear, which have open items and what those items are, and makes the call.
- Over the season, each boat builds a defect history that shows recurring faults.
Changeover afternoon, with a clear board
The base manager sees one screen: each boat, its next departure, and its open jobs. Engineers work from the same list instead of from memory. Nothing a guest mentioned at the pontoon disappears.
The next guests find the boat as it should be. When something does fail mid-charter, it is logged against the boat and considered at the next turnaround. Over the winter, the defect history helps you plan the refit list from facts rather than impressions.
Does this happen at your base?
- Defects are passed to engineers by word of mouth.
- Guests report the same fault the previous party mentioned.
- Parts are ordered on the morning of departure.
- Deferred jobs are forgotten.
- There is no defect history per boat.