# ReadyHelm User Guide > How to use ReadyHelm, the boat maintenance and records app, and the ReadyHelm Pro Portal for marine businesses. Last updated 2026-10-28. One page per chapter: https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/ # Getting Started _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 01 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/getting-started.html_ ReadyHelm is where you keep your boat's full record — maintenance, service history, safety checklists, equipment, and documents — in one place, and share exactly as much of it as you want with crew, family, or your boatyard. ## Creating an account You can sign in two ways: - **Sign in with Google** — one click, no password to remember. - **Email + password** — enter your name, email, and a password on the sign-up screen. Every new account starts on the **Free plan** (see [Your Plan & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html)). Forgot your password? Use **Forgot password?** on the sign-in screen. You'll get an email with a reset link that's valid for one hour. If you originally signed up with Google, this also lets you set a password for the first time. ## Welcome: owner, crew, or both After you sign up, First Mate welcomes you aboard and asks what you'd like to set up first: - **Boat Owner.** Track maintenance, documents, and service history for your boat. This takes you to adding your boat (below). - **Crew Member.** Log hours toward a captain's license and help out on a boat you don't own. Search for the boat by **boat name or owner email** and click **Request Access**. The owner gets your request to approve. If the boat isn't on ReadyHelm yet, you can invite the owner to join (see [Timeline & Your Crew](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/timeline-and-crew.html#timeline-and-crew-finding-a-boat-to-crew-on)). Pick one or both. Anything you skip can be picked up later from the **Finish setting up your account** banner on Home, so nothing blocks you from using the app. Some new accounts get **guided setup** instead: First Mate asks **I have a boat** or **I crew on someone else's boat**, takes your boat's basics, asks where it lives, and lets you choose a simple or full Home. See [Simple Mode & Guided Setup](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/simple-mode-and-guided-setup.html). ## Adding your boat You have two ways to add a boat: - **First Mate.** Upload documents you already have (a HIN plate photo, registration, insurance, a survey, receipts, and more) and First Mate fills in the boat's details for you to review. See [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html). - **Enter details.** Type in the basics yourself: name, make, model, year, type, engine hours, and location. As you type the make and model, ReadyHelm suggests matches from boats it already knows. The suggestions are optional, and anything you type is kept as-is. If you don't have a boat and only want to track your certifications, choose **Skip — I don't have a boat, just track my certifications**. ### The HIN Every boat is identified by its **Hull Identification Number (HIN)**, the alphanumeric code stamped on the hull, usually on the starboard transom. HINs are permanent and belong to the boat, not any one owner, so ReadyHelm uses them to keep a boat's history together across ownership changes. **You don't need the HIN to get started.** Leave it blank and the boat is created right away, with its HIN shown as "Pending." Add it later from **Edit vessel**. Everything you've logged in the meantime moves over to the real HIN automatically. When you do enter a HIN (up to 12 characters, capitalized automatically), what happens depends on whether ReadyHelm has seen it before: - **Brand-new HIN.** The boat is linked to you as its owner. - **HIN with no current owner** (for example, logged by a boatyard before you signed up). The boat is assigned to you, along with its existing history. - **HIN already owned by someone else.** ReadyHelm sends a **transfer request** to the current owner instead of taking the boat over. You'll see "Claim submitted" and get access once they approve it. ## Adding more boats Once you have at least one boat, use **+ Add New Vessel** from the vessel switcher at the top of the sidebar (or the vessel name dropdown on mobile). You get the same **First Mate** / **Enter details** choice. How many boats you can add depends on your plan. See [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html). If you're at your limit, you'll see an upgrade prompt instead of the add-boat form. ## Finding your way around The left sidebar (desktop) or the header and bottom icons (mobile) are your main navigation. The **🔔 bell** at the top of the sidebar shows notifications (see [Messages & Notifications](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/messages-and-notifications.html)). At the top, available from anywhere: - **🏠 Home.** Your whole fleet at a glance (see [Home & Vessel Summary](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/home-dashboard.html)). - **💬 Messages.** Conversations with your crew and boatyard (see [Messages & Notifications](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/messages-and-notifications.html)). - **First Mate.** Chat with the AI assistant about your boats (see [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html)). **Crew Corner** (covers all of your boats): - **🕐 Timeline.** Everything with a date, across your fleet (see [Timeline & Your Crew](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/timeline-and-crew.html)). - **🧭 My Trips.** Every trip you're on, plus crew invites waiting on you (see [Captain's Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/captains-log.html)). - **🎓 Safety & Certs.** Your certifications and emergency info (see [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html#my-account-and-plans-safety--certs)). - **👥 Your Crew.** Everyone with access to your boats, and crew requests to approve (see [Timeline & Your Crew](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/timeline-and-crew.html)). - **🛟 Float Plans.** Safety check-ins across your fleet (see [Float Plan](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/float-plan.html)). - **🟠 Berths.** Your moorings and slips (see [Berths: Moorings & Slips](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/berths.html)). - **🏁 Racing.** Club race seasons you've registered for, and finding new ones (see [Racing](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/racing.html)). **Vessel** (the boat selected in the vessel switcher): - **🏠 Vessel Summary.** This boat's status at a glance. - **🗂️ Vessel Records.** Sharing & Ownership, Insurance, Registration, Ratings, Identifiers, Specifications, and Documents (see [Vessel Records](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/vessel-records.html)). - **🔧 Equipment.** Your gear inventory (see [Equipment](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/equipment.html)). - **⚓ Checklists.** Before/After Trip, custom checklists, and the USCG safety checklist (see [Checklists](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/checklists.html)). - **📝 To-Do.** Freeform tasks (see [To-Do Items](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/to-do-items.html)). - **📋 Service Log.** Maintenance tasks and service history (see [Maintenance Tasks & Service Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/maintenance-and-service-log.html)). - **💰 Expenses.** Fuel, dockage, and other running costs (see [Expenses](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/expenses.html)). - **⚓ Captain's Log.** Trips, crew hours, and USCG sea-service tracking (see [Captain's Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/captains-log.html)). On mobile, the header keeps search, messages, First Mate and the bell, and the **☰** menu holds My Account, the Pro portal, the User Guide, Give feedback and Sign out. At the bottom of the sidebar, **📖 User Guide** opens this guide and **💬 Give feedback** reports a bug, requests a feature, or asks for help (see [Giving Feedback](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/feedback.html)). Your name is shown below it. Click it to open **My Account** (see [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html)). If you're also part of a business on ReadyHelm Pro (a boatyard, mooring service or brokerage, for example), **🧰 Pro portal** at the bottom of the sidebar (in the **☰** menu on mobile) switches to it without signing in again. Your boats stay on this account. See the [Pro Portal guide](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/getting-started.html). If you own more than one boat, use the vessel switcher to move between them. Everything in the Vessel section updates to that boat. Some items only appear if your plan includes them. Others show an upgrade prompt when you open them. ## Installing ReadyHelm on your phone or computer ReadyHelm can be installed like an app. In your browser, use **Add to Home Screen** (iPhone/iPad: Safari's Share menu; Android: Chrome's menu) or the **Install** icon in the address bar (desktop Chrome and Edge). It then opens in its own window with the ReadyHelm icon. The installed app loads its screens even when your connection is patchy, but you still need to be online to load or save your data. ## Common questions ### Do I need my boat's HIN to start using ReadyHelm? No. Leave the HIN blank and the boat is created right away, with its HIN shown as Pending. Add it later from **Edit vessel**, and everything you've logged moves over to the real HIN. ### What happens to my boat's records when I sell it? The record belongs to the boat's HIN, not to you, so it stays with the boat. You hand it over with **Transfer** under Vessel Records → Sharing & Ownership, the new owner confirms, and you can keep read access as a Viewer (see [Vessel Records](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/vessel-records.html#vessel-records-transfer)). A verified history report helps a buyer see what's been done. ### Is there a ReadyHelm app for iPhone and Android? ReadyHelm runs in the browser and can be installed from it like an app: **Add to Home Screen** on iPhone, iPad and Android, or the **Install** icon in desktop Chrome and Edge. --- # Home & Vessel Summary _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 02 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/home-dashboard.html_ Two different things share the word "dashboard": **🏠 Home**, a fleet-wide sidebar item above the vessel switcher, and **Vessel Summary**, the first tab you land on for whichever boat is currently selected. Home is about your whole fleet; Vessel Summary is about one boat. On mobile both live on the **Home** tab: a switch at the top flips between **All boats** (or **Overview** with one boat) and the selected boat. It remembers your choice, and starts on All boats if you have more than one. Tapping a boat on the fleet view opens it. ## Home Your fleet-wide dashboard: its own item at the very top of the sidebar, above Crew Corner and the vessel switcher. ### Finish setting up your account If you skipped part of the welcome flow (adding a boat, or finding a boat to crew on), a banner at the top of Home offers to pick up where you left off. **Dismiss for now** hides it. See [Getting Started](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/getting-started.html). ### Simple view and setup cards If you chose **Keep it simple** during guided setup, Home is one card per boat instead of the tiles below: what's due, how ready it is, and **Log something**. **Show me everything** switches to the tiles; **Switch to the simple view** switches back. In the full view, guided setup adds **Get more ready** (readiness per boat plus one setup question), **Suggested maintenance**, and an occasional one-step nudge at the top. Owners from before guided setup see a **Tune my dashboard** offer. All of this is covered in [Simple Mode & Guided Setup](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/simple-mode-and-guided-setup.html). ### What's New A banner at the top surfaces the latest ReadyHelm announcement, if there is one — title and body, collapsible. It only appears when something's been published and you haven't hidden that tile; there's no way to write one yourself, it's ReadyHelm-authored. ### Tiles Below that, a grid of independent tiles, each show/hideable and reorderable: - **Your fleet** — every boat you can see, with its photo, score ring, and "Ready to sail"/"Needs attention" headline. - **Action needed** — the worst overdue maintenance tasks across your whole fleet (top 5, sorted worst-first), each showing the vessel, system, task, and days overdue, with a "+N more" tally. Click through to that vessel's Service Log. - **Coming up** — the same treatment for tasks due soon, before they tip into overdue. - **Quick links** — shortcuts to start a trip, add a to-do, add a service entry, or add a receipt. - **Float Plans** — a count of your open Float Plans still awaiting a "we're back safely" close-out, plus the most recent one. See [Float Plan](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/float-plan.html). - **Your Crew** — everyone with access across your fleet, by name. - **USCG sea service** — pick your target license (OUPV or Master, Inland or Near Coastal) and see a progress bar toward that license's sea-day requirement, aggregated across every boat and trip you're on. It's informational only — a raw day count, not a validation of every USCG rule. - **Costs this year** — your Service Log costs plus [Expenses](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/expenses.html), year-to-date, summed across the fleet. - **Days on water this year** — calendar days spanned by your logged trips this year. - **Weather** — current NOAA conditions at each boat's home port: wind, gusts, waves, and the next tide. A boat appears here once its Location is linked to a known marine location (see [Marine Locations & Weather](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/locations-and-weather.html)). - **Racing** — your next race (boat, start time, class flag, course, the forecast from your boat's home port, and on race day whether you've checked in), what's still to do for the club (waiver signatures, amendments to acknowledge, fees to pay), and seasons open for registration. See [Racing](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/racing.html). - **Race results** — your latest published results and where each of your boats stands in its series. - **First Mate** — a shortcut into the AI assistant to ask about maintenance or upcoming trips, or to set a reminder (see [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html)). Note: Action needed/Coming up on Home cover only scheduled **maintenance tasks** — checklists and to-dos have their own status badges on their own pages. Some tiles belong to features your plan doesn't include. Those still show, with an upgrade prompt, unless you hide them. ### Customizing it **Customize** opens a modal to drag-reorder tiles and toggle any of them on or off. Three tiles — Your fleet, Costs this year, and Days on water — also let you exclude specific vessels from just that one tile, without affecting anything else. **Reset to default** restores whatever layout an admin configured as the default. ## Vessel Summary The first tab for whichever boat is selected in the vessel switcher (labeled 🏠 in the sidebar). At the top: the boat's photo, a **score ring** (0–100) with a headline — **75 or above** reads "Ready to sail," below that, "Needs attention" — and a one-line maintenance summary: - If anything is overdue: **"N overdue · N due soon"** - Otherwise, if something's coming up soon: **"N items due soon"** - Otherwise: **"All N maintenance tasks current"**, or **"No maintenance tasks scheduled"** if you haven't set any up yet. This line is specifically about **Maintenance Tasks** — it doesn't include your To-Do list, which is tracked separately (see [To-Do Items](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/to-do-items.html)). Below the summary, a breakdown lists exactly what's keeping the score below 100, each one clickable straight to where you'd fix it. The boat's HIN is shown underneath. If you're a shared Viewer/Editor rather than the owner, a badge shows your role. An incoming ownership-transfer or sharing request shows as a banner here too — see [Vessel Records](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/vessel-records.html) for the full picture. ### Basic info & Photos Edit the boat's name, make, model, year, type, engine hours, and location. Make and model suggest matches as you type. Location uses the marine location picker, which links the boat's home port to NOAA forecasts (see [Marine Locations & Weather](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/locations-and-weather.html)). If you added the boat without a HIN, it shows as **Pending**. Enter it here once you have it, and everything you've logged moves over to the real HIN. Once set, the HIN is permanent and can't be changed. Manage photos, including which one is the thumbnail shown on Home's "Your fleet" tile. ### Harbor Master A days-at-berth calculator for handing to a harbor master or yacht club — pick a date range (this season, calendar year, or custom) to see total mooring days and the date ranges you were away, based on your logged trips, then export as PDF or CSV. If the boat has berths (see [Berths: Moorings & Slips](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/berths.html)), pick one under **Berth**, or **All berths (whole vessel)**. Each berth counts only the dates the boat was on it. The boat's **Home berth** is picked first; set or **Clear** it here. **Manage berths** opens the Berths page, and **Log launch/haul-out dates** records a season's dates on the boat's mooring. ### Verified history report **"Thinking of selling?"** generates a shareable summary of the boat's maintenance record — handy for a broker, surveyor, or buyer. It separates **independently verified** entries (logged or confirmed by the business that did the work) from **owner-reported** ones, since a buyer will weigh those differently. An entry read from a document you uploaded, such as a receipt, stays owner-reported until the business confirms it (**Request verification**). **Export PDF** saves it as a PDF, built by ReadyHelm from your records. --- # Maintenance Tasks & Service Log _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 03 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/maintenance-and-service-log.html_ ReadyHelm tracks two related but different things: **scheduled maintenance** (what's due, and when) and the **service log** (a record of work already done). ## Maintenance Tasks A Maintenance Task is a reminder for maintenance work, such as an oil change or an impeller replacement. Each task shows a status: - 🔴 **Overdue**: past due. - 🟡 **Due soon**: coming up. - 🟢 **OK**: current. ### Setting up a task Under **📋 Service Log → All maintenance tasks**, click **+ Add maintenance task**. Pick the system, describe the task, and choose when it's due: - **Days**: repeats every so many days (for example, every 365 days). - **Engine hrs**: repeats every so many engine hours (for example, every 100 hours). - **Due date**: a one-time task on a specific date. Optionally, link the task to one or more pieces of **equipment** so it shows up in that equipment's service history. Edit a task's interval and starting point any time with the ✎ icon, or delete it. Deleting a task removes the reminder and its history for good. Your boatyard or service provider can also set up tasks for you. Those appear in the same list. Not sure where to start? With guided setup, **Suggested maintenance** on Home offers typical tasks for your kind of boat that you add with one tap (see [Simple Mode & Guided Setup](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/simple-mode-and-guided-setup.html#simple-mode-and-guided-setup-suggested-maintenance)). Setting a replacement schedule on a piece of equipment (see [Equipment](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/equipment.html#equipment-replacement-tracking)) also creates a matching task here, so it's tracked like everything else. ### Automatic reminders When a task becomes due or overdue, ReadyHelm automatically adds a matching item to your [To-Do list](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/to-do-items.html). The to-do is then included in your daily reminder email. The task and its to-do stay in sync: - Mark the **task** done and its to-do is closed. - Complete the **to-do** and the task's schedule rolls forward to the next due date. A recurring task keeps repeating like this without ever creating duplicate to-dos. ### Marking a task done Use **Mark as Done** (from Home's Action Needed list) or **Mark done** (from the task list in the Service Log tab). Confirming logs the completion with today's date and restarts the countdown. If the task is linked to equipment, ReadyHelm then asks **Log a condition update too?**, which gives you a quick way to record the equipment's condition while you're looking at it. ## Service Log The Service Log is your boat's history — every completed job, in one place. Entries come from two sources, shown separately: - **Verified History** — independently confirmed, either because a service provider (boatyard) logged it, or because your provider confirmed an entry you logged. These carry a verification badge showing who did the work. - **Owner-Reported History** — added directly by you. Not independently verified, but every edit is tracked and visible so the record stays honest. If your boatyard bills through QuickBooks, a job they invoiced also shows the invoice number and whether it's **Paid** or how much is still due. If they take online payments, **Pay invoice** opens the invoice so you can pay it. ### Quotes from your boatyard When a service provider sends you a quote, you get a notification and an email, and it shows at the top of the boat's Service Log under **Quotes to review**: what the work is, each line with its price, and the total before tax. **Approve** tells them to go ahead. **Decline** lets you add a reason for them. You can also answer straight from the email's **Approve** and **Decline** buttons without signing in; each email's buttons work once, and stop working if the provider revises the quote or it passes its "valid until" date. Answered quotes move to **Show earlier quotes**. Quotes work on every plan, and only the boat's owner can answer them. To ask a question first, reply to the email or use the quote's thread in **Messages**. A quote can ask for a **deposit**, shown under the total with its amount. It's invoiced when the work is scheduled. ### Booking a time with your boatyard If your boatyard takes bookings, its open jobs and approved quotes for your boat show at the top of the Service Log under **Service bookings**. **Pick a time** shows the services you can book and their open times over the next two weeks (**Later dates ›** for more). Times are in your time zone; work that takes a day or more is booked as drop-off dates. Add a note if you like, then **Request this time**. The time is held for you until the business confirms it, and you're notified when they do (some businesses confirm straight away). If they don't confirm in time, the time is let go and you can pick another. **Move** or **Cancel booking** any time, with an optional reason that goes to the business. A booking link in an email from the business opens the same place. ### Adding an entry yourself Use **+ Add service entry**. You can attach: - The system/category it relates to (engine, electrical, rigging, etc.) - A note describing the work - Engine hours at the time - Linked equipment (so it shows up in that equipment's own **Service History** tab too) If the entry's engine hours are higher than the boat's current reading, the boat's engine hours go up to match. A lower number never lowers the reading. The same applies to entries your service provider logs. ### Editing your own entries You can edit or delete a service log entry **you added yourself**, as long as it hasn't been independently verified. A checkmark icon distinguishes a verified (boatyard-logged) entry — those are locked to protect the record's integrity, but you can still **dispute** one if you think it's wrong (see below). ### Asking your provider to verify an entry If a service provider did the work but you logged it yourself, open the entry and choose **Request verification**. Your provider confirms it happened (it then counts as verified) or declines it (it stays owner-reported). You need a provider connected to the boat first (see [Vessel Records](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/vessel-records.html#vessel-records-providers)). ### Disputing an entry If a boatyard-logged entry looks incorrect, open it and choose **Dispute this entry**, optionally with a reason. The service provider will see the dispute and can resolve it. ## Linking equipment Both Maintenance Tasks and Service Log entries can reference specific equipment (e.g. "Volvo Penta D2-40" rather than just "Engine & Mechanical" in general). This builds a per-equipment history you can review from [Equipment](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/equipment.html) — useful for tracking exactly what's been done to a specific part over its life. ## Common questions ### Can ReadyHelm remind me about boat maintenance by engine hours? Yes. A maintenance task can repeat every so many days, every so many engine hours, or fall on one date. When it comes due, it becomes a to-do and goes in your daily reminder email. ### What's the difference between verified and owner-reported service history? Verified entries were logged by a service provider, or logged by you and then confirmed by your provider. Owner-reported entries are ones you added yourself; every edit to them is tracked. The verified history report keeps the two apart, because a buyer weighs them differently. ### Can my boatyard log work on my boat in ReadyHelm? Yes. Give the business access under Vessel Records → Sharing & Ownership → Providers, and its staff can log verified service and set up maintenance tasks. Their entries show with a verification badge, and you can dispute one you think is wrong. --- # To-Do Items _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 04 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/to-do-items.html_ To-Do items are freeform, non-scheduled tasks — things you want to get to, but that aren't on a recurring interval like a Maintenance Task, and aren't yet a completed record like a Service Log entry. Find them under **📝 To-Do** in the Vessel section of the sidebar. ## Creating one Type what needs doing, optionally pick a category (General, Engine & Mechanical, Navigation & Electronics, etc.), and add it. Click **+ More details** to also set: - **Due date** - **Priority** (Low / Medium / Normal / Urgent / High) - **Assign to** — anyone with Viewer or Editor access to this boat - **Related equipment** - **Estimated hours / cost** ## Status Every to-do has one of four statuses: **Not Started**, **In Progress**, **Done**, or **Postponed**. To set "In Progress" or "Postponed," open the item for editing (pencil icon) and pick it from the Status row. ## Completing a to-do Checking the box next to a to-do opens **Complete to-do**, a short form that records the work in the [Service Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/maintenance-and-service-log.html) as you close the to-do. It's pre-filled from the to-do. Add notes on what was done, engine hours, and any equipment involved, then save. The to-do is marked Done and the Service Log entry is created in one step. If the to-do doesn't need a service record (say, "buy a new boat hook"), click **Just mark it done — don't log this to the Service Log**. Unchecking a completed to-do reopens it. Completed items move to a **Completed** section at the bottom of the list, shown with a checkmark and struck-through text. Postponed items are deliberately kept out of Home's "Action needed" list — they're something you've consciously deferred, not something demanding attention right now. ## Attachments Add a file or a link to a to-do (e.g. a parts quote, a photo of the issue) via the paperclip/link icons on each item. ## Sharing and escalating - **📤 Share as service request** marks the to-do as something you'd like your boatyard or provider to see and quote. They can turn it into a work order and, once the work is done, complete it from their side, which logs the verified service entry and closes your to-do. ## To-dos from maintenance reminders When a scheduled [maintenance task](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/maintenance-and-service-log.html#maintenance-and-service-log-automatic-reminders) comes due, ReadyHelm adds a to-do for it automatically, so it shows up here and in your daily reminder email. Completing that to-do rolls the maintenance task forward to its next due date. Marking the task done from the Service Log closes the to-do. You can also ask [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html) in chat to create a reminder for you. It appears here as a to-do. ## Where else you'll see to-dos - Equipment's **Condition History** lets you add a to-do directly from an inspection entry (e.g. "Replace impeller" right from the note where you spotted it). - Home's "Action needed" section surfaces your open to-dos alongside overdue maintenance, so nothing gets lost between the two systems. --- # Checklists _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 05 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/checklists.html_ Find checklists under **⚓ Checklists** in the Vessel section of the sidebar. Every checklist on the boat shows as a pill at the top of the page. Pick one to see its items, or start a new run of it. ## Built-in checklists - **Before Trip**: pre-departure checks, organized by category (Engine & Mechanical, Safety Equipment, Navigation & Electronics, and so on). - **After Trip**: post-trip checks, such as cleanup, storage, and shutting systems down. - **USCG Safety**: repeats yearly. It's based on the U.S. Coast Guard's recommended safety equipment, including registration and documentation, PFDs, visual distress signals, and fire extinguishers. > Looking to log trip details like distance, conditions, or crew hours? That's **⚓ Captain's Log**. See [Captain's Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/captains-log.html). ## Running a checklist Click **Start checklist** to begin a new run. Check items off as you go. The "X of Y items checked" count and the per-category progress update as you work. - **Filter** by category, by equipment, or by what's still remaining versus already checked. - **Reset** unchecks everything on the current run so you can start over. - **+ To-do** on any item turns a problem you spotted ("Issue: bilge pump") into a [to-do](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/to-do-items.html) linked to the relevant equipment. - Some items are tied to a piece of equipment and ask for **engine hours or condition** when you check them. That reading goes straight into the equipment's history (see [Equipment](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/equipment.html)). Items are **required** or optional. **Complete checklist** becomes available once every required item is checked. Past runs are kept under **📖 History**, which shows when each run happened and what was checked. ## Your own checklists Click **+ Add checklist** to add another checklist to the boat: - **📋 From template**: start from a checklist ReadyHelm provides (for example, Spring Commissioning). Templates are free on every plan. If ReadyHelm later adds items to a template you're using, they show as **New in the template** so you can pull them in. - **✎ Custom**: build a checklist from scratch. Custom checklists are a **Skipper**-plan feature (see [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html)). A checklist you add can **repeat** every so many days, weeks, months, or years from a start date. Its pill then shows where it stands: **Never run**, **Next: [date]**, **Due in N days**, or **N days overdue**. ### Managing items **Manage items** lets you: - Add your own items to any checklist, including the built-in ones, and mark them **Required**. - Make an item **one-time** by turning off **Recurring**. A one-time item is removed after the next run that completes it. This is handy for "check the new bilge pump after install." - Pick **equipment to prompt for**, so that item asks for hours or condition every time it's completed. - Turn default items on or off for your boat, or delete items you added. ### Managing checklists **Manage checklists** lets you edit a checklist's name and schedule, or hide it from the pill list without deleting it. A hidden checklist can be turned back on any time from **+ Add checklist**. --- # Equipment _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 06 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/equipment.html_ The **🔧 Equipment** page is your gear inventory: every piece of equipment on the boat, with its condition history, service history, costs, and replacement tracking. ## Adding equipment Click **+ Add equipment** and fill in what you know: category, name, make, model, serial number, quantity, purchase date and price, and notes. If you don't know when something was bought, set the purchase date to **Unknown** rather than guessing. Attach photos (pick several at once from your camera or library) and an invoice or receipt. You can also add equipment in other ways: - **Receipts and build sheets.** Upload them through [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html), which proposes each item for you to review. Small consumables and personal items on a receipt are logged as [expenses](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/expenses.html) instead of equipment. - **✨ Ask First Mate to fill in what it can.** On this page, it suggests the likely factory-standard engine for your make, model, and year (primary owner only; see [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html#first-mate-filling-in-missing-specs-and-equipment)). - **Chat.** Ask First Mate in chat to add a piece of equipment. Each item shows a **status** (In Use, Spare/Extra, or Retired) and a **condition** badge (Excellent, Good, Fair, or Replace), plus purchase info and any replacement-due flag. ## An item's tabs Open an item to see its tabs: - **Basic Info** and **Purchase Info**: the details above. - **Replacement Tracking**: when it should be replaced (see below). - **Condition**: inspection history. - **Service History**: every Service Log entry linked to this item. **Log service** adds one directly from here. Entries show whether they're **Verified** (logged or confirmed by your boatyard), **QB Verified** (billed through QuickBooks by your boatyard) or **Owner-logged**. - **Expenses**: every expense linked to this item, with **+ Add expense** (see [Expenses](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/expenses.html)). Documents tagged to the item, such as manuals, warranty cards, or files shared in a [conversation](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/messages-and-notifications.html), also appear with it. ## Condition History On the **Condition** tab, record what you see right now: date, engine hours, a condition rating, and comments. Each entry is dated and added to the history below, so you can see how the item has held up over time. Entries can carry their own photos and documents (for example, an oil sample report), and you can add a to-do directly from an entry if something needs following up. Older entries collapse to keep the list tidy. The item's age at each inspection is calculated from its purchase date. After you log service or complete a maintenance task involving this item, ReadyHelm asks **Log a condition update too?**, which gives you a quick way to note its condition while you're looking at it. Checklist items tied to the item can also ask for hours or condition (see [Checklists](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/checklists.html)). ## Replacement Tracking Set any combination of: - **Replace by date** - **Replace after a period** from the purchase date (for example, every 2 years) - **Replace at engine hours** Once a threshold is close or passed, the item shows a **"Replace soon"** or **"Replace now"** flag on the Equipment list. The replacement schedule also appears as a [maintenance task](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/maintenance-and-service-log.html), so it gets the same automatic reminders. ## Filtering Use the filter panel to narrow the list by category, status, condition, or replacement-due state. ## Deleting equipment To remove something that shouldn't be in the inventory (for example, an item added by mistake from a receipt), open it and choose **Delete**. This removes the item along with its photos and condition history. Service Log entries, expenses, and documents that were linked to it are kept, but they no longer show it as related equipment. This can't be undone. For gear that's simply no longer aboard, consider setting its status to **Retired** instead, which keeps its history. --- # Vessel Records _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 07 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/vessel-records.html_ **🗂️ Vessel Records** (desktop sidebar; reached via the gear icon on mobile) covers everything about who has access to your boat and its official paperwork: **Sharing & Ownership**, **Insurance**, **Registration**, **Ratings**, **Identifiers**, **Specifications**, and **Documents**. ## Sharing & Ownership ### Crew search visibility At the top of the tab, choose whether your boat is **Visible in crew search**. Crew members use crew search to find a boat and request access (see [Timeline & Your Crew](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/timeline-and-crew.html)). **Hide from crew search** keeps your boat out of those results entirely. Someone searching won't be told it exists. Boats are visible by default. Hiding one doesn't affect anyone who already has access. Below that are three sub-sections: ### Providers Grant a boatyard or service business access to log real service history against your boat and see its full record. Access is granted to the **whole business**, not one individual — any of their staff can then use it. **Search verified service providers** lists businesses ReadyHelm has checked (their business documents were reviewed), each marked **✓ Verified**. Pick one and **Grant access**. A business that isn't listed can still be invited by email, verified or not. The pending invite shows until they accept, and **Cancel invite** withdraws it. A mooring is separate: a provider who services your boat doesn't see your mooring unless you add them on the mooring itself (see [Berths: Moorings & Slips](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/berths.html#berths-service-providers-and-inspections)). A provider can also *request* access themselves (e.g. after doing work on a boat they found unclaimed) — you'll see that as an **incoming request** to approve or reject. ### Share Give someone (crew, a family member, a co-owner) **Viewer** (read-only) or **Editor** (can add and edit) access, without handing off ownership. People can also ask *you* for access through crew search. Those requests show up on **Your Crew** for you to approve (see [Timeline & Your Crew](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/timeline-and-crew.html)). Enter their email; if they already have a ReadyHelm account you'll see their name confirmed before sending. Revoke access any time with the × next to their row. > Crew/vessel sharing is included on every plan, Free included — see [Your Plan & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html). ### Transfer Hand the boat off entirely to someone else. They'll need to confirm before it takes effect — this never happens silently. You can optionally keep yourself as a Viewer afterward, so you retain read access to the boat's history even after ownership moves on. If someone else claims a HIN you currently own, you'll see *their* request here as **incoming** — approve it to transfer, or reject it. ## Insurance Track insurance policies — provider, policy number, contact info, cost, coverage dates, and which boat(s) a policy covers (one policy can cover more than one boat). The most recent policy is marked **Current**; older ones stay on file for reference. A color-coded badge shows whether a policy is valid, expiring soon (within 90 days), or expired. Attach the policy document itself, or link one online. ## Registration Same pattern as Insurance, for state registration: state, registration number, coverage dates, and the same expiring/expired status coloring. Keep prior registrations on file as you renew. ## Ratings Track handicap ratings (PHRF, ORR, IRC, etc.) — rating type, value, certificate number, status, and region/fleet — for boats that race. **ORC and ORR certificates** publish several numbers instead of one. Pick **ORC** or **ORR** as the type and **ORC scoring numbers** (or ORR) appears: each number has a course model (e.g. Windward/Leeward or Coastal/Long Distance), a wind band (a single number, or low, medium or high wind for triple-number scoring), the method (**Time on time**, a factor such as 1.0432, or **Time on distance**, seconds a mile) and the value. **+ Windward/Leeward set** adds the single number and the three wind bands for that course at once. Fill in the ones on your certificate (your club's notice of race says which it scores with); rows left blank aren't saved. ## Identifiers Any additional official identifiers your boat carries beyond its HIN — **MMSI**, **Call Sign**, **IMO Number**, **Documentation Number**, or **EPIRB Hex ID**. Pick the type and enter the value; add as many as apply. Each identifier row can also carry a document — **+ Document** uploads an image, PDF, or Word file, or **Add Link** points at one hosted elsewhere instead of uploading it. Once attached, it shows as a clickable file link with **Replace** and **Add Link** to swap it out later. Entirely optional — there's no approval step, it's just a place to keep the certificate or filing that backs up the number. ## Specifications Dimensions and specs for the boat — length overall, waterline length, beam, draft, air draft, weight, fuel/water/holding-tank capacity, max HP and persons ratings, hull material and type, fuel type, number of berths, and more, grouped by category (Length, Beam, Draft, Height/Clearance, Weight, Capacity, Structural). Recording a new value doesn't overwrite the old one. It's kept as history, so you can see how a spec changed (for example, after a repower or a tank swap) rather than only the latest number. ### Suggested values For blank fields, ReadyHelm may suggest a value based on other boats of the same make, model, and year: - **"N other [model] owners reported [value]."** At least two other owners independently recorded the same value. Owners' identities are never shared, only the agreed value. - **"ReadyHelm researched this: [value]."** The value comes from a manufacturer spec sheet the ReadyHelm team looked up, with a link to the source. Click **Use this value** to accept a suggestion. The values you record also help other owners of the same model, anonymously. ### Asking First Mate to fill in the rest **✨ Ask First Mate to fill in what it can** fills the remaining blanks, using community data first, then First Mate's own knowledge, then a web search of reputable sources. Everything comes back as suggestions for you to approve, edit, or reject before **Save to vessel**. This uses First Mate credits. See [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html#first-mate-filling-in-missing-specs-and-equipment). Only the primary owner can start a fill-in. A shared Editor who asked First Mate in chat to fill in the specs will see those suggestions here to review and save. ## Documents Everything on file for the boat, in two sub-tabs: - **On File**: every document uploaded for this boat, including registration and insurance papers, surveys, receipts, manuals, and files saved from [Messages](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/messages-and-notifications.html). Search by file name or uploader, filter by equipment, and open or delete documents. - **Add** (primary owner only): upload more documents with [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html), such as registration, insurance, a survey, receipts, service logs, or manuals. First Mate reads each one and suggests what to add to the boat's record for you to review. This is the same flow used when adding a boat, but for a boat you already have. --- # My Account, Plans & Upgrading _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 08 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html_ Click your name at the bottom of the sidebar to open **My Account** — Profile, Plan, Notifications, Security, Storage, and Login Log. (Your certifications and Emergency Info live under their own **Safety & Certs** page in Crew Corner now — see below — except for a boat-less account, which sees them as an extra tab right here, alongside Timeline and My Trips, since there's no vessel switcher yet to hang a Crew Corner section under.) ## Profile Your name, phone, and location. Email is shown but not editable here — it's your sign-in identity. ## Plan Shows your current plan and what it includes: | Plan | Price | Boats | Storage | Extra features | |---|---|---|---|---| | **Free** | $0 | 1 | 250 MB | [Captain's Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/captains-log.html) (including inviting crew to a trip), crew/vessel sharing, [Float Plan](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/float-plan.html), [Expenses](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/expenses.html), [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html) chat and document reading, checklist templates | | **Skipper** | $4.99/mo or $49.90/yr | 3 | 2 GB | Everything in Free, plus custom checklists, [Messages](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/messages-and-notifications.html), and receipt auto-fill for expenses | | **Captain** | $9.99/mo or $99.90/yr | Unlimited | 10 GB | Everything above, plus broker listing visibility | Annual billing is two months free compared to paying monthly. Higher plans also include more [First Mate credits](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html#first-mate-first-mate-credits). The Plan tab always shows what your plan currently includes. Every plan, owner and Pro, is compared in [Plans, Prices & Limits](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/plans-pricing-and-limits.html). ### Subscribing, switching, and canceling **Change Plan** opens your options, which depend on where you're starting from: - **On Free, or previewing a paid tier**: choose Monthly or Annual, then **Subscribe** to a paid tier — this redirects you to a secure Stripe Checkout page to enter payment details. You're brought back to ReadyHelm once it's done. - **Already subscribed**: you'll see **Manage billing** instead, which opens Stripe's Customer Portal — a hosted page for switching tiers, changing monthly/annual, updating your card, viewing invoices, or canceling. ReadyHelm doesn't rebuild that screen itself, so it's always current with whatever Stripe shows you. - **Complimentary (courtesy) access**: if ReadyHelm has given you a plan for free, you'll see a note saying so instead of any billing controls. Whether a downgrade or cancellation takes effect right away or at the end of your current billing period is a setting on Stripe's side of the Customer Portal, not something this page controls — if you're not sure which applies, that's worth confirming before you switch. ### What happens if you downgrade below your boat count If you own more boats than your new plan allows, ReadyHelm doesn't delete or hide anything. Instead: - It automatically picks which boat(s) stay **active**, favoring boats you already had active, then your most recently added ones. - Any boat *not* in the active set becomes **read-only for you specifically** — you can still view everything, but can't add or edit maintenance, service log entries, to-dos, equipment, documents, or vessel details on it. - This only affects **you as the owner**. Anyone you've shared the boat with (Viewer/Editor) keeps their own access untouched, and a service provider can still log real work against it regardless. - You can change which boats are active any time from the Plan tab's **Manage active boats** control — no need to change plans again to swap which boat is prioritized. - Upgrading again (or freeing up a slot by removing a boat) automatically re-activates whichever boats now fit. ## Safety & Certs Reached from **Safety & Certs** in Crew Corner once you have a boat (or right here, as a tab, if you don't yet). Your own certifications and licenses — boating, scuba, fishing, safety training, sailing, and insurance — plus Emergency Info. These belong to **you**, not any one boat, so they're available whether or not you own a boat at all (a boat-less signup can skip straight to this screen). ### Adding a certification **+ Add a certification**: pick a category, name it (e.g. "OUPV (6-Pack)"), and optionally fill in issuing body, credential number, issue/expiration dates, and notes. Attach one or more photos or scans under **Card / Certificate** — pick several at once, or add more later from the pencil icon. Each file gets its own remove (×) button. A color-coded badge flags anything expiring within 30 days or already expired. ### Emergency Info A separate section on the same screen: allergies, medical conditions, and an emergency contact (name, phone, relationship). Set **visibility** to: - **Private (only you)** — the default; nobody else can see it. - **Entire crew** — everyone you share any boat with, in either direction. - **Select crew** — pick specific people from your crew list. ### Sharing your credentials Share your **whole wallet** (a live view — includes any credential you add later) or just **one** credential (the 🔗 icon on its row), by email. If the recipient already has a ReadyHelm account, they see it immediately under their own Safety & Certs page's **Shared with me** section; otherwise it resolves automatically the moment they sign up with that email. Revoke access any time. ## Notifications A daily email digest of what's coming up or overdue — registration, insurance, ratings, and equipment replacements, plus to-dos — across every boat you own or access. Choose how far ahead to be warned (separately for expirations and to-dos), or turn reminder emails off entirely. Maintenance tasks that come due are included too, because they automatically create a to-do (see [Maintenance Tasks](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/maintenance-and-service-log.html#maintenance-and-service-log-automatic-reminders)). If you use the simple Home, you also get a weekly **Your boat this week** email in weeks when something is due. Turning reminder emails off stops it too (see [Simple Mode & Guided Setup](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/simple-mode-and-guided-setup.html#simple-mode-and-guided-setup-weekly-email)). Unread [messages](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/messages-and-notifications.html) are emailed separately, and in-app notifications appear under the bell at the top of the sidebar. ### Email, text or both **How would you like to receive ReadyHelm notifications?** covers your reminder digests and unread messages: - **Email**, **Text message**, or **Email + text**; - **None**: no reminder digests or unread-message emails. The bell in the app still shows everything. Text messages come with the Skipper and Captain plans. To use them, confirm your mobile number: ReadyHelm texts you a 6-digit code (or **Use another number**). Texts arrive between 8 am and 9 pm your time. Reply STOP to any of them to opt out, or HELP for help. ## Security Change your password here. Signed in with Google and never set one? Leave "Current password" blank to set one for the first time. ### Two-factor authentication Two-factor authentication is optional. Once it's on, each sign-in asks for a code from an authenticator app on your phone as well as your password. Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, 1Password and Authy all work. - **Turn on two-factor:** scan the QR code with your authenticator app (or type the key under it), then enter the 6-digit code it shows. You then get eight **backup codes**. Each one signs you in once if you don't have your phone, so save them somewhere safe, such as a password manager. They aren't shown again. - **Signing in:** after your password (or Google), enter the current code from the app, or choose **Use a backup code instead**. Each sign-in, on each device, asks once. Following a link between the owner app and the Pro Portal doesn't ask again. - **Set up a new authenticator** moves it to a new phone. It replaces your old setup and gives you new backup codes. - **Turn off** needs a current code. If you're an Admin of an organization in the Pro Portal, it's required and can't be turned off. It's the same setting as in the Pro Portal: turning it on in either app means both ask. **Lost your phone and your backup codes?