Public Discussion Forum

Hello All,

Wondering who is thinking of acquiring or are currently using a Yacht Management Software package like Vessel Vanguard or any other similar program out there

WE currently use spreadsheets but were considering moving to a YM program.

If you are using it...your thoughts?

If you have considered it and decided no , what were your reasons.

Thanks all in advance

Greg Groome

Paradigm Shift

53-07

I use VesselVanguard previously Wheelhouse. I am fairly competent with a spreadsheet but I think tracking all the maintenance tasks on a spreadsheet would be unwieldly.

The transition from Wheelhouse to VesselVanguard was a little rough but I think they have worked out the bugs. I have also found their staff very helpful and responsive with inquiries. Additionally, they have been Rendezvous sponsors for several years.

The initial setup is well worth the expense. The setup includes all the manuals and tasks. A great improvement from Wheelhouse is VV lists the sub-tasks of major tasks. It's very contemplative to print out my tasks for the day and rewarding in checking the tasks off.

Mike Cero

M/V Sea Rose 6605

We received YW a month before we received our new Selene, so my experience with it is only a few months. It came pre loaded with most of the equipment and manuals so a lot of work you would have to do was already done. So far I really like it. It's also free (they do charge commercial users) so if you don't like it, the only thing you lost was your time inputting your information into the program. I spoke with the CEO, not that I'm special, he's just very engaged so support is good. The program has only been out a couple of years so improvements are still being made. It's super easy to use, especially if you are familiar with Apple Reminders and Notes (many of the list look and feel just like Reminders).

I'm a spreadsheet and list kinda guy, so this is right up my alley. The thing I like the most about it is that it keeps all your boat information in one place (documents, checklist, inventory, contacts, maintenance, equipment info and manuals, etc.) Each section works independent of each other so you can use the parts you want and ignore what you don't want. I could go into much more detail into every section but it's pretty intuitive and easy to use. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to reach out.

I'm still learning the boat and it's nice to open a manual on a piece of equipment in my phone or iPad rather than having to go through three boxes of manuals to find the one i want. Same for model and part numbers when I have to call tech support.

Bottom line. I love it.

Jim Otwell

Discovery

64-20

Jim, is YW the Vanguard software?

Based on my prior research, they are very similiar but not actually the same company. The YW interface seems easier and more intuitive. I looked into VV several months ago before I found out I would receive YW pre loaded with my boats info, so I never got very far into researching VV.

I apologize, but I forgot to include the coolest part of YW. There is a web version and an app version. Both are linked so no additional work is required by you, but you can do a lot more on the web than you can on the app. The web has an AI component that helps trouble shoot items specific to your boat.

An example would be that I have input my ElectroSea Strainer info (model numbers and manuals) into the YW (either via the app or web, it doesn't matter). Now, let's say I have an error message on the ElectroSea display. (1) I log into the web YW and go to the AI Mechanic section (this section is not on the app), (2) select the ElectroSea and (3) type in the problem (in this example: "error E5 displayed"), (4) press submit and BOOM, it tells me what the problem and solution is. See photo below.

.

Yes, it is YachtWave.

Interesting thread that has got me thinking. I use google sheets to record my maintenance. I've been constantly looking for a better solution, and I'm too cheap to spend $$$ on expensive solutions. I considered YachtWave, but I am hesitant to get locked into an application and have my data in the "cloud" somewhere in case I want to migrate to a different app in the future, or a future owner wants that.

I started subscribing to Chat GPT and have used it many ways on the boat to solve problems and create drawings. I'm pretty sure I can give Chat GPT access to my google sheet and have it maintain the spreadsheet. I could tell Chat GPT "I changed the generator oil and filter today and the engine hours are 5,321.2". Chat GPT should be able to update the spreadsheet.

Or, I could say, "give me a list of maintenance activities due this month? and I should get a list. I'm wondering if anyone has done this yet?

Richard Nye

Untethered, 57-22

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/MV_Untethered/

I am doing that but a bit more formally. I have a local/off line LLM that I have "taught". The hardware is Jetson Orin Nano running Gemma 3b. I have maintenance, storage/inventory in a database and a few other things including access to my manuals so I can ask questions about them without having to look things up myself.

I can ask questions like you suggest. I found that using online AI works, but you have to upload the spreadsheets each time and then saver them again once updated. And there are more errors using online AI than my local one as it is specifically focused on my boat. It is not connected to the internet so it cannot access other data that may make it wonder or hallucinate.

I stopped using specific software for maintenance and cost management. I started using ChatGPT a while ago, now created a Google Drive directory where I keep all cost and service related communication and allowed Anthropic's Claude to access this and it created a nicely sorted and organized structure, Excel sheets any way I like and need them to provide overview and analysis reports that revealed interesting and extremely important facts that need attention. The comfort of using Claude is better and results are also slightly better than with ChatGPT. But I am sure that other LLMs do a similar good job, including on premises solutions. So in the end it boils down to cost and personal likings.

Harald Raetzsch

Selene 66 Mazu