Owning a yacht can be a dream come true. However, we quickly begin to realize that
it takes a lot of work to keep your boat well maintained and keep accurate records.
There is a lot to keep track of on a yacht. For example, many of our boats use raw
water impellors. We should always have spares of these on board and replace them
periodically before they fail on you at the worst time. Just taking the case of
the impellor brings up many things you need to know as a yacht owner such as:
- When was the last time I replaced my raw water impellor?
- When should I replace it before it goes out on me?
- Where is my spare?
- How many spares do I have on hand?
- What is the part number of that impellor so I can order more?
And that is just one example. We also need to know that we have the required safety
devices on board and that our flares are not expired. We need to know that are licenses
are current. There are a seemingly endless amount of things we need to keep track
of on our boats.
In the past we have either kept a notebook with some of this information in it,
or just relied on our memory. But these methods were just not working for me. There
had to be a better way.
Surprisingly, I could not find what I was looking for in currently available software.
I did find similar offerings but they were either no longer supported or very expensive.
This was the genesis of First Mate Yacht Management.
Originally, First Mate was designed for my own use. But as the software became closer
to completion, I realized others could benefit from it as well. Since the initial
development in 2006, it has grown to have many more features. Many of the ideas
behind these features are from input from users like you. I encourage you to let
me know what features you’d like to see added. It is through user feedback that
First Mate Yacht Management will truly be the best it can be.
Troy Doud
Developer of First Mate Yacht Management