** Contact support@readyhelm.com. Once we've confirmed it's you, we turn two-factor off so you can sign in and set it up again. ## Storage Shows how much of your plan's storage allowance you've used (photos, documents, invoices, or anything else you upload). At 90% or more you'll see a warning with an upgrade shortcut if you're not on the top plan. The same tab shows your **First Mate AI credits**: how many monthly credits you've used and when they renew, plus your one-time onboarding credits for setting up boats from documents. You'll see a warning when you're running low. See [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html#first-mate-first-mate-credits). ## Login Log A record of sign-in attempts on your account — timestamp, status (success, bad password, etc.), and IP address. Useful for spotting anything you don't recognize. --- # Giving Feedback _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 09 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/feedback.html_ Your reports directly shape what gets built next. Use **💬 Give feedback** in the sidebar any time. Pick a type: - **Defect** — something's broken or not working as expected. - **Enhancement Request** — a feature you'd like to see. - **Support Request** — you need help with something. - **Manual Data Override** — you need something in your record corrected that you can't fix yourself. - **Other** — anything that doesn't fit the above. Add a comment describing what happened or what you'd like, and attach a screenshot or document if it helps. Submitting sends it straight to the ReadyHelm team by email — you don't need to wait for a response to keep using the app. The more specific you can be — what you were doing, what you expected, what happened instead — the faster we can act on it. --- # Captain's Log _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 10 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/captains-log.html_ Two sidebar items: **⚓ Captain's Log** (this boat's trips) and **🧭 My Trips** (every trip you're on, across every boat, plus any crew invites waiting on your response). ## Logging a trip **+ Log Trip** captures departure and, optionally, one or more **stops** beyond it, in the order you'll visit them — a multi-stop cruise shows its full route, not just a single destination. Add the date — or a date range for a multi-day trip — and optionally a departure time and expected return time (with time zone), conditions, notes, distance offshore, and, if it was a race, the regatta name, fleet/class, and finish position. You can log your own hours underway and role in the same form, or come back and add them later. Departure and stops use the marine location picker. Type to search known marinas, harbors, and anchorages, or pick a spot on a map. Linking a real location gives the trip a NOAA forecast (see [Marine Locations & Weather](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/locations-and-weather.html)). Reorder stops with the up and down arrows, and use **🗺️ View all destinations on map** to see the whole route. ### Forecast An active trip shows the NOAA forecast for its departure location on the trip's date: wind, gusts, waves, and the next tide. Forecasts only reach about a week ahead, so a trip further out says to check back closer to departure. ### Automatic Float Plans If you've saved a **Default Float Plan** for the boat, logging a new trip queues a Float Plan to your usual recipients automatically. See [Float Plan](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/float-plan.html#float-plan-default-float-plan). ### Heading out on a multi-day trip? Saving a multi-day trip that isn't purely in the past shows a one-time nudge: your mooring will be free while you're out, with a one-tap email to your harbor master or yacht club letting them know (plus a copy-to-clipboard fallback if you don't have a mail client set up). "Not this time" dismisses it for good — it won't ask again for that trip. The same "notify harbor master" option is also available any time from that trip's card, while viewing or editing it. See [Home & Vessel Summary](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/home-dashboard.html) for the full mooring-days report this feeds into. ## Your hours, and USCG sea service Hours, role, and attestation are tracked **per person** — a trip with three people aboard has three separate entries, not one shared number. The **USCG Sea Service Summary** at the top reflects only *your own* logged hours, not the boat's totals: - **Sea days** — trips where you logged ≥4 hours underway. - **Total hours** — your hours underway, summed. - **Nautical miles** — distance offshore across trips you're on. An entry you log yourself is **attested automatically** if you're the one who created the trip. Anyone else's entry — crew you added, or someone who logged their own hours after accepting an invite — shows **Pending** until you (the trip's owner) tap **Attest** on it. Once an entry is 30 days old it locks — you can no longer edit the hours or role directly. ## Crew without a ReadyHelm account **+ Add guest crew (no account)** lets you log someone's name, role, and hours directly — useful for a guest who was aboard but isn't going to sign up. ## Inviting crew Under a trip's **Invite crew**, enter an email and (optionally) their role, then **Invite**. What happens next depends on the invite's status: - **Pending** — waiting on a response. You can cancel it any time before they respond. - **Accepted** — they'll show up in the trip's "who's aboard" line, and can log their own hours (which you'll then need to attest). - **Declined** — shown with their reason, if they gave one. Trip Invites are separate from full crew/vessel sharing (both are on the **Free** plan) — inviting someone to crew a trip doesn't give them ongoing access to the rest of the boat's record. ### Who sees what on an invite Visibility is deliberately asymmetric: - **You (the trip's owner)** see every invite's real status, and any decline reason. - **The invitee** sees their own invite in full. - **Everyone else aboard** sees only a plain list of who's accepted — not who's pending, who declined, or why. ## My Trips **🧭 My Trips** (under Crew Corner, fleet-wide) pulls together every trip you can reach — your own boats, boats you're shared on, and any trip you've accepted a crew invite to — even if that boat isn't otherwise in your fleet. It's also where **pending trip invites** show up for you to accept or decline, with a reason if you decline. This is the only place a crew invite is visible if you don't otherwise have access to that boat — including on the very first sign-in screen, before you've claimed (or explicitly skipped) a boat of your own. ### Searching and filtering A search box plus a vessel filter and a status filter narrow the list down; **Clear** resets all three at once. ### Trip detail and editing Click a trip to expand its full detail in place — crew log, invites, any Float Plan sent for it (see [Float Plan](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/float-plan.html)), and, if you have edit access and the trip is still active, an **edit** form for its dates, stops, timing, conditions, and other details. ## Float Plan Send a trip's safety details to people who aren't aboard, so someone knows where you are and when to worry — see [Float Plan](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/float-plan.html) for the full workflow. ## Common questions ### Can ReadyHelm track sea time for a USCG captain's license? Yes. Captain's Log tracks each person's own hours, and a trip with at least 4 hours underway counts as a sea day. The USCG Sea Service Summary shows your sea days, hours and miles, and Home's **USCG sea service** tile shows progress toward an OUPV or Master license. It's a day count to help you prepare, not a check of every USCG rule. ### Can crew without a ReadyHelm account be logged on a trip? Yes. **+ Add guest crew (no account)** records a guest's name, role and hours. --- # Float Plan _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 11 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/float-plan.html_ A safety check-in for a trip — send the details to people who aren't aboard, with a manual "we're back safely" follow-up when you're back. Free on every plan. ## Sending one From an active trip in Captain's Log (anyone who can manage that trip), fill in one or more recipient email addresses, optionally check off specific pieces of safety equipment from the boat's tech specs to include, and write free-text instructions under "If you haven't heard from us…" (e.g. "call the Coast Guard by 6pm"). **Send Float Plan** emails each recipient the trip's stops, departure/expected-return times, and your instructions, plus a link — you (the trip's owner) are CC'd. ## Default Float Plan Instead of filling in the form for every trip, save a **Default Float Plan** for each boat. Find it on the **Float Plans** page, where it's collapsed until you expand it. Set: - **Default recipients** - **Default message** (your "if you haven't heard from us…" instructions) - **When to send**: - **Right now, as soon as a trip is logged** - **At departure** - **Day before departure (or now, if sooner)** From then on, every new trip you log for that boat automatically sends or schedules a Float Plan from these defaults. If you change the trip's departure time, the scheduled send moves with it. If you cancel the trip, the scheduled send is canceled. Trips logged after the fact (in the past) aren't sent. **Save defaults** to apply your changes. With no default saved, nothing is sent automatically, and you can still send manually as above. ## Conditions Each Float Plan keeps a history of NOAA forecast conditions for the trip: wind, gusts, waves, and tides. Conditions are recorded when the plan is sent, automatically about two to three days before departure, and whenever you click **Refresh conditions**. Earlier readings are kept, so the plan shows what conditions looked like as the trip approached. This needs the trip's departure to be a linked marine location (see [Marine Locations & Weather](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/locations-and-weather.html)). ## What a recipient sees The link opens a page with no login required, showing the safety-critical basics. If the recipient signs in with the **exact email address** the plan was sent to, the page unlocks full detail — crew contacts, vessel identifiers, the equipment you selected — plus a PDF snapshot they can save. ## Closing it out Only the trip's manager (owner or an Editor) closes a plan, with **We're back safely** next to it — there's no automatic or overdue detection, it's always a manual action. Closing it immediately emails every recipient a follow-up, and timestamps the plan as closed along with who closed it. A plan can only be closed once. ## Fleet-wide list **Float Plans**, under Crew Corner, lists every trip across your whole fleet that has at least one Float Plan sent, grouped by vessel, with a count of plans still awaiting close-out. It reuses the same panel — history, close-out, send-another — you'd see inside the trip itself. --- # Timeline & Your Crew _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 12 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/timeline-and-crew.html_ Two fleet-wide pages under **Crew Corner** in the sidebar, alongside My Trips, Safety & Certs (see [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html)), and Float Plans (see [Float Plan](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/float-plan.html)). ## Timeline A single chronological view merging everything with a date across your whole fleet: to-dos, maintenance tasks on a day-based schedule (not engine-hour ones), trips, and expirations — insurance, registration, ratings, and your own credentials. It's scoped to whatever you can already see: your own boats and anything shared with you, never anyone else's. Switch between a **list** view and a **calendar** view, and filter by type, vessel, status (overdue/upcoming), date range, or search. Items show as "X days overdue," "Due in X days," or a plain date; trips show "Past" or "Upcoming" instead. Clicking an item — or **+ Add** — takes you straight into the real screen where that record actually lives (To-Do, Captain's Log, Vessel Records, and so on), rather than showing you a read-only copy. ## Your Crew Everyone with access across your fleet, by name. These are the same people who show up individually on each boat's Sharing tab (see [Vessel Records](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/vessel-records.html)), gathered into one fleet-wide list. People who joined through a crew request show as **Crew**, which has the same read-only access as a Viewer. ### Approving crew requests When someone asks to crew on one of your boats, the request appears under **Pending crew requests**. A red badge on **Your Crew** in the sidebar shows how many are waiting, and you'll get a notification. Approve or reject each one. **💬 Discuss** opens a conversation with the requester first if you want to ask them something, and you can pull any of your Editors into that conversation with **Loop in an Editor?** > Crew requests use crew sharing, which is included on every plan (see [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html)). ### Finding a boat to crew on To crew on someone else's boat, search by **boat name or owner email** and click **Request Access**. Your pending requests show as **⏳ Waiting on approval**, which you can cancel, and boats you're already on show **✓ Already crew**. You can **💬 Discuss** a pending request with the owner. Owners can hide their boat from crew search, so not every boat will appear. ### Inviting a boat owner to ReadyHelm If the boat you're looking for isn't on ReadyHelm, click **Invite them to ReadyHelm** and enter the owner's email. You'll see "Invite logged — we'll email them." They receive an invitation to join. When they sign up and add their boat, they're asked to **connect** you as crew to it, or to decline. ReadyHelm sends at most one follow-up reminder. To prevent spam, you need to verify your own email address first, and repeat invites to the same person are limited. If *you* receive one of these invitations and already have boats, you'll see **Someone wants to connect** when you sign in. Pick the boat and click **Connect as crew**, or decline. Anyone who gets an invite email can opt out of future invites using the link in the email. --- # First Mate (AI Assistant) _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 13 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html_ First Mate is ReadyHelm's built-in AI assistant. It shows up in four places: - **Adding a boat from documents.** Upload photos or PDFs and First Mate reads them to set up the boat for you. - **Adding documents to a boat you already have.** Vessel Records → Documents → **Add**. - **Filling in missing specs and equipment.** The **✨ Ask First Mate to fill in what it can** button. - **Chatting.** The **First Mate** item in the sidebar, where you can ask questions about your boats and have it do simple tasks. First Mate never changes your boat's record on its own. Anything it reads from a document or looks up becomes a **suggestion** that you approve, edit, or reject before it's saved. The only exceptions are small actions you ask for directly in chat, like "remind me to…" (see below). ## Adding a boat with First Mate When you add a boat (on first sign-in, or from **+ Add New Vessel**), choose **First Mate** instead of **Enter details**. Then add as many documents as you have: - **HIN photo.** A photo of the hull identification plate. First Mate reads the HIN and works out the builder and model year. - **Registration** - **Insurance policy** - **Survey report** - **Purchase agreement** - **Build sheet** - **Receipt** - **Service log** - **Manual.** Kept on file with the boat. Larger documents (surveys, build sheets, service logs) can take a minute to read. ### Reviewing suggestions Each suggestion shows the value First Mate found and how confident it is. Suggestions are grouped into one card per item (for example, one card per piece of equipment on a receipt). For each suggestion you can: - **Approve** it as-is. - **Edit** the value, then approve it. - **Reject** it. **Approve all high-confidence** approves every pending suggestion above the confidence cutoff in one click. If two documents disagree, the stronger one wins and the other shows as "also found, lower priority." You can still **Promote** the lower-priority one if it's actually right. On a receipt, items that aren't really equipment (cleaning supplies, small consumables, personal gear) show in an amber **"Not equipment — logged as an expense"** card. They're pre-approved as [expenses](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/expenses.html) so the spending is still tracked. You can undo any pre-approved item before you finish. When you're done, **Create vessel** (new boat) or **Save to vessel** (existing boat) saves everything you approved. ## Filling in missing specs and equipment On **Vessel Records → Specifications** and on the **Equipment** page, **✨ Ask First Mate to fill in what it can** looks for blank dimension fields (length, beam, draft, capacities, and so on) and a likely factory-standard engine for your make, model, and year. It works through three sources, cheapest first: 1. **Community data (free).** If other owners of the same make, model, and year already agree on a value, it's used without spending anything. See [Vessel Records → Specifications](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/vessel-records.html#vessel-records-specifications). 2. **First Mate's own knowledge (uses credits).** Shown as "First Mate's best guess," with deliberately modest confidence. 3. **A web search of reputable sources (uses more credits).** Only for anything step 2 couldn't answer, and skipped if you don't have enough credits left. Shown as "First Mate found this online," with a link to the source. You review the results the same way as document suggestions, then **Save to vessel**. > Only the boat's **primary owner** can start a fill-in or add documents with First Mate. Shared Editors don't see those buttons. An Editor can still review and save suggestions they asked for in chat (see below). ## Chatting with First Mate Click **First Mate** in the sidebar (or the First Mate tile on [Home](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/home-dashboard.html)). Start a **New conversation** and pick which boat it's about, or **All boats** to ask across your whole fleet. You can switch to a specific boat mid-conversation just by naming it. Things you can ask it to look up: - What maintenance is due or overdue, and past service history - Open to-dos, equipment, and documents on file - Trips, upcoming trip prep, and checklist status - Float Plans - The boat's record: registration, insurance, ratings - Your certifications and emergency info Things you can ask it to do: - Create a reminder (a to-do) - Add a piece of equipment - Log a service entry or an expense - Add an insurance policy or rating, or update the registration - Check off a checklist item - Invite crew to a boat - Add a certification or update your emergency info - Change things that are already there: edit, check off or reopen a to-do; correct a service entry you logged yourself or an expense; change a maintenance schedule or mark a task done; update a piece of equipment's condition, notes or replacement plan; edit a trip's details. It can't delete anything, and it can't change entries a yard or mechanic logged. - **"Help me fill in the specs."** This creates suggestions for you to review on the Specifications tab, the same as the ✨ button. First Mate never saves them directly. When First Mate creates a reminder or adds equipment, the chat confirms it and offers an undo. First Mate only uses tools your plan includes, so it won't do anything your plan doesn't allow. It also stays on boating topics. Conversations are saved. Rename or delete them from the conversation list, and collapse the list to give the chat more room. ## First Mate credits Reading documents, filling in specs, and chatting use **First Mate credits**. There are two separate balances: - **Onboarding credits.** A one-time allowance for setting up boats from documents. It doesn't renew. - **Monthly credits.** Used by chat and by "fill in what it can" on an existing boat. They renew each billing period (monthly on the Free plan). How many credits you get depends on your plan. See your current balance under **My Account → Storage**, in the **First Mate AI credits** section, which also warns you when you're running low. If you run out, First Mate tells you when your credits reset. Upgrading your plan raises both allowances (see [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html)). ## Common questions ### Does First Mate change my boat's records on its own? No. What it reads from a document or looks up becomes a suggestion you approve, edit or reject before it's saved. The only exceptions are small actions you ask for in chat, such as creating a reminder, and those offer an undo. ### What documents can First Mate read? HIN plate photos, registrations, insurance policies, survey reports, purchase agreements, build sheets, receipts, service logs and manuals. ### Is First Mate free? First Mate document reading and chat are on every plan, Free included. They use First Mate credits, and higher plans get more (see [Plans, Prices & Limits](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/plans-pricing-and-limits.html#ref-plans-pricing-and-limits-first-mate-credits-for-owners)). --- # Messages & Notifications _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 14 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/messages-and-notifications.html_ ## Messages **💬 Messages** in the sidebar holds conversations with the people connected to your boats: crew, co-owners, and your boatyard or service provider. Every conversation belongs to a boat, so everyone in it can see which boat it's about. > Messages is a **Skipper**-plan feature. See [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html). The page is split into two panes: your conversation list on the left and the open conversation on the right. ### Starting a conversation Click **+ New**, pick the boat, and optionally give the conversation a title. Under **Include**, choose who to add from the people who have access to that boat. That includes staff at any service provider you've given access. If you don't pick anyone, the conversation is just for you, which is handy as a running notes thread. Conversations can also start from elsewhere in the app. For example, **💬 Discuss** on a crew request (see [Timeline & Your Crew](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/timeline-and-crew.html)) opens a conversation about that request. Those conversations show up in Messages too, labeled by what they're about: Vessel, Equipment, Service record, To-do, or Crew request discussion. ### Writing messages - **Attachments.** Attach a photo or file to a message. If you own the boat, you can tag an attachment to a specific piece of equipment, and **Save to Documents** files it with the boat's records. Tagged attachments also show in that equipment's documents. - **Editing.** Edit your own messages. Edited messages show "(edited)." - **Deleting.** Delete your own messages. They show as "This message was deleted." - **Reporting.** **Report** any message that's abusive or inappropriate. Tell us what's wrong and it goes to the ReadyHelm team for review. New messages arrive live while you have the app open, without refreshing. ### Messages from your service providers A business you work with can write to you by email or text from the Pro Portal. If you're on ReadyHelm, those messages also show under **From your service providers** in Messages, even when you don't have a boat on ReadyHelm yet. Open one to read it and write your reply below it. **Leave conversation** removes it from your list; the business would have to start a new one to reach you. ### Searching and filtering The search box searches the text of every message you can see. It matches word forms too, so "replacing" finds "replace." Open the filter panel to narrow results by: - Boat - Conversation type - Who's in it - Date range - **Unread only** - **Has attachment** Conversations with unread messages show an unread count. ## Notifications The **bell** at the top of the sidebar shows new activity, such as a crew access request, a decision on one of your requests, or a new message. Click it to open the notifications panel on the right side of the screen. Click a notification to go to the page it's about. When there's nothing new, the panel says "You're all caught up." ### Email notifications - **Unread messages.** If a message sits unread for a while, you'll get an email about it. You get at most one email per new message, so an ongoing conversation won't flood your inbox. - **Daily reminder digest.** Upcoming and overdue registrations, insurance, ratings, equipment replacements, and to-dos. Control it under **My Account → Notifications** (see [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html#my-account-and-plans-notifications)). --- # Expenses _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 15 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/expenses.html_ **💰 Expenses** (in the Vessel section of the sidebar) tracks what the boat costs to run: fuel, dockage, equipment purchases, and anything else. Service costs are already recorded in the [Service Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/maintenance-and-service-log.html), and reports include those automatically, so you don't need to enter them twice. Expense tracking is free on every plan. ## Adding an expense Click **Add expense** and fill in: - **Date** and **Amount** - **Type:** Fuel, Dockage / Mooring, Equipment purchase, or Other. For work done on the boat, add a Service Log entry instead. Service Log costs show up in your expense reports automatically. - **Vendor** (for example, "Harbor Fuel Dock") - **Equipment** (optional). Links the expense to a specific piece of equipment, so it also appears on that item's **Expenses** tab (see [Equipment](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/equipment.html)). - **Notes** ### Reading a receipt automatically Click **📄 Upload receipt (auto-fills fields below)** and ReadyHelm reads the receipt to fill in the type, vendor, amount, and date. Check the filled-in fields before saving. If a receipt can't be read, you can still enter it by hand. The receipt stays attached to the expense. > Receipt auto-fill is a **Skipper**-plan feature. Attaching a receipt without auto-fill works on every plan. ## Viewing and filtering Pick a date range (**This year**, **Last 12 months**, or **Custom range**), then filter by type or equipment. A chart shows spending broken down by type, and the list below shows each expense, including costs from the Service Log. Edit any expense you added. ## Exporting **Export CSV** (for a spreadsheet or your accountant) or **Export PDF** (a formatted report) exports whatever is currently filtered. ## Where else costs show up - Home's **Costs this year** tile totals Expenses and Service Log costs for the year to date, across your fleet (see [Home & Vessel Summary](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/home-dashboard.html)). - When First Mate reads a receipt while you're adding documents, items that aren't equipment are logged as expenses automatically (see [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html)). - You can ask First Mate in chat to log an expense for you. --- # Marine Locations & Weather _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 16 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/locations-and-weather.html_ ReadyHelm keeps a catalog of marine locations (marinas, harbors, anchorages, and NOAA tide stations) so the places you enter can be linked to real NOAA forecasts and tide predictions. ## Picking a location Location fields use the location picker. These include a boat's **Location** (its home port, set under Edit vessel → Location) and a trip's departure and stops in [Captain's Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/captains-log.html). - **Type to search.** Start typing a name and pick a match. A linked location shows **📍 Linked to a known location — forecast available**. **Unlink** reverts to plain text. - **Pick on map.** Opens a map with a NOAA nautical chart layer. Browse known locations, use **Near Me** to jump to where you are, or tap an empty spot to **Add a new location**. Give the new location a name and type (Marina, Harbor, Anchorage, and so on). If a known location is nearby, ReadyHelm asks whether you meant that one first, to avoid duplicates. New locations are reviewed by the ReadyHelm team before they become visible to everyone. - **Plain text still works.** You don't have to pick from the catalog. An unlinked location just won't have a forecast. Some places are outside NOAA's forecast coverage, and the picker tells you when that's the case. ## Weather on Home The **Weather** tile on [Home](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/home-dashboard.html) shows current NOAA conditions at each boat's home port: wind speed, direction, and gusts, wave height, and the next high or low tide. To see a boat here, set its Location to a linked location. ## Trip forecasts An active trip in Captain's Log shows the forecast for its departure location on the trip's date. NOAA forecasts only reach about a week ahead, so a trip further out says to check back closer to departure. A multi-stop trip has **🗺️ View all destinations on map** to see every stop on one map. ## Conditions on a Float Plan A [Float Plan](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/float-plan.html) keeps a history of forecast conditions for the trip. Conditions are recorded: - When the plan is sent - Automatically as the trip gets close (about two to three days before departure) - Whenever you click **Refresh conditions** Each entry is kept rather than overwritten, so the plan shows what the conditions looked like as the trip approached, not only a single snapshot. --- # Simple Mode & Guided Setup _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 17 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/simple-mode-and-guided-setup.html_ Guided setup asks a few plain questions about your boat, then shapes Home around the answers. Nothing is ever hidden from the sidebar, and you can change every answer later. > Guided setup is rolling out gradually. If you don't see it yet, your account still has everything described in [Home & Vessel Summary](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/home-dashboard.html). ## The first run New accounts start with First Mate's welcome: 1. **What brings you here?** Pick **I have a boat**, **I crew on someone else's boat**, or both. 2. **Your boat.** The basics are enough: name, make, model, year and type. The HIN can wait (see [Getting Started](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/getting-started.html#getting-started-the-hin)). Press **Add my boat**. 3. **Where does your boat live?** On a trailer, on a mooring, in a slip, dry stack, or more than one place. 4. **How much do you want to see?** - **Keep it simple**: one screen per boat with what's due, when, and a quick way to log things. - **Show me everything**: the full workspace, with maintenance, equipment, trips, crew and more. One is marked **Recommended**. One boat used the usual way gets Simple; several boats, or a liveaboard or charter boat, get the full workspace. 5. If you crew, you're then asked to find the boat you crew on (see [Timeline & Your Crew](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/timeline-and-crew.html#timeline-and-crew-finding-a-boat-to-crew-on)). **Skip for now** works at every step. ## Simple mode Simple mode replaces only the Home screen. Every other page stays in the sidebar, exactly where it was. Each boat gets one card: - **Ready to go?** The boat's status: **Ready to go**, **Needs attention**, or **Overdue**. A boat with nothing dated yet shows **Nothing tracked yet**, never "ready". - **The next three things coming due**, across maintenance, registration, insurance, ratings, safety gear and to-dos, with how soon each is due. - **Get more ready · N%.** What would make the record more useful for this boat, such as engine hours, safety gear dates, registration or a first maintenance task. Each item links to the screen that adds it. - **＋ Log something**, described below. Below the boat cards are **Suggested maintenance** (see [Suggested maintenance](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/simple-mode-and-guided-setup.html#simple-mode-and-guided-setup-suggested-maintenance)), one setup question at a time, and **Add these dates to your calendar**. **Show me everything** (top right) switches Home to the full dashboard. **Switch to the simple view** on the full Home switches back. ### Log something Write a sentence, add a photo, or both, and First Mate turns it into an entry for you to check. For example: - "Changed the oil and filter today at 212 hours, $60" becomes a **service entry**. - "Need to replace the flares by October 20" becomes a **to-do** with a due date. - A photo of a receipt becomes an **expense**, with the photo kept as its receipt. - A photo of a registration or insurance card becomes a **registration** or **insurance** record. You see every field before anything is saved, and you can change the type under **What is it?** Nothing is saved until you press **Save**. If First Mate can't tell what you meant, pick the type yourself or use one of the full forms listed under **Or use a form**. A service entry with engine hours raises the boat's engine-hour reading if it's higher than the current one. Log something is free and doesn't use First Mate credits. The words you type aren't stored, only the entry they became. ### Add these dates to your calendar **Get my calendar link** creates a private calendar subscription with your boats' due dates. Use **Open in my calendar app** (Apple Calendar or Outlook) or **Add to Google Calendar**. The calendar then updates itself. Anyone with the link can see those dates, so treat it like a password. **Get a new link** replaces it (the old one stops working), and **Turn off** removes it. ### Weekly email If you use Simple mode, you get a short **Your boat this week** email when something is overdue or coming due. A quiet week sends nothing. The email notification opt-out in **My Account** turns it off (see [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html#my-account-and-plans-notifications)). ## In the full workspace If you chose the full workspace, Home gets a **Get more ready** card above the tiles. It shows a readiness bar per boat, the next step for each, and the same one-at-a-time setup questions. **Hide** collapses it, and it disappears once every boat is fully set up. Owners who joined before guided setup see **Tune my dashboard** on Home. **Let's do it** starts the questions; **No thanks** hides the offer on that device. Starting it never rearranges a Home layout you've already customized. ## Setup questions One question appears at a time, each with a line on why it's asked: | Question | What it changes | | --- | --- | | Where does your boat live? | Trailer, mooring or slip reminders, and the suggestions you get | | How do you use it? | Whether float plans matter for you | | What powers it? | Whether engine reminders appear at all | | Who does the maintenance? | Whether a yard or mechanic's history is suggested | | Is it in the water all year? | Commissioning and winterizing reminders, plus the haul-out and launch months | | Do you keep records anywhere already? | Whether First Mate offers to read them in | **Skip for now** moves on without asking again. Some answers are filled in for you from what the app already knows (a kayak has no engine). Those show as a suggestion to confirm. Home only hides a tile when your confirmed answers clearly say it doesn't apply. For example, boats that only make day trips close to home hide the **Float Plans** tile. Turn any tile back on with **Customize** (see [Home & Vessel Summary](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/home-dashboard.html#home-dashboard-customizing-it)). ## Suggested maintenance A list of typical jobs for boats like yours, based on what powers the boat, its rig, where it's kept and its season. Each shows how often it's usually done and why it's suggested ("Typical for an outboard"). - **Add** puts it on the boat's maintenance tasks (see [Maintenance Tasks & Service Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/maintenance-and-service-log.html)). It starts with no "last done" date, so it never shows as overdue until you record when it was last done. Change the timing any time. - **Not for this boat** removes it for good on that boat. Three show at a time; **Show N more** lists the rest. Seasonal jobs, such as spring commissioning and winterizing, are dated from the launch and haul-out months you gave, and come back each season once last season's is done. ## Nudges When your records change in a way that affects your setup, Home offers one small step at the top. You see at most one per visit. | When | The offer | | --- | --- | | You add a second boat while in Simple mode | Switch to the full workspace | | A boat's berth no longer matches "where does it live?" | Update the answer | | Launch or haul-out is within 30 days | Add commissioning or winterizing to the plan | | You crew on a boat but don't own one | Add your own boat | Each has the step itself, **Later** (back in a week) or **No thanks** (never again). --- # Berths: Moorings & Slips _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 18 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/berths.html_ **🟠 Berths** (in Crew Corner) holds your moorings and slips. A berth belongs to you, not to a boat, so it keeps its details and history as boats come and go. Berths are included on every plan, Free included. The list shows each berth with the boat on it, and flags anything needing attention: an inspection due, a permit to confirm, or a lease ending. Add one with **+ Add mooring** or **+ Add slip**. ## Boats on a berth **+ Put a vessel on it** records which boat is on the berth and from when. Putting a boat on a berth ends its stay anywhere else, and ends any other boat's stay there, the day before. Leave the end date open while the boat is **still there**. A **⚠ Fit check** flag appears when a boat's length, beam, draft, weight (or, for a slip, shore power) is outside the berth's approved limits, or when the boat has no measurement to compare. It's a reminder only, never an approval or a block: confirm with the harbor master or marina before berthing. A boat can have several berths, such as a summer mooring and a winter slip. One can be its **default** berth, which Vessel Summary shows and the Harbor Master report picks first. **Mooring-days** (or **Days in this slip**) count the days each boat spent there, using your trips in the [Captain's Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/captains-log.html). Departure and return days count as present. The same numbers feed the Harbor Master report on Vessel Summary (see [Home & Vessel Summary](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/home-dashboard.html#home-dashboard-harbor-master)). **History** lists every boat and owner over time. Earlier owners show by dates only. Their names, boats and usage stay private. ## Moorings A mooring is your ground tackle plus its assigned spot. **Edit details** covers: - **Mooring**: number or name, harbor, GPS coordinates (or **📍 Use my current location**), and a description of how to find it. Type the position as decimal degrees (`42.2058`, `-70.7201`), degrees and minutes (`42 12.348 N`, `70 43.206 W`), or paste a pair like `42.2058, -70.7201` into Latitude. What it reads shows under the field, and a value that isn't a real position is flagged before you save. - **Tackle**: mooring type and size, chain length and diameter, block or anchor weight, pennant and ball, and depth with what it's measured at. - **Permit & ownership**: ownership (owned, town-assigned, club-owned, rented), permit number, permit expiry, annual fee. - **Approved vessels**: the harbor's limits for boats on it, used by the fit check. - **Inspections**: how often it's inspected (12 months unless you change it), and an optional override of the next due date. ### Components List the parts (eye bolt, chain, shackle, pennant, swivel) with a label to tell same-type parts apart, such as "Ground chain" and "Riser chain". **Last replaced** is set only when a replacement is logged in the mooring's service log. It's never guessed, so it shows Unknown until then. Add a **Recommended replacement** date to get a reminder. ### Service providers and inspections Access is per mooring. A provider who services your boat doesn't see your mooring unless you add them under **Service providers → + Give a provider access**. They see what an inspection needs, never your fee or expenses, and can update the mooring's location and tackle (type, size, chain, block, pennant, ball, depth) when they work on it. You get a notification listing what they changed. **Remove access** any time; their past inspections stay on record. - **Provider inspections** are read-only for you. You can add **your notes** and photos (kept apart from their findings), discuss it with the provider, or **⚑ Dispute this inspection**. - A **Fail** on a provider's inspection becomes their work order. **Track this myself** also adds it to your to-dos. - **+ Record my own inspection** creates an **Owner-recorded** inspection. Edit it as a draft, then **Finalize**; any Fail goes to your to-dos. After finalizing, changes are amendments with a reason, and earlier versions stay under **History**. Your own inspections don't reset the next due date unless you turn that on under Edit details. Leave it off if your harbor requires a licensed inspector. - **Inspection reports** issued by a provider are listed for download. A **Superseded** report has a newer version. ### If a provider or marina added your berth A mooring service can add a mooring for a customer who isn't on ReadyHelm yet, and a marina can do the same with your slip. Either can send you an invite. When you sign in with that email, the berth waits under **Waiting for you** on Berths. **Accept** makes it yours, and the organization keeps access (remove it any time). **Not mine** declines it. ### Selling or surrendering a mooring Under **Transfer or surrender**: - **Transfer to a new owner…** sends it to the buyer's email with an effective date. The buyer gets the tackle, components, inspections, reports and service history. Your boats, to-dos, notes and conversations stay yours. Providers you added wait for the buyer to keep or remove them. - **Surrender to the harbor…** archives it read-only for good, ends provider access, and gives you a **transfer packet (PDF)** with its details, inspections and service history. After a transfer, the new owner is asked to confirm the permit details (**They're correct** or **Edit permit**). ## Slips **Edit details** covers: - **Where it is**: the marina or operator (from the marina directory), operator type, dock or pier, slip number and harbor. - **Your contact & notes**: a contact and note only you see. For a private dock, the dock owner's details go here. They're never added to the shared directory. - **The slip**: slip type, ownership (leased, deeded, club-owned), slip width and depth. Dry stack and lift slips hide the fields that don't apply. - **Approved vessel limits**, used by the fit check. - **Utilities**: shore power, water, cable or wifi, pump-out, fuel dock. - **Access**: the gate or dock code, and **Dock boxes** with their lock codes. Codes are visible to you. Crew on a boat in your slip see them only if you turn on **Share with crew**. If the marina's business details are missing or wrong, **Suggest details** or **Suggest a correction** sends them for review. Only business contacts go in the shared directory. ### Lease & fees **+ Add lease** records the start, end, renewal deadline, fee and frequency (monthly, seasonal or annual), deposit and next payment due. You get reminders 30 days before the lease ends, the renewal deadline and each payment. - **Mark a payment made** logs the fee as an expense on the slip and moves the next due date on. - **Renew…** adds the next lease period with the same terms; the old one stays as history. - **End lease…** archives the slip read-only, with its history and documents kept. You can restore it later. A deeded slip can be **transferred** to a buyer instead, the same way as a mooring. ### Slip checklist **+ Walk the slip** records a dated check of **your boat's gear**, **the dock & marina** and each **dock box**, with Pass, Pass with comments or Fail. Where a Fail goes depends on whose it is: - **Your boat's gear** becomes a to-do on the boat in the slip. - **The dock & marina** offers **Report to operator** or **Track as a to-do**. Set a recurring reminder to walk the slip every 2 weeks, monthly, or every 2 or 3 months. **Report for the operator** is a PDF or CSV of which of your boats were in the slip and for how many days, plus your lease terms. ## Issues **+ Report an issue** on any mooring or slip records a problem with photos and a status you update as it's handled. Pick a category: shore power, water, facilities, dock hardware, security, lighting, or for a mooring, buoy or ball, pennant or chain, dragging or off position, a neighboring boat, or an abandoned vessel. Where **Send** goes depends on the berth: - **The harbor is on ReadyHelm.** If a harbor master office or marina runs your berth's harbor on ReadyHelm, **Send to harbor** puts the issue in their queue. When they acknowledge it, resolve it or close it, you get a bell notification and their note shows under the issue. - **Otherwise, by email.** **Send to operator** emails the marina's directory address (or your private-dock contact). For a mooring, it emails the harbor's directory address. Replies come straight to you, and you get a copy. The harbor can also log an issue on your berth itself. It shows with **logged by** and the harbor's name, and you can see it but not change it. ## On a harbor's roster If an organization runs your berth's harbor on ReadyHelm, the berth says **On the harbor roster of** with their name. They see its assignment, your name, the boat on it, permit dates and open issues. Tackle, inspections, fees and documents stay private unless you give them access under **Service providers**. ## Transient use **Transient use** on a mooring or slip is for lending it out while you're away. **+ Dates I'm away** records when you leave and the day you're back. If a harbor organization holds your harbor, tick **Offer these dates to** it: they can then put a visiting boat on your berth inside those dates, and you get a bell notification when they do. **Stop offering** takes the dates back; boats already booked stay booked. **+ Guest stay** records a friend's boat on your berth: arrival and departure, boat name and length, the skipper, a phone or email, and any fee. If your own boat is on the berth then, add the dates you're away first. Guest stays can't overlap each other, and you're warned if the guest boat is outside the berth's approved limits. Guests (yours and the harbor's) are listed under **Guest stays**. **Remove** takes one off; the harbor is told if it was theirs. Nights a guest has your berth don't count as your boat's days in the mooring-days count or the Harbor Master report. ## Transient stays **Transient stays**, at the bottom of the Berths list, are your boat's nights on a guest mooring or transient slip somewhere else. **+ Transient stay** takes the harbor (from the directory, or typed), the mooring or slip, the dates and the fee. A fee is logged as a **Dockage** expense on the boat (see [Expenses](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/expenses.html)), and deleting the stay deletes the expense too. When a harbor on ReadyHelm assigns your boat a berth, it shows here waiting for you. Check the **Fee you paid** and **Confirm** to log it, or **Decline** if it isn't your boat or the stay isn't happening. The harbor is told either way. **📍 Show on map** on an upcoming stay opens the Berths map at that spot (see below). ## Map **Map** (next to **List** at the top of Berths) shows your moorings and slips, any you're on as crew, and where your boats are staying as transients. It never shows anyone else's berths. - **The exact spot** of a berth a harbor assigned you, when the harbor has placed it on its map, so you can find a guest mooring you've never seen. A stay you logged yourself shows at the harbor's location from the directory, marked approximate. - **Positions** come from the harbor organization if it has placed the berth, otherwise from your berth's GPS under **Edit details**. On the mooring, **📍 Use my current location** there fills it in. - **Search, backgrounds and tracking:** search by berth or boat, switch between **Chart** (NOAA's nautical chart with soundings, buoys and channels, the default), **Map** and **Satellite**, and use **📍 Track me** to see where you are and how far it is to the selected berth. Your position stays on your device. **📍 Show on map** on a berth's own page opens the map there. ## Documents and expenses Every berth has its own **Documents** (permits, harbor letters, leases) and **expenses**. Documents stay with the berth if you sell it, but only whoever uploaded one can delete it. Expenses always stay with whoever logged them. After a sale, the buyer sees yours without your name, and you can still edit or delete them. **Berths you used to own** keeps your read-only record of earlier berths and your expenses there. ## Archiving **Archive** takes any boat off today and makes the berth read-only. Berths are never deleted, so their history stays. Restore an archived berth any time, except a surrendered mooring. ## Common questions ### Can I keep my mooring's tackle, inspections and permit in ReadyHelm? Yes. A mooring records its tackle and components, permit and fee, approved vessel limits and inspection schedule. You can record your own inspections or give a mooring service access to do them, and download their inspection reports. ### Can I track my slip lease and payments? Yes. A slip records its lease, fee and payment schedule with reminders before each payment, the renewal deadline and the end of the lease. **Mark a payment made** logs the fee as an expense. ### Do moorings and slips cost extra? No. Berths are included on every plan, Free included. --- # Using ReadyHelm from Your AI Assistant _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 19 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/ai-assistants.html_ You can connect ReadyHelm to an AI assistant you already use, such as Claude, and ask it about your boats or have it keep your records up to date: "What's due on Sea Spray this month?", "I changed the oil today at 412 hours, log it", "Push the bottom-paint reminder to May". The assistant works with your real ReadyHelm records, under the same rules as the app. This is different from [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html), which is built into ReadyHelm. A connected assistant uses its own AI subscription, not your First Mate credits. Connecting an assistant comes with the **Skipper** and **Captain** plans. On the Free plan, the assistant is told to upgrade under My Account → Plan. ## Connecting Claude The connector address is: `https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp` **Claude (claude.ai and the Claude Desktop app):** 1. In Claude, open **Settings → Connectors** and choose **Add custom connector**. 2. Name it **ReadyHelm** and paste the address above. Leave the other fields empty. 3. Click **Connect**. A ReadyHelm page opens. 4. Sign in to ReadyHelm if you aren't already (with your two-factor code, if you've turned that on). 5. Check what the assistant is asking for, then click **Connect**. You're sent back to Claude. Connectors you add on claude.ai also appear in the Claude Desktop app. **Claude Code:** run `claude mcp add --transport http readyhelm https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp`, then type `/mcp` in Claude Code and choose ReadyHelm to sign in. Other assistants that support remote MCP connectors with sign-in should work the same way, using the same address. ## What the assistant can see and do **Look up:** your boats and their records, maintenance that's due and past service, to-dos, equipment, documents, trips and Float Plans, checklists, moorings and slips, expenses, and your certifications and emergency info. **Add:** reminders (to-dos), service log entries, expenses, equipment, insurance policies and ratings, certifications. It can also check off checklist items, update your registration and emergency info, and invite crew to a boat. **Change:** - to-dos: edit, check off or reopen them; - your own service log entries; - expenses; - maintenance schedules, including marking a task done; - equipment condition, notes and replacement plans; - trip details. When the assistant marks a maintenance task done, the task rolls forward and its reminder closes, just like **Mark Done** in the app. **Never:** it can't delete anything. It can't change a service entry a yard or mechanic logged, or one that's been verified. It can't change who's on a trip's crew; do that in the app, because it sends invitations. It can't fill in specs with First Mate, which uses your credits and needs your review. It only uses features your plan includes, the same as the app. Anything it changes shows up in the app straight away. ## Read-only connections Some assistants ask only to read. The ReadyHelm connect page shows what an assistant is asking for. A read-only connection can look things up but can't add or change anything. ## Seeing and disconnecting assistants **My Account → Security → Connected AI assistants** lists every assistant you've connected, what it can do, and when it was last used. **Disconnect** cuts it off immediately. Assistants are also disconnected automatically if you: - change or reset your password; - turn off two-factor authentication; - delete your account. If your plan changes to Free, connected assistants stop working until you upgrade again; you don't need to reconnect. ## Good to know - **Your records are data, not instructions.** Notes and messages from crew or a boatyard are passed to the assistant clearly labelled as record text. ReadyHelm also tells the assistant never to follow instructions written inside a record. - **Limits.** An assistant can make up to 120 lookups and 30 changes a minute. Above that it's asked to wait a moment. - **Updated terms.** If ReadyHelm's terms change, the assistant is told to have you sign in to the app and accept them first. - **Every change is recorded.** ReadyHelm keeps a log of each request a connected assistant makes and of every change, noting that it came through an AI assistant. --- # Racing _ReadyHelm Owner app guide, chapter 20 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/racing.html_ **🏁 Racing** (in Crew Corner; in the **More** drawer on a phone) is where you register your boat for a club's race season and keep its crew list. Racing is free on every plan. Your club runs the season in ReadyHelm Pro and sets the schedule, divisions and fees. > Racing is rolling out gradually. If you don't see it yet, it's on the way. ## Finding your club's season There are two ways in: - **The club's registration link.** Open the link your club sent you. If you're not signed in, sign in or create a free account first, and the season opens straight afterwards. - **Find a race.** Search by club or season name. Only seasons open for registration are listed. If you've registered, **Your next race** at the top of a season's page shows your start, class flag and course, with the NOAA forecast for the club's racing area (or, if the club hasn't set one, your boat's home port) once the race is within a week. The **Racing** and **Race results** tiles on [Home](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/home-dashboard.html) show the same at a glance. A season's page shows the club's notes, the **Schedule** (each series and its races), the **Divisions**, and the **Fees** as they stand today, including any early-bird price or late fee. Once the club has posted a race's starts, **Starts and courses** under it lists each division's start time, class flag and course: the marks in order, which side to leave each one, and each leg's distance and true bearing. **Show on chart** draws the course on a map, with the buoys and lights from OpenSeaMap (not for navigation). ## Registering a boat Only the boat's owner, or someone it's shared with as an **Editor**, can register it. Click **Register a boat**, then choose: - **Boat.** - **Division.** Your boat's rating for the division's system (PHRF, IRC, Portsmouth, ORC or ORR) shows under it, read from **Vessel Records → Ratings** (see [Vessel Records](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/vessel-records.html#vessel-records-ratings)). If there's no PHRF rating on file, or the certificate has expired, you see a warning. You can still register: add or renew the rating, and the race committee can pick it up. - **Registration.** For example the full season, one series, or a single race. A single race asks which one. - **Member.** If the club asks, tick **I'm a member of …** for the member price. - **Sail number** and **your phone** for the race committee. - **Crew.** Tap anyone already connected to the boat: people it's shared with, crew from your trips in the [Captain's Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/captains-log.html), and crew from earlier races. Or use **+ Add someone else** with a name and, optionally, an email. Give each person a role, tick **Under 18** for a minor, and tick **Send race notices** for anyone who should hear from the club too. If the club has a waiver, read it and sign it before you register: type your full name and tick **I have read this waiver and agree to it**. If the club sells anything else, such as dinner tickets, a course fee or crew shirts, it's listed under **Also from the club**. Enter how many you want (and the size, for clothing). The total shows before you register, with the club's instructions for paying. **The club collects the money itself**: ReadyHelm doesn't take payment. You get a confirmation email, and the club is told. A boat can't be registered twice for the same race. For example, with a full-season entry you can't also enter a single race in that season. ## Your entries **Your entries** lists each boat you've registered, with its division, registration, fee, rating and crew. Crew see the entries they're on too, read-only. **Next race** on each entry shows the next race it covers (a race moves off once every boat has finished or the committee is done with it), with your division's start time, class flag and course once the club has posted them. On race day it shows the start the committee actually set, if that changed. ## Race day From **Next race** on the entry (the skipper, or anyone the boat's shared with as an **Editor**): - **File a float plan** fills one in from the entry: the boat, the crew, the race and its start. It suggests leaving an hour before your start and being back by the expected finish plus an hour, worked out from the course distance (three hours of racing when the distance isn't known). Add who it goes to (your saved [float plan](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/float-plan.html) recipients are filled in), what they should do if you're overdue, and whether to send it now or when you leave. It's saved as a race trip in your Captain's Log. - **Check in** on race day tells the race committee you're out. Untick crew who didn't come, add anyone else aboard by name, and check the souls on board (everyone aboard, you included). Or choose **Not racing today**. If you've filed a float plan, its crew list changes to match. **Change** updates your check-in. - **Change return time** moves your float plan's return time. If the plan has already gone out, everyone it went to gets it again with the new time. If racing starts late, the entry offers to move the return time by the delay. In a **pursuit start**, each boat starts on its own time from its rating and the first boat home wins. Your entry shows **your pursuit start**, to the second, and the float plan is timed from it. If the committee postpones (AP) or abandons a race, you get an email and a notification, and the entry shows the race postponed. ## Race committee duty When the club puts you, or a boat you skipper, on race committee duty, you get an email and **Your race committee duties** appears at the top of Racing, with the job, the race and any notes. **Confirm I'll be there** tells the club. A boat on duty scores race committee credit for that race if the club's series allows it. Unconfirmed duties are on the **Racing** tile on Home, and the season's page lists the whole roster under **Race committee duty**. ## Safety inspections If the club asks for a safety inspection (offshore races usually do), your entry shows **Safety inspection**: not started yet, what the inspector found to **fix before the start** (with their note), or **All passed**. You get an email and a notification when the inspector finds something, and when the boat passes. Fix it, then ask the inspector to check it again. **Inspecting for a club.** If a club asks you to inspect, its email has a link. Open it and sign in (or create a free account): **Racing** shows **Safety inspections** with the boats you inspect. Open a boat and mark each item **Pass**, **Fix** (add what needs fixing) or **N/A**. It works with no signal at the dock: results are saved on your phone ("No connection. 3 results saved on this phone") and sent when the signal's back. Open the boat once with a signal first, so the phone has its checklist. ## Protests and redress Under an entry, **Protests** lists every protest your boat filed or is named in, with its hearing and decision. To file one (the skipper or an Editor): 1. **File a protest or redress request**, and pick the race. The protest time is shown; you can still file after it, but it's marked late. 2. **Protest another boat**, and tick the boats, or **Ask for redress** if your score was made worse through no fault of your own. 3. Say about when and where it happened, the rules you think were broken, what happened, and how you told the other boat (rule 61.1: hail "Protest" at the first reasonable opportunity, and fly a red flag if your boat is over 6 m). The boats you protest are told, and so is the club. When the hearing is scheduled and when it's decided, everyone involved gets an email and a notification. You can **Withdraw** your own protest until it's decided. The season's page lists every protest under **Protests**, with its hearing and decision; the full description is only shown to the boats involved. ## Results Once the club publishes results, the season's page shows **Results**. Each series' standings come by division, with your boat highlighted and discarded races in brackets. Each race's results, under **Show results**, give every boat's elapsed and corrected times and points. Provisional results can still change; when they're final you get an email and a notification. Your entry shows its latest result, such as **Race 3: 2nd of 8, corrected 0:52:36**. Final results also go on the race's trip in your Captain's Log, with your place, the size of the fleet and your corrected time. If you filed a float plan from the entry, that trip gets the result. - **Edit** changes the sail number, your phone and the crew list any time. Until the first race your entry covers, you can also change the division. After that, ask the race committee. - **Withdraw** takes the boat out. The club is told, and the entry stays on their list marked withdrawn. Talk to the club about any fee you've paid. ## Fees Each entry lists what you owe the club: the entry fee and anything else you asked for. Each line shows whether the club has marked it **Requested**, **Partly paid**, **Paid**, **Refunded**, **Waived** or **Cancelled**. While anything is owed, the entry shows the amount and **How to pay**. The club updates the statuses when your payment reaches them. - **+ Add items** asks for more, such as another dinner ticket. - **Cancel** removes something you asked for, as long as nothing's been paid on it. For anything else, talk to the club. ## Waivers and amendments Under each entry, **things to do** lists what's still needed, with ✓ for what's done. - **Waivers.** Some clubs ask every crew member to sign too. - A crew member with a ReadyHelm account signs from **Read and sign** on the entry they're on. - For anyone else, use **Email signing link**. They open the link and sign without an account. **Resend signing link** sends a new one, and the old link stops working. - For crew marked **Under 18**, a parent or guardian signs, giving their relationship. As the skipper, you can sign as a parent or guardian with **Sign as parent or guardian**. - If the club changes its waiver's wording, everyone signs the new version. - **Amendments.** When the club amends the Notice of Race or Sailing Instructions, you get an email and a notification. Open the amendment from the entry and click **I've read it** to acknowledge it. The season's page lists the club's **Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions**, with what each amendment changed and links to earlier versions, and the messages the club has sent under **From the club**. Club messages also come by email to you and to any crew you ticked **Send race notices** for. --- # Getting Started with ReadyHelm Pro _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 01 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/getting-started.html_ The Pro Portal is where marine businesses work on their customers' boats: boatyards, mechanics, mooring services, brokerages and more. Owners see the verified work you log in their own ReadyHelm app. ## One account, two apps Every person has one ReadyHelm account. You use it for your own boats in the owner app and for your business in the Pro Portal. Your access in the Pro Portal comes from belonging to an **organization**, and you can belong to several. - In the Pro Portal, **⛵ My boats** in the sidebar opens the owner app, already signed in. - In the owner app, **🧰 Pro portal** at the bottom of the sidebar comes back here. See [Getting Started](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/getting-started.html#getting-started-finding-your-way-around) in the owner guide. Sign in with **Google** or with your email and password. **Create one** makes a new account, and **Forgot password?** emails a reset link. ## Joining or starting an organization If your account isn't part of an organization yet, the Pro Portal shows two options: - **Invitations**: an invite from an organization's Admin, sent to your email. **Join** accepts it. Your email needs to be verified first, and the invite must match your account's email. Joining doesn't affect your own boats. - **Start an organization**: enter the business or organization name and **what kind of organization** it is (check all that apply), then **Start organization**. You become its Admin and can invite your team. A company of one is fine. The organization's types decide which modules it sees. A mooring service or marina sees **Berths**, a race organizer sees **Racing**, and a brokerage sees **Listings** and **Reports**. A business that is both a brokerage and something else gets a **Service / Brokerage** switch in the sidebar. If you're an Admin of an organization, the Pro Portal also asks for a code from an authenticator app on your phone when you sign in. It walks you through setting that up the first time (see [Two-factor authentication](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/my-account-and-feedback.html#pro-my-account-and-feedback-two-factor-authentication)). ## Agreements The first time you sign in, and whenever a new version is published, you accept the terms that apply to you. Each organization also has a **business agreement** that one of its Admins accepts on its behalf. Until they do, everyone else sees a page explaining that the organization is waiting on its Admin. ## Licenses Pro work needs a **license**, which is a seat on your organization's plan. Without one, you can sign in but see **No license assigned** until an Admin gives you one (see [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html#pro-admin-and-settings-team)). Admins can always manage the team, plan and profile, licensed or not. ## Several organizations The organization you're working in shows at the top of the sidebar. If you belong to more than one, **Switch organization** moves between them. Everything you see follows the organization you're signed in to. ## Getting your organization set up A new organization's Admin sees **Get your organization set up** on the Dashboard. It has four steps, each ticked off as soon as it's done: 1. **Fill in your public profile**: contact details and what you do. 2. **Add your first client boat** (or, for a brokerage, **your first listing**). 3. **Invite your team.** 4. **Get verified**: a verified badge shows owners your business documents were checked. Each step's button goes straight to the screen that does it. **Hide** removes the card. ## Finding your way around The sidebar lists the modules your organization uses: | Module | What it's for | | --- | --- | | 📊 Dashboard | Today's work at a glance | | 🧰 My Jobs | A tech's own jobs on a phone, with or without signal | | ⚓ Fleet | Every boat you have access to | | 👥 Customers | Your contacts, their boats, email and texts | | 🗂️ Pipeline | Every job from request to done, by stage | | 📥 Requests | Service requests from your website and the phone | | 📅 Bookings | Customers picking a time for service | | 🗓️ Dispatch | Your techs' and bays' schedule | | 🟠 Berths | Moorings and slips: inspections, reports, mooring work, slips held for tenants | | 🏁 Racing | Race seasons: schedule, divisions, registration options and entries (race organizers) | | 🔧 Work Orders | Open jobs across your fleet | | 🧾 Quotes | Prices for owners to approve | | 📦 Parts | Parts catalog, stock and purchase orders | | 📋 Service Log | Verified work your team has logged | | ⚠️ Disputes | Owners questioning an entry you logged | | ✅ Verifications | Owners asking you to confirm their own entries | | 🏷️ Listings, 📄 Reports | Brokerage listings and history reports | | 💬 Messages | Conversations with owners | A module your plan doesn't include shows locked, with the plan that unlocks it. **Search vessel / HIN…** at the top of the sidebar finds any boat. **📖 User Guide** (this guide), **⚙️ Admin & Settings** and **💬 Give Feedback** are at the bottom. ## Common questions ### What is the ReadyHelm Pro Portal? The part of ReadyHelm for marine businesses, such as boatyards, mechanics, mooring services, marinas, harbor master offices and brokerages. Your team logs verified service, runs work orders and quotes, inspects moorings, manages a harbor, or lists boats, and owners see your verified work in their own app. ### Do my customers need to be on ReadyHelm before I can log work on their boats? No. Add a boat by its HIN and you can log verified service on it straight away as its **Provisional Custodian**. When the owner joins and links the HIN, everything you logged is there for them (see [Dashboard & Fleet](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/dashboard-and-fleet.html#pro-dashboard-and-fleet-adding-a-vessel)). ### How much does the Pro Portal cost? Pro Free is $0 for one seat, Pro Standard is $15 per seat per month, and Pro Plus is $25 per seat per month. See [Plans, Prices & Limits](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/plans-pricing-and-limits.html#ref-plans-pricing-and-limits-pro-portal-plans). --- # Dashboard & Fleet _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 02 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/dashboard-and-fleet.html_ ## Dashboard The **📊 Dashboard** summarizes your organization's work. - **Service organizations** see open and urgent work orders, the number of boats in the fleet, and the fleet's average health score. Below that are **Urgent work orders** and **Fleet health** (each boat's score, with an **Alert** badge when something is overdue). Click any row to open the boat. - **Brokerages** see active listings, total showings, how many history reports are ready, and the portfolio's average health. Below that are **Active listings** and **Report readiness**. ## Invitations from owners When an owner invites your organization to service their boat, a banner at the top of the portal shows it. **Accept** gives your organization access to that boat (anyone on your team can then work on it); **Decline** turns it down. Access belongs to the organization, not to one person. ## Fleet **⚓ Fleet** lists every boat your organization can see: name and owner, HIN, year, make and model, engine hours, location, health score and alerts. Click a row to open the boat (see [Working on a Vessel](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/working-on-a-vessel.html)). ### Finding a boat **Search vessel / HIN…** (or the 🔍 button) searches by HIN, boat name or owner. Type at least 2 characters. When you type a full HIN, the portal checks whether ReadyHelm already knows it: - **A boat in your fleet** opens directly. - **A HIN registered to someone else** shows **HIN already registered**. Open it with **Log Access Only**: you can log real service history right away, while its specs, documents and other providers' history stay hidden. From there, **Request provider access** asks the owner for full access. - **A new HIN** offers **Register it now**. ### Adding a vessel **+ Add vessel** pre-registers a hull for your fleet: HIN, name, make and model (required), plus year, type, engine hours and location. You get provisional access straight away and can log real service history against it. Until an owner claims the HIN, the boat shows **Provisional Custodian**. When the owner links their account to the HIN, everything you logged stays with the boat for them to see and review, and you keep your access. If you know who the real owner is, enter their email when asked. A request goes to whoever owns the HIN on record. If that email has no account yet, the request is kept and resolved when they sign up. --- # Working on a Vessel _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 03 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/working-on-a-vessel.html_ Click a boat anywhere in the portal to open it. What you see depends on your access: | Access | Tabs | | --- | --- | | Full access (the owner granted your organization) | Overview, Service History, Work Orders, Maintenance, Tech Specs, Documents | | Log access only (no grant yet) | Overview, Service History | | Brokerage | Overview, Service History, Sale Report, Tech Specs, Documents, Listing | ## Without full access yet A boat you found by HIN but haven't been granted shows **You don't have full access to this vessel yet**. You can log real service history against it right away; its tech specs, documents and other providers' history stay hidden. **Request provider access** asks the owner, and the button shows **Access request pending** until they answer. A hull no owner has claimed yet shows **Provisional Custodian**: you can log against it until its owner links their account. ## Overview The owner and boat details, **Maintenance alerts** (anything overdue or due soon, with urgent items first), and **Recent service**. **+ Log service entry** starts an entry from here (see [Work Orders & Service Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/work-orders-and-service-log.html)). ## Service History Every service entry on the boat, newest first, with the system, work performed, technician, amount and status. Entries your team logs are **pro-verified** and count toward the boat's verified history. ## Maintenance The boat's scheduled maintenance tasks, the same list the owner sees in their app. - **+ Add task**: pick the system, name the task (for example, "Change engine oil"), and set **Remind every…** so many engine hours or days. The countdown starts from today. - **Mark done** records it as done today and restarts the countdown. - Edit or delete a task from its row. When a task comes due, the owner gets a to-do and a reminder email. ## Tech Specs The boat's equipment: category, name, make, model, serial number, quantity, HP/kW, year and notes. **+ Add** adds a piece of equipment. Filter by category at the top. ## Documents Upload manuals, maintenance schedules, wiring diagrams and certificates. Filter by document type at the top. **↓ Download** opens a document. The **Shared library** toggle on each document decides who sees it. Shared documents appear in the owner's ReadyHelm app; unshared ones stay with your organization. ## Owner to-dos shared with you When an owner shares a to-do with your organization as a service request, it appears under **Shared by the owner** on the boat's **Work Orders** tab. **Create work order** turns it into a work order, with the details filled in from the to-do. --- # Work Orders & Service Log _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 04 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/work-orders-and-service-log.html_ Work orders are jobs you plan; service log entries are work you've done. Completing a work order logs the service entry for you. Quotes come first when the owner should approve the price. ## Work orders **🔧 Work Orders** lists open jobs across your fleet: boat, HIN, description, who it's assigned to, due date, estimate, priority and status. Urgent jobs sort to the top. ### Creating one **+ New work order** asks which boat, then opens its form. You can also start from a boat's **Work Orders** tab. Enter: - a description of the job; - a due date (a week out unless you change it); - a priority; - an estimate (optional); - **labor, parts and fees** (optional): each line has a type, description, quantity, unit price, and whether it's taxable. The form shows each line's amount and the subtotal. A work order can also start from an owner's shared to-do (see [Working on a Vessel](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/working-on-a-vessel.html#pro-working-on-a-vessel-owner-to-dos-shared-with-you)), or from a **Fail** on a mooring inspection (see [Moorings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/moorings.html)). ### Labor, parts and fees A work order's lines show on its card with the subtotal. **Edit lines** changes them at any time, and **+ Add labor, parts or fees** starts them on a work order that has none. **Taxable** is for your accounting software's sales tax; ReadyHelm doesn't calculate tax. - **For:** a line can name the piece of equipment it's for (the port engine, say), or the **Whole boat**. Completing the job puts the work in that equipment's history. - **Unit cost:** what one unit costs you. It's internal: only the people your organization lets see costs see it, never the owner, and it's never sent to QuickBooks (see [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html#pro-admin-and-settings-team)). - **From the parts catalog:** with Parts on your plan, **+ From catalog** adds a part from your catalog. It's reserved while the job is open and taken from stock when it's completed (see [Parts & Purchase Orders](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/parts-and-purchasing.html#pro-parts-and-purchasing-parts-on-work-orders)). **Order missing parts** starts a purchase order for what isn't in stock. ### Stages A work order moves through stages: **New**, **Site Visit**, **Awaiting Approval**, **Scheduled**, **In Progress**, **On Hold**, **Awaiting Parts**, **Waiting on Owner**, **Weather Hold**, then **Done** (or **Cancelled**). Change it from the stage on the work order's card, or by dragging it on the [Pipeline](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/customers-and-requests.html#pro-customers-and-requests-pipeline). Done isn't offered there: completing the job does that. ### Scheduling and field work With Bookings or Dispatch on your plan, a work order can be given a time: **📅 Book a time**, **Send booking link** to the customer, or place it on the dispatch board (see [Bookings, Dispatch & My Jobs](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/scheduling-and-field-work.html)). Its **Field log** shows the time, notes and photos your techs logged on it from **My Jobs**. ### Invoicing in QuickBooks If your organization has connected QuickBooks Online, a work order with lines shows **Send to QuickBooks**, then the invoice's number, total and payment status, which updates when the owner pays. You can also email the owner a payment link. See [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html#pro-admin-and-settings-integrations). ### Deposits and progress bills With QuickBooks Online connected, a work order can be billed in parts before the final invoice (Admins and Managers): - **Bill deposit** bills the deposit its quote asked for, and is billed for you when the quote becomes a work order. Until it's billed, the work order says **Deposit … not billed yet**. - **Progress bill…** bills part of the work now: **Chosen lines** (billed as they are, with their tax, and left off the final invoice), **A percent of what's left**, or an amount (billed as one untaxed line and taken off the final invoice). - **Send to QuickBooks** then sends the final invoice for exactly what's left. Each bill is listed on the work order with its own status. If your organization requires a paid deposit (see [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html#pro-admin-and-settings-integrations)), the job can't go **In Progress** until the deposit is paid. ### Completing one **Complete** on a work order asks for the system, what was done, the date, labor hours, engine hours and amount. The amount starts at the lines' subtotal, and the lines are copied onto the service entry. Saving closes the work order and adds a pro-verified entry to the boat's service history. If the engine hours are higher than the boat's current reading, the boat's engine hours go up to match. A lower number never lowers it. ## Quotes A quote prices a job before you do it. The owner approves or declines it, and an approved quote becomes a work order. Quotes are on every plan, and the owner can answer on any plan. **🧾 Quotes** in the sidebar lists your organization's open quotes (drafts, sent and approved); **All** includes declined, expired and converted ones. Click a row to open the boat's **Quotes** tab. **+ New quote** asks which boat, then opens its Quotes tab with a new quote ready to fill in. ### Writing and sending one On a boat's **Quotes** tab, **+ New quote** takes a title, an optional message to the owner, an optional **Valid until** date, and the same labor, parts and fees lines as a work order. **Save as draft** keeps it to yourself, and anyone on your team can write drafts. **Deposit** (optional) asks for a percent of the quote or a fixed amount. The owner sees it on the quote, and it's billed in QuickBooks when the quote becomes a work order. A boat with no owner on ReadyHelm can still get a quote: **Send to** picks one of the boat's customers from [Customers](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/customers-and-requests.html#pro-customers-and-requests-customers), who doesn't need to be on ReadyHelm. **Send to owner** (Admins and Managers) emails the boat's owner the quote with **Approve** and **Decline** buttons that work without signing in. The owner also gets a notification, the quote shows on the boat's Service Log in their app, and a message thread for the quote opens between you and the owner. The boat needs an owner on ReadyHelm to receive it. ### After it's sent - **Waiting:** the quote says it's waiting for the owner. **Revise** withdraws it so you can edit it and send it again. The buttons in the first email stop working, so the owner can only approve the new numbers. - **Sold while waiting:** if the boat changes hands, neither the new owner nor the old one can answer the quote, and it says it went to the previous owner. **Revise** it and send it to the new owner. - **Approved or declined:** you get an email, and a note is posted in the quote's thread. A declined quote shows the owner's reason if they gave one. - **Expired:** once its **Valid until** date passes, a quote that wasn't answered expires and can't be approved. - **Convert to work order** (Admins and Managers) turns an approved quote into a work order for the boat, with the same lines, due a week out. If your organization uses QuickBooks Online, a sent quote also goes to QuickBooks as an estimate, and the owner's answer marks it accepted or rejected there. See [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html#pro-admin-and-settings-integrations). ## Service log **📋 Service Log** shows every entry your team has logged across the fleet, newest first: date, boat, HIN, system, work performed, technician, amount and status. ### Logging service **+ Log service entry** asks which boat, then opens the form. Enter the system, status, technician, labor hours, amount and **Work performed** (required), then **Save verified entry**. The entry is marked **pro-verified** and appears in the owner's app and in the boat's verified history report. Owners can't edit your entries, but they can dispute one (see [Disputes & Verifications](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/disputes-and-verifications.html)). ## Common questions ### Can a boatyard send quotes to boat owners from ReadyHelm? Yes. A quote lists labor, parts and fees. The owner gets it by email and in their app, approves or declines it without signing in, and an approved quote becomes a work order. Quotes are on every plan. ### Does ReadyHelm work with QuickBooks? Yes. An organization on Pro Standard or Pro Plus can connect QuickBooks Online: work orders become invoices, quotes become estimates, and payments come back to the work order. It is rolling out gradually. See [Integrations](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html#pro-admin-and-settings-integrations). --- # Disputes & Verifications _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 05 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/disputes-and-verifications.html_ Both queues come from owners, about service entries. A dispute questions an entry your team logged; a verification request asks you to confirm an entry the owner logged. ## Disputes **⚠️ Disputes** lists entries owners have flagged as incorrect or unrecognized, with the owner's reason. - **Accept & correct** fixes the entry. The original stays visible in the entry's edit history. - **Reject** leaves the entry as logged, with your explanation attached (optional, but it helps). Resolved disputes stay listed under **Resolved**. ## Verification requests **✅ Verifications** lists entries owners logged themselves and asked your team to confirm, for example work you did that they recorded. - **Confirm this happened** attaches your business to the entry. It then counts as verified, both in the boat's verified history and toward its readiness score. - **Decline** leaves it as the owner logged it, still unverified. You can add a short explanation. --- # Berths: Moorings & Slips _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 06 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/moorings.html_ **🟠 Berths** has your organization's moorings and slips. - **Moorings:** the ones owners have given your organization access to, plus the ones you added for customers who haven't joined yet. Each shows its owner, its next inspection and any open work. This is where mooring services do inspections, reports and mooring work. - **Slips:** the ones a marina holds for its tenants (see [Adding a slip for a customer](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/moorings.html#pro-moorings-adding-a-slip-for-a-customer)), plus any a tenant has given you access to. **Map** (next to **List**) puts the same moorings and slips on a map, labelled with the boat on each. It has search, the NOAA chart (the default), street map and satellite backgrounds, and **📍 Track me** for distance and bearing from your boat to a mooring, the same as the [Harbor map](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/harbor.html#pro-harbor-map). A mooring is placed by its owner's GPS, or by the harbor organization if one runs that harbor on ReadyHelm. Owners grant access per mooring. Servicing someone's boat doesn't give you their mooring. A grant shows what an inspection needs (location, depth, tackle, components and approved limits) but never the owner's fee or expenses. ## Adding a mooring for a customer **+ Add mooring for a customer** is for an owner who isn't on ReadyHelm yet. Enter the mooring number, harbor, coordinates, mooring type and the owner's name and email. You look after the record until they join. **Send invite** (or **Resend invite**) emails the owner. When they accept, the mooring becomes theirs and you keep your access. The list shows **Invited** or **Declined**. If another mooring with the same harbor and number already exists, you're warned first. Choose **It's a different mooring — add it anyway** only if it really is. ## Adding a slip for a customer **+ Add slip for a customer** is for a marina whose tenant isn't on ReadyHelm yet. It takes: - the slip and dock; - the marina (from the directory); - GPS, entered the same way as for a mooring; - the slip type, and its maximum length and beam; - its utilities (water, shore power and so on), each with an optional note such as "30A"; - how to find it; - the tenant's name and email. Tick the box to email the tenant an invite. Your organization holds the slip until they join and accept it. Until then: - it's on your Berths list as **Held for** the tenant, with **Invited** or **Declined**; - it's on your map and your harbor roster, and it shows on the Transient board as one of your own berths, so you can put visiting boats in it any time it's empty; - **Edit details** changes it, and **Send invite** (or **Resend invite**) emails the tenant; - **Dock boxes** records each box's label, size and lock code; - **Lease terms** records the lease dates, fee and how often it's paid, deposit, first payment due and renewal deadline. When the tenant accepts, the slip becomes theirs, with the utilities, dock boxes and lease terms you entered. They get fee and renewal reminders and record their own payments, which go in their expenses. Your organization keeps access, which the tenant can remove. To add many slips at once, use the harbor [Import](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/harbor.html#pro-harbor-import) with a Kind column. ## A mooring's details Open a mooring to see its type and size, block or anchor, pennant and ball, last inspection, next due, approved length and its **Components**. **+ Add component** records a part, with an optional **Recommended replacement** date. ### Editing a mooring - **A mooring an owner shared with you:** **Edit location & tackle** changes its GPS position, depth, mooring type and size, chain, block or anchor weight, pennant and ball, for example after you replace the tackle. The owner gets a notification listing what you changed. The permit, fee and approved limits are the owner's to edit. - **A mooring you hold for a customer:** **Edit details** also covers the mooring number, harbor, how to find it, the owner's name and email, and the permit. **GPS positions** can be typed in any of these forms. The reading shows under each field (for example *42° 12.348′ N*), so a typo stands out before you save: - decimal degrees: `42.2058` and `-70.7201`; - degrees and minutes: `42 12.348 N` or `70°43.206'W`; - degrees, minutes and seconds: `42 12 20.9 N`. Pasting a pair such as `42.2058, -70.7201` (from Google Maps, for example) into Latitude fills both fields. A value that isn't a real coordinate, or a latitude typed in the longitude field, is flagged, and you can't save until it's fixed. Picklists such as mooring type and component type have **+ New…**, which adds a value only your organization sees. **Ownership history** lists owners and boats over time. ## Inspections **+ Start inspection** creates a draft. Fill it in on site: - the inspection date; - a row per component, prefilled from the mooring, each with a result (**Pass**, **Pass with comments** or **Fail**), an optional measurement, and comments (required for Pass with comments); - photos per row (save the draft first, then add photos) and **photos of the whole mooring**. **Save draft** keeps working on it; **Delete draft** discards it. **Finalize** makes it the permanent record and updates the mooring's last inspection and next due date. Every **Fail** becomes one of your work orders automatically, and the owner can choose to track it too. ### Changing a finalized inspection **Amend** opens the same editor. Saving asks why you're changing it, and the reason is kept with the change. Earlier versions stay viewable under **History**. Photos are never deleted; removing one in an amendment only drops it from the current version. Inspections the owner recorded themselves are labeled **Owner-recorded** and are read-only for you. ### When the owner responds The owner can add their own notes and photos (shown apart from your findings), message you about the inspection, or dispute it. A disputed inspection shows **Disputed by the owner**: - **Agree — I'll correct it**, then amend the inspection; - **Disagree**, with an explanation (required). Settled disputes stay under **Past disputes**. ## Reports **+ Issue report** builds a PDF from the finalized inspections you choose (**Include these finalized inspections**, then **Generate PDF**). It includes the mooring's details, component ages, results, measurements, comments, photos and your business details. Issued reports never change. If an inspection in a report is amended later, the report shows **Inspection amended since** and offers **Issue revised version**. Older versions stay downloadable and are marked **Superseded**. Download any version with **↓ Download PDF**. Owners see and download the same reports. ## Mooring work and service Each mooring has its own **Work orders** and **Service log**. - **Complete** on a work order asks for the date and what was done, then **Complete & log service** records it in the mooring's service log. - **+ Log service** records work directly. Tick **Replaced components** to update those parts' last-replaced dates. That's the only way a component's age is set. ## When access ends If an owner removes your access, the mooring leaves your list, but your work doesn't disappear. **Past inspections** keeps your inspections on record under your name, and **Reports you issued on these moorings** keeps your PDFs downloadable. When a mooring is sold, the new owner chooses whether to keep your access. Until they do, you can read your past work but not start new inspections. ## Common questions ### Can a mooring service do inspections in ReadyHelm? Yes. Start an inspection on the mooring, record Pass, Pass with comments or Fail with measurements and photos for each component, then finalize it. Every Fail becomes a work order, and you can issue a versioned PDF report that the owner sees too. ### Can I add moorings for customers who aren't on ReadyHelm? Yes. **+ Add mooring for a customer** (or **+ Add slip for a customer** for a marina) creates a record your organization looks after until the owner accepts an emailed invite. --- # Brokerage: Listings & Reports _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 07 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/brokerage.html_ Organizations with the **Brokerage** type see **🏷️ Listings** and **📄 Reports**. A brokerage that also does other work switches between them with **Service / Brokerage** in the sidebar. ## Listings **🏷️ Listings** shows each listed boat: HIN, platform, asking price, listed date, showings, offers, broker, health score, whether its history report is ready, and status. Click a row to open the boat. Its **Listing** tab shows the same details. ReadyHelm doesn't host listings. A listing records where a boat is listed (YachtWorld, Boat Trader, Boats.com or another site), its asking price and how it's going. - **+ New listing** (on Listings) or **Create listing** (on a boat's **Listing** tab) takes the boat, where it's listed, the asking price, the date it was listed, and an optional link to the listing. A boat that isn't in the list can be added by its HIN. - **Edit listing** on the boat's **Listing** tab changes those, plus its status (active, pending, sold or withdrawn), showings and offers. You can list a boat whose owner has given your organization access, or that's shared with you. Brokers can then open the boats they've listed, along with those boats' documents, work orders and tech specs. ## History reports **📄 Reports** shows a card per listing with the boat's health score and whether its **ReadyHelm Verified History** is ready to share: - **✓ Report ready to share with buyers** when nothing is overdue. - **✕ Cannot generate — maintenance gaps** lists what's overdue. **Fix gaps first** opens the boat's overview. A boat's **Sale Report** tab shows the verified history in full: the health score, verified entries separated from owner-reported ones, and any maintenance gaps worth resolving before buyers see it, or worth reflecting in the asking price. The report is built by ReadyHelm from the boat's records, so it always matches them: - **Export PDF** opens it as a PDF. It works while there are maintenance gaps, and lists them in the report. - **Share with buyer** emails a buyer a link to the PDF, with an optional message. It goes in your organization's name, and replies come to you. It's available once the maintenance gaps are resolved. --- # Messages _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 08 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/messages.html_ To write to a customer by email or text, including people who aren't on ReadyHelm, see [Customer Email & Texts](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/customer-messages.html). **💬 Messages** holds your conversations with owners about their boats: a vessel, a piece of equipment, a service record, a to-do or a mooring inspection. ## Finding a conversation Search the message text, or filter by boat (**All boats**), type (**Any type**), person (**Anyone**), a date range, or **Has attachment**. Click a result to open the thread beside the list. ## In a thread - Write a message and attach files. - Edit or delete your own messages. An edited message is marked **(edited)**. - **Report** a message that breaks the rules; a ReadyHelm admin reviews it. Owners see the same thread in their app's Messages page. --- # Admin & Settings _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 09 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html_ **⚙️ Admin & Settings** (bottom of the sidebar) has four tabs: **Integrations**, **Organization**, **Team** and **Plan**. Everyone can see them; who can change what depends on your access level. ## Access levels | Level | Can do | | --- | --- | | Admin | Everything, including the plan, billing, licenses, agreements, team and organization profile | | Manager | Runs the work, and can invite people (but not make them Admins) | | Staff | Does the work: service, inspections and reports on your customers' boats | An organization always has at least one Admin. The last Admin can't be removed, demoted, or leave. A **job title** (service writer, mechanic, dock crew, surveyor and so on) is shown next to each person's name. It's for display only; the access level decides permissions. The titles offered depend on your organization's types. ## Organization ### Profile The public profile owners see when they look you up: public name, legal name, phone, email, website, address, service area, and **About** (what you do). **Save profile** saves it. Only Admins can edit it. Owners never see your plan or billing. ### Organization type **Check all that apply.** The types decide which modules and job titles your team gets. For example, **Brokerage** adds Listings and Reports, and **Mooring service** adds Moorings. Choose at least one, then **Save types**. ### Verification Verified organizations get a **✓ Verified** badge wherever owners see them, and are listed when owners search for verified service providers. Verification never limits what you can do in the portal, and unverified organizations work fully with owners who invite them. To apply, an Admin uploads documents (business license, certificate of insurance, trade licenses or other) with their expiry dates, adds an optional note, and chooses **Send for review**. Documents are stored privately. A ReadyHelm reviewer approves or declines the request; **Withdraw** cancels it while it waits. You're reminded 30 days before a document expires. When one expires, the badge drops until you renew, which is the same **Send for review** step with the new documents. ### Your credentials on this profile Each member chooses which of their own credentials (a USCG license, ABYC certifications and so on) owners see next to their name. You add credentials in your ReadyHelm account's credential wallet (see [My Account](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html#my-account-and-plans-safety--certs) in the owner guide). Expired ones are left off. ## Team The **Team** tab lists everyone in the organization with their access level, job title and license. - **Inviting:** enter an email, pick an access level and job title, and choose **+ Invite**. Leave **Give them a license when they join** ticked to give them a seat straight away (if one is free). They accept in the Pro Portal with that email. An existing ReadyHelm account keeps its own boats. **Pending invites** lists invites not yet accepted; **×** cancels one. - **Licenses:** **Give them a license** or **Take back their license**, effective immediately. You can't assign more licenses than your plan has seats. - **Editing:** **Edit** changes someone's access level or job title. - **Removing:** removing someone ends their membership and frees their license. Their work stays with the organization under their name, and their own ReadyHelm account is untouched. - **Leave organization** removes yourself. **Who can see internal costs** (Admins change it): Admins only, Admins and Managers, or Admins, Managers and Staff. Internal costs are the unit costs and margins on quotes, work orders, parts and purchase orders. People who can see them are marked **$ costs** on the list. Owners never see costs, and they're never sent to QuickBooks invoices or estimates. ## Plan The **Plan** tab shows your organization's tier, its seats (**N of M in use**), and when it renews or ends. Every seat is at the same tier. Prices and what each tier includes are in [Plans, Prices & Limits](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/plans-pricing-and-limits.html#ref-plans-pricing-and-limits-pro-portal-plans). A new organization may start with a trial of a paid tier, shown as **"… trial — until (date), then (tier)"**. When it ends without a subscription, the organization moves to the free tier: features above it become read-only, and nothing is deleted. Admins can: - **Subscribe** (or **Start paying for a plan**): pick a tier, seats and monthly or annual billing, then **Continue to payment** to finish on Stripe's secure checkout. - **Upgrade plan**: a higher tier, more seats, or annual billing. It takes effect now, and you're charged the prorated difference. - **Change to a smaller plan**: a lower tier or fewer seats, then **Request change**. It takes effect at your next renewal, and **Cancel this change** withdraws it until then. When seats go down, tick who gives up their license on the Team tab; otherwise the most recently licensed do. - **Payment methods & invoices**: opens Stripe's billing page for cards and invoices. If a payment fails, a banner shows the date to update your payment method by. After that date, pro work becomes read-only until payment goes through. Nothing is removed, and owners keep the verified records you've already given them. ## Integrations > QuickBooks Online is rolling out gradually. If you don't see it yet, it's on the way. **QuickBooks Online** connects your organization's own QuickBooks company. Only an Admin can connect or disconnect it. - **Connect** opens Intuit's sign-in. Choose your company, and you come back to this tab with the company's name shown. - On a client boat's **Overview**, the owner card gets **Add to QuickBooks** (Admins and Managers). It adds the owner as a customer and the boat as a sub-customer under them. If your QuickBooks already has a customer with the owner's email or name, you choose to **Link** to it or **Create a new customer**; nothing is created without asking. Afterwards, **View in QuickBooks** opens the customer. - On a work order with labor, parts or fees, **Send to QuickBooks** (Admins and Managers) creates an invoice billed to the boat, one line per work-order line. The first time, ReadyHelm adds three items to your QuickBooks to bill them to: **ReadyHelm Labor**, **ReadyHelm Parts** and **ReadyHelm Fees**. Taxable lines are marked taxable, so your QuickBooks sales tax applies. The work order then shows the invoice number, total and status, with **View in QuickBooks**. - If you change the lines afterwards, the work order says **Changed since sent**; **Update in QuickBooks** updates the same invoice. If someone edited the invoice in QuickBooks in the meantime, ReadyHelm asks before replacing it. - Payments come back on their own. When an invoice is paid, partly paid or voided in QuickBooks, the work order shows it within a minute or so, and ReadyHelm double-checks every night. **Refresh** on the invoice checks right away, and **Checked …** says when it last did. - If your QuickBooks company takes online payments (QuickBooks Payments), the invoice gets **Email payment link** (Admins and Managers), which emails the boat's owner a link to view and pay the invoice, with replies coming to you. Anyone can use **Copy payment link** to send it another way. Paid and voided invoices don't offer the link. - A quote you send to an owner also goes to QuickBooks as an **estimate** (see [Quotes](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/work-orders-and-service-log.html#pro-work-orders-and-service-log-quotes)). When the owner approves or declines it, the estimate is marked accepted or rejected, and the invoice for the work order it turns into is linked to the estimate, which closes it. If the owner might already be in your QuickBooks, the quote asks you to choose on the boat's Overview first, then **Send to QuickBooks** on the quote. - The **Work Orders** list gets a **QuickBooks** column with each invoice's status: Unpaid, Partly paid (with the amount still due), Paid or Voided. - If the owner might already be in your QuickBooks, ReadyHelm asks you to choose on the boat's Overview (**Add to QuickBooks**) before the first invoice. - **Deposits and progress bills:** a quote can ask for a deposit, billed in QuickBooks when the quote becomes a work order, and a work order can be billed in parts before the final invoice (see [Work Orders](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/work-orders-and-service-log.html#pro-work-orders-and-service-log-deposits-and-progress-bills)). **Require a paid deposit before work starts** (Admins) holds a job whose quote asked for a deposit out of **In Progress** until the deposit invoice is paid in QuickBooks. - **Purchase orders** become bills in QuickBooks as they're received (see [Parts & Purchase Orders](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/parts-and-purchasing.html#pro-parts-and-purchasing-bills-in-quickbooks)). - If QuickBooks stops accepting ReadyHelm's access, the card asks an Admin to **Reconnect**. - **Disconnect** deletes nothing, here or in QuickBooks. Customers stay linked, and reconnecting the same company picks them back up. Connecting a different company clears the old links, after a warning. The integration needs an organization: a ReadyHelm admin signed in without one sees **Start or join an organization** instead. ### More on this tab - **Website request form:** take service requests from your own website. See [Requests](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/customers-and-requests.html#pro-customers-and-requests-your-websites-request-form). - **Text messaging:** your organization's texting number. See [Texts](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/customer-messages.html#pro-customer-messages-texts). - **Your own email domain** and **Message templates:** see [Customer Email & Texts](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/customer-messages.html#pro-customer-messages-your-own-email-address-and-templates). - **Mailchimp & HubSpot:** see [Marketing lists](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/customers-and-requests.html#pro-customers-and-requests-marketing-lists-in-mailchimp-and-hubspot). --- # My Account & Feedback _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 10 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/my-account-and-feedback.html_ ## My Account Click your initials (top right) to open **My Account**. **Profile** holds your name, phone and location. Change them and click **Save changes**. They're the same details as in the owner app, since it's the same account. Your email is how you sign in, so it can't be changed here. Your organization's name and profile, and your job title, are set by an Admin in [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html). ### Notifications The **🔔 bell** at the top right lists what's happening at your organization. Click a notice to go where it's handled. **Mark all read** clears the count. | You hear about | Who | |---|---| | An owner asks you to verify a service entry they logged | Admins and Managers | | An owner disputes one of your service entries | Admins, Managers and the technician on the entry | | An owner shares a to-do with you as a service request | Admins and Managers | | A work order is assigned to you | The person assigned (not when you assign yourself) | | An owner approves or declines a quote | The person who sent it, plus Admins and Managers | | A quote you sent expires within 3 days without an answer | The person who sent it | | Plan and billing changes, organization verification, harbor claims | Admins | Each organization has its own bell. Notices about your own boats stay in the owner app's bell. **My Account → Notifications** chooses what's also emailed to you, with one switch per kind of notice. The bell always shows everything. Verification requests, disputes, assignments and quote answers are emailed straight away. Service requests and expiring quotes come together in one email a day. Out of the box, email is on for anything assigned to you or that you sent, and for verification requests and disputes if you're an Admin or Manager. Every one of these emails has a **Manage notifications** link back to this tab. Some email can't be switched off: password resets, email verification, invitations, and plan and billing problems for Admins. ### Security Under **Security**, **Change password** updates your password: enter the current one, then the new one twice. **Connected AI assistants** lists any assistant you've connected (see [Using ReadyHelm from Your AI Assistant](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/ai-assistants.html)). ### Two-factor authentication Two-factor authentication adds a code from an app on your phone to your password when you sign in to the Pro Portal, and to the owner app as well, since it's the same account. Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, 1Password and Authy all work. - **Organization Admins must use it.** Admins manage the team, billing and connected accounts like QuickBooks, so the first time an Admin signs in, the Pro Portal asks them to set it up before going on. - **Everyone else can turn it on** under **My Account → Security → Turn on two-factor**. **Setting it up:** scan the QR code with your authenticator app (or type the key under it), then enter the 6-digit code it shows. You then get eight **backup codes**. Each one signs you in once if you don't have your phone, so save them somewhere safe, such as a password manager. They aren't shown again. **Signing in:** after your password, enter the current code from the app, or choose **Use a backup code instead**. Each sign-in, on each device, asks once. Switching between your organizations, or following the link to the owner app, doesn't ask again. **In My Account → Security:** - **Set up a new authenticator** moves it to a new phone. It replaces your old setup and gives you new backup codes. - **Turn off** needs a current code. It isn't offered to organization Admins, because it's required for them. **Lost your phone and your backup codes?** Contact support@readyhelm.com. Once we've confirmed it's you, we turn two-factor off so you can sign in and set it up again. Your account is the same one you use in the owner app, so the owner app's **My Account** covers everything else: your own boats' reminders, credentials and your owner plan. See [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html) in the owner guide. ## Giving feedback **💬 Give Feedback** at the bottom of the sidebar reports a bug, requests a feature, or asks for help. It notes which screen you were on, so you don't need to explain where you were. ## Signing out The sign-out button sits next to your name at the bottom of the sidebar. --- # First Mate _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 11 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/first-mate.html_ **🐾 First Mate** is ReadyHelm's AI assistant for your business. It looks things up across the boats your organization services and can draft work for you to review. It's on Pro Standard and Pro Plus. On Pro Free the sidebar item is greyed out with an upgrade note. ## Asking a question **+ New conversation** starts a chat about **All boats** or one boat you pick. You can also click one of the suggested questions to start. Good questions to ask: - "What maintenance is overdue across the fleet?" - "What's open on Sea Spray?" (details, recent service, open work orders and quotes, what's due) - "Which quotes are still waiting on an owner?" - "What's assigned to me this week?" - "Which invoices are unpaid?" (if your organization uses QuickBooks, see [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html#pro-admin-and-settings-integrations)) First Mate answers only from your organization's records, for the boats you have Service Provider access to. If it can't find something, it says so rather than guessing. ## Drafting and updating work Ask First Mate to write something up and it creates: - **an open work order**, with labor, parts and fees if you give it prices; - **a draft quote**, which isn't sent. An Admin or Manager reviews it on the boat's **Quotes** tab and sends it (see [Quotes](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/work-orders-and-service-log.html#pro-work-orders-and-service-log-quotes)); - **a maintenance task** on a boat's schedule, repeating every so many days or engine hours. Each one shows as a card under the reply, for example **Draft quote created: Bottom paint**. Click it to open that boat on the right tab. If a price, quantity or boat is missing, First Mate asks instead of making one up. It can also update work you already have: - change a work order's description, due date, status, priority, assignee or lines; - edit a draft quote (it stays a draft); - for service staff: **complete a work order**, which logs a verified service entry on the boat's record, or **log verified service** on one of your fleet's boats without a work order. Completed work and verified service show in the owner's service history, so First Mate checks the details with you before doing either. First Mate never sends anything to an owner, never sends invoices to QuickBooks, and never deletes anything. ## Conversations and credits Your conversations are private to you. Others in your organization can't see them, and they don't show in the owner app. **✎** renames a conversation and **🗑** deletes it. Replies use your organization's monthly First Mate credits, shared by the whole team: 1,000 a month on Pro Standard and 3,000 on Pro Plus. The bar above your conversations shows how many are used and when they renew, on the 1st of each month. Admins can click **Who used it** to see each person's share. When the month's credits run out, First Mate stops answering until they renew, or until an Admin upgrades the plan (see [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html)). --- # Harbor _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 12 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/harbor.html_ **🗺️ Harbor** is for harbor master offices and marinas. It shows every mooring and slip on ReadyHelm in the harbors your organization runs, collects the issues owners report there, and lets you put visiting boats on berths that are free. It's on Pro Standard and Pro Plus, for organizations whose type includes **Harbor master** or **Marina** (set under [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html)). ## Claiming a harbor An Admin clicks **+ Claim a harbor**, searches the marine directory for the harbor, and adds a note on who you are to it, such as "Town of Scituate harbormaster's office". ReadyHelm checks each claim before approving it. Until then it shows as **waiting for ReadyHelm to review**, and an Admin can **Withdraw** it. You get a bell notification and an email when it's approved or not. Each approved harbor gets a button at the top of the page with its berth count. **Give up this harbor** ends the claim and the roster disappears. More than one organization can hold the same harbor, for example the town harbor master and a marina inside it. One of them is the harbor's **primary** organization: the first one approved, unless ReadyHelm moves it. Only the primary places berths on the map, keeps the harbor's boat names and imports. Every holder sees the same roster, map, issues and transient board. If the primary gives the harbor up, the next oldest holder becomes primary. ## Roster **Roster** lists every live mooring and slip in the harbor: its assignment, the owner, the boat on it now and since when, the permit number and expiry, and open issues. Permits that have expired or expire within 60 days are flagged, and **Permits due** filters to just those. Filter by **Moorings** or **Slips**, search by assignment, owner, boat or permit, and **⬇ CSV** downloads the list. The roster is all you see about a berth unless its owner has also given your organization access to it. Those rows show **Open →** and open the full mooring or slip, the same as under [Berths](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/moorings.html). Others say **Not shared**. Owners see on their berth that it's on your roster and what that includes. ## Map **Map** shows the roster on a map of the harbor, built for a phone on the water. On a phone, open the Pro Portal menu with **☰**. - Each mooring and slip is a dot labelled with its assignment and the boat on it. The colors show a boat on it, empty, a transient guest, or an open issue. - **Search** by boat name, mooring number or owner. Pick a result and the map flies to it, with the dot pulsing. This is the quickest way for a new launch operator to find "Sea Spray". - **Chart** (the default) is NOAA's nautical chart: soundings in feet, channel buoys and beacons with their numbers, lights, channels and anchorage areas. It isn't for navigation. **Map** is a street map and **Satellite** is aerial imagery, which helps you match dots to the balls you can see. Your choice is remembered on that device. Outside US waters, where NOAA has no chart, the street map shows instead. - **📍 Track me** shows where you are, from the device's GPS, and keeps the screen awake while it's on. With a mooring selected, the card shows how far it is and in which direction, for example "🧭 180 m NE (48°) from you". Your position stays on the device: it isn't saved or shared. The card for the selected berth shows the boat, the owner, the permit and open issues, with **+ Issue** and, if the owner shared it, **Open →**. **Putting berths on the map.** A berth shows where its owner's GPS puts it until your organization places it. Your placement is kept separately, so the owner's own record isn't changed, and it's the position shown wherever the berth is mapped, including the owner's own map. Anyone in the harbor's primary organization can place a berth: - **📍 Set to my position**, while you're tied up to the ball or standing on the slip. This is the fastest way to map a mooring field from the launch. - **Tap the map**, then tap where it goes. - **Remove harbor position** goes back to the owner's GPS. A position more than 25 km from the harbor is refused, since it's almost always a swapped latitude/longitude or a missing minus sign. For a berth with no ReadyHelm boat on it, **Boat on it (harbor record)** lets you note the boat that's there, and it shows on the map and the roster. ## Import Admins of the harbor's primary organization can place many berths at once from a spreadsheet under **Import**. Choose a CSV file or paste it in. The file needs: - an **Assignment** (or **Mooring**) column; - **Latitude** and **Longitude**, in decimal degrees (42.2058, -70.7201) or degrees and minutes (42 12.348 N, 70 43.206 W); - optionally **Boat** and **Owner** columns. The roster's **⬇ CSV** has these same columns, so you can export it, fill in positions and import it back. **Preview** shows what each row would do: **Update** (a new position or boat name), **Create**, **No change**, or **Error** with the reason. Nothing changes until you click **Apply**. Rows with errors are left out. Rows that don't match a berth on ReadyHelm are errors unless you tick **Create missing moorings**. Then each one with an **Owner** becomes a berth your organization holds for that person, the same as **+ Add mooring for a customer** or **+ Add slip for a customer** under [Berths](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/moorings.html). Rows are moorings unless a **Kind** column says **Slip**; a slip is created as operated by this harbor or marina. No one is emailed. ## Issues Owners report problems with a mooring or slip (a chafed pennant, a sunk ball, a broken cleat) from the berth in their app. When the berth is in a harbor you hold, **Send** puts the issue in your **Issues** queue instead of emailing anyone, and your Admins get a bell notification and an email. **Open** shows issues still to deal with, **All** includes resolved and closed ones. Narrow the list to **Moorings** or **Slips**, or to one category. Each one shows the berth, the category, who reported it, photos, and what's been done so far. For each: - **Acknowledge** tells the owner you've seen it, with an optional note such as "we'll check it Tuesday". - **Resolve** records what was done. - **Close** ends it without a fix, with an optional reason. The owner gets a bell notification each time, and sees your notes on the issue. Your staff can log an issue themselves with **+ Issue** on any roster row or map card, with up to six photos (**📷 Add photos** takes them with a phone's camera). It goes straight into your queue, and the owner is told and sees it on their berth (they can't edit it). ## Transient **Transient** shows berths you can put a visiting boat on, for the dates you pick (the next 30 days to start): - moorings and slips whose owners listed dates they're away and offered them to the harbor; - moorings your organization holds itself (added for an owner who hasn't joined yet), which are free any time they're empty. Each berth has a bar across the dates: green is free, navy is a boat already booked. An owner's own guests show only as **Owner's guest**, without their details. **+ Assign a boat** takes arrival and departure dates, the boat's name, its length, the skipper, their phone or email, and the fee. The dates must sit inside a range the owner offered (any dates, on your own moorings), and can't overlap another boat. If the boat is longer or shorter than the berth's approved limits you're warned, but not stopped. When you assign a boat: - the berth's owner gets a bell notification and sees the guest on their berth; - if you enter the HIN of a boat on ReadyHelm (and its owner lets it be found in search), the stay shows up for that boat's owner to confirm. Once they confirm the fee they paid, it's logged in their expenses. The board then says **confirmed by the boat's owner**, or **declined** if they say it isn't theirs. **Cancel** removes one of your assignments and tells the owner. The fee is recorded for your reference only. ReadyHelm doesn't take payments or split fees between you and the owner. ## Common questions ### Can a harbor master keep a mooring roster in ReadyHelm? Yes. Claim the harbor, and the roster lists every mooring and slip on ReadyHelm there, with its owner, boat, permit dates and open issues. You can download it as CSV, import positions from a spreadsheet, and see it on a map built for a phone on the water. Harbor is on Pro Standard and Pro Plus. ### Can ReadyHelm help assign transient moorings to visiting boats? Yes. The **Transient** board shows berths free on the dates you pick, from owners who offered their dates and from moorings your organization holds, and **+ Assign a boat** books a visiting boat on one. --- # Using ReadyHelm from Your AI Assistant _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 13 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/ai-assistants.html_ You can connect ReadyHelm to an AI assistant your team already uses, such as Claude, and work with your organization's fleet from there: "What's overdue across the fleet?", "Write up a work order on Sea Spray to replace the impeller, two hours labor plus the kit", "Mark the Halcyon bottom job complete, 14 hours". The assistant works with your organization's real records, under the same rules as the Pro Portal. This is different from [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/first-mate.html), which is built into the Pro Portal. A connected assistant uses its own AI subscription, not your organization's First Mate credits. ## Who can connect Each team member connects their own assistant, for one organization at a time. To connect: - the organization must be on **Pro Standard** or **Pro Plus**; - an Admin must have accepted the current business agreement; - you need one of the organization's licences (Admins don't); - Admins need two-factor authentication turned on. If any of these isn't met, the connect page says which one. ## Connecting Claude The connector address for organizations is: `https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp/pro` (The address without `/pro` connects your own boats instead; see the owner guide.) 1. In Claude (claude.ai or the Claude Desktop app), open **Settings → Connectors** and choose **Add custom connector**. 2. Name it, for example **ReadyHelm Pro**, and paste the address above. 3. Click **Connect**. A ReadyHelm sign-in page opens. It's the same ReadyHelm account you use for the Pro Portal. 4. Sign in, enter your two-factor code if asked, and choose the **Organization** to connect. 5. Click **Connect**. You're sent back to Claude. To connect a second organization, add the connector again and pick the other one. **Claude Code:** run `claude mcp add --transport http readyhelm-pro https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp/pro`, then type `/mcp` in Claude Code and choose it to sign in. ## What the assistant can see and do **Look up:** your fleet, a boat's summary and service history, work orders, quotes, and maintenance due across the fleet. **Create:** - open work orders, with priced labor, parts and fees; - draft quotes; - maintenance tasks on a boat's schedule. **Change:** - **work orders:** description, due date, status, priority, who it's assigned to (by their email), and its lines; - **draft quotes:** title, message, valid-until date and lines; - **completing a work order:** this logs a verified service entry on the boat's record, as **Complete** does in the Pro Portal; - **logging verified service:** completed work on one of your fleet's boats, without a work order. **Never:** - it can't send a quote. An Admin or Manager reviews and sends quotes in the Pro Portal (see [Quotes](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/work-orders-and-service-log.html#pro-work-orders-and-service-log-quotes)); - it can't email or message owners, and it can't delete anything; - it only works on boats your organization has Service Provider access to; - it doesn't see QuickBooks data, such as invoices and balances, even when your organization is connected to QuickBooks. Completed work orders and verified service show in the owner's service history, the same as when you do them in the Pro Portal. Members of a brokerage-only organization can't create or change work orders or log service, the same as in the Pro Portal. ## Seeing and disconnecting assistants **My Account → Security → Connected AI assistants** lists the assistants you've connected and which organization each one is for. **Disconnect** cuts one off immediately. An assistant is also disconnected automatically if you: - leave the organization or are removed from it (only that organization's connection); - change or reset your password; - turn off two-factor authentication; - delete your account. If the organization's plan drops to Pro Free, connected assistants stop working until it's upgraded again. While the organization's billing is on hold, assistants can still look things up but can't make changes. ## Good to know - **Records are data, not instructions.** Owner notes and messages are passed to the assistant clearly labelled as record text. ReadyHelm also tells the assistant never to follow instructions written inside a record. - **Limits.** An assistant can make up to 120 lookups and 30 changes a minute per person. - **Every change is recorded.** ReadyHelm keeps a log of each request a connected assistant makes and of every change, noting that it came through an AI assistant. --- # Customers, Requests & Pipeline _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 14 · Last updated 2026-10-27 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/customers-and-requests.html_ > The Service Hub features in this chapter and the next three are rolling out gradually. If a module isn't in your sidebar yet, it's on the way. **👥 Customers** keeps the people you work for, whether or not they're on ReadyHelm. **📥 Requests** collects service requests from your website and the phone. **🗂️ Pipeline** shows every job from first request to done. ## Customers Customers is your organization's own list of contacts. It's private to your organization, and contacts don't need a ReadyHelm account. Customers is on every plan. **+ New contact** takes a name (required), email, phone, company, status and notes. The status is **Lead**, **Customer** or **Inactive**. Search finds contacts by name, email, phone or company, and **Archive** hides a contact you no longer work with (**Restore** brings them back). ### A contact's page Open a contact to see their details, their boats, and their **Quotes** and **Work orders**. With customer email or texting on your plan, their conversations are here too (see [Customer Email & Texts](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/customer-messages.html)). - **Link a boat from your fleet…** ties one of your boats to the contact, and **+ New boat** adds a boat and links it in one go. A boat can be added without its HIN; it shows **HIN pending** until you add the real one. - **Invite to ReadyHelm** offers a boat with no owner on ReadyHelm to the contact. They sign up (or sign in) with the contact's email and own the boat on ReadyHelm, and your organization keeps looking after it. The contact needs an email first. - **Ask to share** is for a contact who's already on ReadyHelm with their own boat: enter their boat's HIN, and they approve sharing it with you in the owner app. A quote can go to a contact who isn't on ReadyHelm: choose them under **Send to** on the quote (see [Quotes](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/work-orders-and-service-log.html#pro-work-orders-and-service-log-quotes)). ## Requests **📥 Requests** lists service requests: what came in through your website's request form, and what your team took down from a call. Each request already has its contact (added to Customers if they're new) and a boat. A boat without a usable HIN gets a **HIN pending** placeholder, with the HIN they typed shown next to it so you can correct it. - **Start a quote** opens the boat's Quotes tab with a quote ready for that customer. Once a quote exists, the request shows **Open quote**. - **Close** a request you won't take on; **Reopen** brings it back. - **+ New request** takes down a request from a call: who's asking (an email or a phone), how they prefer to be reached, the boat's make, model, year and HIN if they have it, where it's kept, and what they need done. A new request from your website notifies your Admins and Managers. ### Your website's request form The form lives under **Admin & Settings → Integrations → Website request form**, and only an Admin can change it. It's on Pro Standard and up. 1. **Create the form**. Set its **Heading**, an optional **Intro** and **Thank-you message**, whether to **Ask where the boat is**, and whether to **Allow photos**. 2. Under **Websites that can show the form**, list your site's address, one per line (subdomains count too). With none listed, the form only works as its own page from its link. 3. **Copy embed code** and paste it into your website. Customers can tick a box to agree to texts about their service, and, once marketing consent is available, another to hear your news. **Make a new link** replaces the form's address, for example if it's being misused; the old embed code stops working until you paste the new one. ## Pipeline **🗂️ Pipeline** is a board of every open job, in the columns of your work order stages: new requests, quotes waiting on the owner, and work orders through to done. Filter it by technician or by where the boat is (slip, mooring or yard), search for a customer, boat or job, and tick **Show done and cancelled (30 days)** to see finished work. Overdue cards are marked. Drag a work order to another stage to move it. Some moves do more: - a draft quote dropped on **Awaiting Approval** is sent to the owner, and an approved quote dropped on a work column becomes a work order. Both ask first, and only Admins and Managers can do them. - a request can only be closed, by dropping it on **Cancelled** (tick Show done and cancelled first). Start a quote from it on Requests to move it along. - a work order can't be dropped on **Done**: complete it from the boat's **Work Orders** tab, which records the work in the service history. Only an owner or contact approves a quote; the board never does. At phone width the columns stack and each card has a **Move to…** menu instead of dragging. ## Marketing lists in Mailchimp and HubSpot On Pro Plus, you can send segments of your customers to Mailchimp or HubSpot, but only those who agreed to marketing. > Marketing consent isn't available until ReadyHelm publishes the wording customers agree to. Until then, nothing can be recorded or sent. ### Connecting Under **Admin & Settings → Integrations → Mailchimp & HubSpot**, an Admin chooses **Connect** and signs in to the tool. For Mailchimp, choose the audience to send to. **Disconnect** leaves the lists already there. ### Consent A contact's page has a **Marketing** card showing whether they agreed and how. Consent comes from: - **their opt-in link:** **Email them a link to opt in**, and they say yes or no themselves; - **your website form:** the box they ticked; - **recorded by your team:** **They agreed…**, with how they agreed (for example "At the boat show"). Record it only if they told you yes. **Withdraw** records that they changed their mind. An unsubscribe in Mailchimp or HubSpot withdraws it too, and ReadyHelm checks for unsubscribes before every send and once a day. ### Segments On **Customers**, the **Segments** view lists your segments. **+ New segment** takes a name (it becomes the list or tag name in your tool) and filters: - **customer:** their status; - **their boat:** make, model, year, length, engine make, where it's kept, **Not serviced since** (boats never serviced count), **Serviced after**, and **Maintenance due within (days)**. Any one boat of theirs that you service has to match all of these. The preview shows how many match and how many of them agreed to marketing. Admins and Managers build segments and send them with **Send to Mailchimp** or **Send to HubSpot**. With **Keep it in step every day** ticked, ReadyHelm adds new matches and takes off whoever no longer fits each day. Only a contact's name, email and tags are sent, plus their phone if they agreed to texts. Service history, prices and documents never are. The **Export log** lists every send. --- # Customer Email & Texts _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 15 · Last updated 2026-10-27 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/customer-messages.html_ Write to a customer from ReadyHelm by email or text, and their replies come back to the same place. It works for contacts who aren't on ReadyHelm. A customer who is on ReadyHelm also sees your messages in their app. [Messages](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/messages.html) is for conversations with owners inside ReadyHelm. ## Email Customer email is on every plan. On a contact's page, the **Email** tab lists your threads with them. **+ New email** takes a subject, the boat it's about (or **Not about a particular boat**) and your message. You can start from a template and attach files. Emails go out in your organization's name, and replies come back into the thread. Each delivery shows its status (sent, delivered, bounced and so on). - **Your signature** is added to what you send; **Save signature** keeps it. - Tick **private to me** to keep an email out of your teammates' view: the customer still gets it, and it shows **Only you** on the thread. - A forwarded email can be taken back out of the thread with **Remove**. - If the customer is on ReadyHelm, the email also shows in their app, and they get it by email or text as they chose. ### Email you send from your own mailbox Writing to a customer from your usual email? BCC your organization's ReadyHelm address (shown under **BCC or forward to …** with a copy button), or forward a customer's email there, and it's filed on the customer's thread. A message that doesn't match exactly one customer waits under **Messages that didn't match one customer** on Customers. **File it** to a contact, create a **New contact** for it, or **Discard** it. ### Limits Customer email is for one-to-one messages about your work. Each organization can send 300 emails a day (purchase orders count too). Sending pauses if recipients mark three of your emails as spam within 30 days, or if 5% or more of your emails bounce over a week (once you've sent at least 50). Your Admins are told why, and ReadyHelm support can turn sending back on. Replies keep arriving while it's paused. ## Texts Texting customers is on Pro Standard and up. > Texting isn't open yet. ReadyHelm will let you know when it is. ### Getting a number Under **Admin & Settings → Integrations → Text messaging**, an Admin: 1. reads and accepts the texting terms; 2. chooses **Get a number** for a local number your organization texts from. Enter **Your regular phone line**: someone who calls the texting number hears that it only takes texts, and which number to call. **Give back this number** releases it; customers who text it no longer reach you, and it can't be gotten back. ### Texting a customer On a contact's page, the **Texts** tab shows each mobile number with its consent. Text a number only when the customer agreed: **Confirm they agreed to texts** and say how (they gave you the number for service, asked for texts on your web form, or opted in through ReadyHelm). A customer who replies **STOP** isn't texted again. Texts go out between 8 am and 9 pm in the customer's time zone. One written outside those hours waits, and says when it will go. Picture messages work too. ### This month's texts Your plan includes a number of texts a month for each licensed seat; the card shows how many you've used and when the count renews. Admins can **Buy texts** through Stripe. Bought texts don't expire and are used after the monthly allowance. A picture message counts as several texts. ## A boat's Messages tab A boat's **Messages** tab shows everything said about it, in one timeline: emails, texts and owner messages, plus the events around them. **Show messages about** narrows it to one job or quote. Link a customer to the boat to write to them from here. ## Adding a customer's file to the boat's record Next to a file on an email or text thread about a boat, **➜ Add to boat record** reads it with First Mate (using your organization's credits). Choose what it is: a registration, an insurance policy, a receipt for equipment, or a service record. What First Mate finds comes back as proposals: approve, fix or reject each one, or **Approve the confident ones**. Saving adds them to the boat, and the owner is told what was added. **Read it again as something else** retries with another document type; **Discard** adds nothing. ## Your own email address and templates These are on Pro Plus, under **Admin & Settings → Integrations**. - **Your own email domain:** send customer email from your own address, like service@yourboatyard.com. **Set up your domain**, add the records shown where you manage your domain's DNS, then check. Changes can take up to a day to show. Once it says **Sending from it**, customer email and purchase orders go from your address. If the records stop checking out, ReadyHelm sends from its own address again, tells your Admins, and switches back when they're fixed. - **Message templates:** starting points in the email and text composers. Make your own (**+ Email template**, **+ Text template**), or **Make your own version** of a standard one. Text templates are up to 320 characters. --- # Bookings, Dispatch & My Jobs _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 16 · Last updated 2026-10-27 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/scheduling-and-field-work.html_ **📅 Bookings** lets customers pick a time for service. **🗓️ Dispatch** puts jobs on your techs' and bays' calendars. **🧰 My Jobs** is a tech's list of their own jobs on a phone, with or without signal. All three are on Pro Standard and up. ## Bookings ### Setting it up Open **Bookings**, then its setup. Only Admins change it; Managers can add and remove blackouts. - **Online booking:** **Customers can book online**, how soon the earliest booking can be (**Earliest booking (hours from now)**), how far ahead (**Book up to (days ahead)**), and your **Time zone**. **Confirm bookings that fit automatically** is off unless you turn it on. Bookings from your website form always wait for you. - **Hours:** your opening hours for each day of the week, or **Closed**. - **Service types:** what can be booked, like "Engine diagnostic, 2 hours, a tech" or "Bottom paint, 2 days, a bay". Each takes hours or days, and needs a tech, a bay, or a tech and a bay. A job of a day or more is booked as drop-off dates; shorter jobs get a time. Untick **Customers can book it** for a type only your team books (it shows as **staff only**). - **Techs and bays:** each does one job at a time. Add team members as techs, and name your bays (travel lift, wash pad, Bay 2…). Removing one keeps the bookings it already has. - **Blackouts:** days nothing is booked (holidays), or days one tech or bay is out, with an optional reason. Until it's ready, the page says why customers can't book yet. ### How customers book - **Owners on ReadyHelm** book from their boat in the owner app, for a work order or an approved quote of yours. - **Customers who aren't on ReadyHelm** get a link: on a work order or approved quote, **Send booking link** emails them one to pick a time. Only open times are offered: inside your hours, outside blackouts, with a free tech or bay for the whole job. ### Answering a request A customer's request holds its time for 48 hours. It shows on **Bookings** and notifies your Admins and Managers. **Confirm** schedules the work order; **Decline** lets the time go, with an optional reason for the customer. A request nobody answers in 48 hours lapses, and the customer can pick another time. Confirming a booking for an approved quote turns the quote into a work order. If the quote asked for a deposit, the deposit is billed in QuickBooks as it would be when you convert the quote yourself. If QuickBooks can't take it, your Admins and Managers are told to bill it from the work order. **Move** and **Cancel booking** work on any booking, and the customer is told. A customer can move or cancel too: a move is a new request unless you confirm automatically. ### Booking a job yourself On a work order (or an approved quote), **📅 Book a time** (Admins and Managers) picks a service and an open time, and confirms it straight away. ## Dispatch **🗓️ Dispatch** has a row for each tech and each bay, showing a day in half hours or a week in days, with jobs not scheduled yet beside it. Times are in your organization's time zone. - **Drag** a job onto a row and time to schedule it there, or click it to set the tech, bay, day, start and length exactly. - **Unschedule** (Admins and Managers) takes a job off the board and back to the jobs not scheduled; give a reason for the customer if you like, then **Take off the board**. - A job on the board is a confirmed booking, so customers are never offered its time. A placement that doesn't fit stops with **That doesn't fit**: double booking, outside your hours, a blackout, or a deposit that isn't paid yet (marked **⚠ Deposit not paid**). An Admin or Manager can **Place anyway** with a reason, and the job shows it. Staff can only move their own jobs on their own row. At phone width, the board shows one tech's day as a list. ## My Jobs **🧰 My Jobs** lists the open jobs assigned to you, made for a phone on the dock. It keeps working without a connection: everything you do is saved on the phone and syncs in order when you're back online. The header shows **● No connection**, how many changes are waiting to sync, and when it last synced; **Sync now** tries straight away. Open My Jobs once with a connection to save your jobs on the phone. A tech who was last on My Jobs reopens to it. On a job, for one line or the **Whole job**: - **▶ Start** and **■ Stop** time it, or **Log time** to type it in; - **Add note** for what you found or did; - **Add photo**, with an optional caption; - **Use a part**: scan its barcode (or type its number) and the quantity. It comes out of stock and goes on the job. A code the phone doesn't know can be linked to a part once you have signal. ### On the work order A work order's **Field log** shows the time, notes and photos logged on it. Admins and Managers can **Use logged time** to set a labor line's hours from the time logged. --- # Parts & Purchase Orders _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 17 · Last updated 2026-10-27 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/parts-and-purchasing.html_ **📦 Parts** keeps your parts catalog and what you have in stock where. With purchase orders, it also orders from your suppliers and receives what arrives. Parts and purchase orders are on Pro Standard and up. ## The catalog The **Catalog** tab lists your parts: part number, description, maker, what each sells for, and how many are on hand, reserved and available. Search by part number, description, maker or barcode; **Show retired** includes parts you no longer use. **+ Add part** takes a description, part number, OEM or aftermarket, supplier, unit cost, markup % or sell price, barcode / UPC, what it fits (makes and models), whether it's taxable, and whether it's active. Costs follow your organization's cost setting (see [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html#pro-admin-and-settings-team)). - **Import CSV** adds or updates parts from a spreadsheet, with the columns part_number, description, manufacturer, sourcing (oem or aftermarket), supplier, unit_cost, sell_price, markup_percent, taxable (yes/no), barcode, compatible_with and active. **Check** shows what it will do before you import. - **Export CSV** downloads the catalog. - **Print labels** makes a sheet of barcode labels (Avery 5160) for parts without a barcode of their own; **Print label** on a part prints just its own. Choose how many copies of each, and how many labels on the first sheet are already used. ## Stock **Locations** are where you keep stock: the yard, a van, a dock box. One is the default, and parts on jobs are reserved and used from there. Admins and Managers manage locations. The **Stock** tab shows each part at each location: on hand, reserved for open jobs, available, and incoming on sent purchase orders. On a part's page, Staff and up can: - **Receive** stock into a location, with an optional cost and note (supplier invoice, PO…); - **Count** it, setting what's on hand to what you counted; - **Transfer** it between locations (add a second location first); - set a **Reorder point**: when on hand plus incoming drops below it, the part shows on **Low stock**, with a suggested order. Every change is in the part's **History**, with who made it and the work order or purchase order it was for. ### Parts on work orders A work order line can come **+ From catalog**. Its part is **reserved** while the job is open, and taken from stock when the job is completed (only what wasn't already used on the job). Stock can go below zero, so a job is never held up by the count. ## Scanning Anywhere there's a **Scan or type a barcode / part number** box, you can use: - a **barcode scanner** that types into the box (most USB and Bluetooth scanners do); - your **camera**: tap **📷 Camera** and hold the barcode inside the box; - or type the code. A code that isn't in your catalog can be **linked to a part** (it becomes that part's barcode) or start a **New part**. - **Count** tab: choose the location, then scan each part; each scan adds one. Parts you don't count are left as they are. - **Receiving an order:** scan what arrived, and each scan adds one to its line. - **My Jobs:** **Use a part** takes a scanned part from stock and puts it on the job, even without signal (see [My Jobs](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/scheduling-and-field-work.html#pro-scheduling-and-field-work-my-jobs)). ## Suppliers The **Suppliers** tab keeps who you buy from: name, contact, the email orders go to, phone, your account number and payment terms. Admins and Managers manage suppliers. ## Purchase orders The **Orders** tab lists your purchase orders (PO-1001, PO-1002…), with their supplier, status, when they're needed by and total. **Show received and cancelled** includes closed ones. ### Starting one - **+ New order:** choose the supplier and where it ships to, an optional **Needed by** date, and the lines: parts from the catalog (with the supplier's part number) or **+ Free-text line** for anything else, like freight. - **Start an order** on **Low stock** fills in what's running low, with the supplier picked by name. - **Order missing parts** on a work order fills in the job's catalog parts that aren't in stock or already on order, and links the order to the job. Anyone from Staff up can start an order. Staff can't send it: **Ask to approve** tells your Admins and Managers, with an optional note. ### Sending **Send to supplier** (or **Approve and send**, Admins and Managers) emails the order as a PDF to the supplier, from your organization's name, with replies coming to you. **Send again** re-sends it, and **PDF** downloads it. Purchase orders go out under the same limits as customer email (see [Customer Email & Texts](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/customer-messages.html#pro-customer-messages-limits)). ### Receiving **Receive** takes in what arrived: enter how many of each line came (or **Fill in everything outstanding**), which location it goes into, and an optional note such as the packing slip number. Receiving more than was ordered asks you to confirm it (**Receive anyway**). Free-text lines are counted as received but don't touch stock. When an order is fully received, its jobs that were waiting in **Awaiting Parts**, with no other order still coming for them, go back to **Scheduled**, and each job's assigned tech is told the parts are in. **Cancel order** (Admins and Managers) stops what hasn't arrived from counting as incoming; what was received stays in stock. Staff can discard a draft they started. A work order lists its **Parts orders** and their status. ### Bills in QuickBooks If your organization uses QuickBooks Online, each receipt becomes a **bill** in QuickBooks for what arrived, at the order's costs, ready for your bookkeeper to pay: - the supplier becomes a vendor in QuickBooks (the vendor with the same name if you have one, or a new one); - the first receipt's bill is numbered like the order (PO-1001), the next PO-1001-2, and so on; - the lines go to one expense account, picked the first time: your first Cost of Goods Sold account, or else an expense account for supplies, parts or materials. The order's **QuickBooks** section (Admins and Managers) lists its bills with **Open in QuickBooks**. A bill QuickBooks didn't take says why and has **Send again**. --- # Racing _ReadyHelm Pro Portal guide, chapter 18 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/racing.html_ **🏁 Racing** is for clubs that run races. It sets up a season's schedule, divisions and registration options, and shows every boat registered. Sailors register in the ReadyHelm app for free. It's on Pro Plus, for organizations whose type includes **Race organizer** (set under [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html)). Pro Plus has unlimited seats, so you can add every committee volunteer to your team. > Racing is rolling out gradually. If you don't see it yet, it's on the way. Everyone in the organization can see the seasons. Admins and Managers change them. ## Setting up a season **+ New season** takes a name, the year, when registration opens and closes (blank means it opens when you publish and stays open), a contact email for sailors, and notes for sailors. **Racing area** picks the NOAA marine location where you race, so sailors see the forecast for the course on race day (without it, they see their boat's home port). Tick **Ask sailors if they're club members** to charge members and non-members differently. A new season is a **Draft**, which only your organization sees. Then fill in its tabs: - **Schedule.** **+ Add series** (a group of races scored together, such as "Wednesday Night Series"), then **+ Add race** with its date and first start time. **Edit** a race to move it to another series or mark it **Postponed**, **Abandoned**, **Sailed** or **Cancelled**. - **Divisions.** **+ Add division**: its name, rating (**PHRF**, **IRC**, **Portsmouth**, **ORC** or **ORR**), class flag, and a note for sailors such as "Ratings under 150". A PHRF division scores **Time on distance** or **Time on time**; IRC multiplies elapsed time by the boat's TCC, and Portsmouth by 1000 / PN. Ratings are read from each boat's certificate on ReadyHelm. - **ORC and ORR divisions.** Their certificates carry several numbers, so the division says which one to use: the **Course model** as it's named on the certificates (e.g. Windward/Leeward), and **Time on time** (elapsed × the factor) or **Time on distance** (elapsed − seconds a mile × the distance). Tick **Triple number** to score each race with the low, medium or high wind number, and set the **Wind band** for each race under **Starts & courses**. A boat whose certificate lacks the number is listed under results ("No ORC time on time, Windward/Leeward, medium wind number") until you give it a rating for the race. - **Registration.** **+ Add registration option**: what it covers (**Whole season**, **Chosen series** or **One race**, which the sailor picks), the fee (member and non-member, if you ask), and an optional early-bird discount and late fee with their dates. **Publish** makes the season visible to sailors. It needs at least one division and one registration option. A published season shows its registration link with **Copy link**: send it to your fleet. **Archive** closes the season to new entries. A season nobody has registered for can go **Back to draft** or be deleted. Once boats have registered, a division, option or race with entries can't be deleted. Close the division or option to new entries, or mark the race cancelled, instead. What an option covers is fixed once anyone has used it, but its name and fees can change. Boats already registered keep the fee they registered at. ## Course library **Course library** (on the seasons list) holds your club's marks and courses, shared by every season. - **+ Add mark** takes a name, a position and a description. Enter the position as degrees and minutes (for example **42°12.000′N** and **070°42.000′W**, or **42 12.0 N**) or as decimal degrees. Leave it blank for a mark set on the day. - **+ Add course** lists marks in order: the first is the start and the last is the finish. Choose whether each mark is left **to port** or **to starboard**. ReadyHelm works out each leg's distance and true bearing, and the course's total distance, from the marks' positions. A course with a mark that has no position shows "distance not known". **Show on chart** under a course draws it on a map with OpenSeaMap's buoys and lights: the marks numbered in order (start in green, finish in navy; a start and finish at the same spot share one marker) and each leg's distance and bearing. Marks without a position are left off, with a note. It's for planning, not navigation. A mark a course uses can't be deleted; take it off the course first, or untick **In use**. Changing or deleting a course never changes a race already set up with it. ## Starts and courses On the **Schedule** tab, **Starts & courses** under a race sets each division's start for that race: - Before you've saved anything, every open division is suggested in order, five minutes apart from the race's first start, flying its class flag. **Space starts 5 minutes apart** re-times them from the first start after you reorder them. - Untick a division that isn't starting in this race. - **Course from the library** copies a course onto the race. **Leave out** drops a mark to shorten it for the day, and **Restore all of …** puts the full course back. **Use this course for every division** copies it to the others. - **Course name, as sailors see it**, **Notes for sailors**, and **Distance (nm)**: leave the distance blank to use the legs' total, or enter it when some marks have no position (time-on-distance scoring needs it). - **Pursuit start** (PHRF divisions): instead of one gun, each boat starts on its own time, so the first boat home wins. The slowest-rated boat starts at the division's start time and each other boat starts later by (slowest rating − its rating) × the distance, in seconds. It needs the course distance. See each boat's start, and change one, under **Results**. **Save starts**. The Schedule lists each division's start time, flag, course and distance, and sailors see them on the season page and on their entry. ## Race day **Race day** under a race (once its starts are set up) is the committee boat's screen, laid out for a phone. Admins, Managers and anyone with the **Race officer** job title run it; everyone else in the organization can watch. Everything you do is saved on the device and sent when there's a signal. With no connection, a banner says how many actions are waiting, and racing carries on. Open the race once with a signal before you leave the dock, so the device has it. **Sound on** beeps at each signal (the device also vibrates where it can). **More than one device.** The committee boat, a finish boat and a pin-end boat can all run the same race. **Rename** names this device (e.g. "Finish boat"); the screen lists the other devices timing the race and who's signed in on each, and every device picks up the others' starts and finishes within a few seconds. Every device keeps the server's time, measured whenever it has a signal (it says so if its own clock is off), so their times agree. Two devices timing the same boat within 5 seconds of each other count as one finish. Further apart, the first time to arrive is kept and the other is shown beside it as **Two finish times: keep one**; tap the time to keep. Results can't go final until it's settled. - **Check-in** lists every boat registered for the race. Sailors' own check-ins arrive as they make them, with who's aboard and souls on board. **Check in** or **Not racing** marks a boat yourself; **Undo** clears it. - **Start:** - **Warning now** begins the sequence: divisions start in order, five minutes apart, each warning on the previous start (5-4-1-0). Or set **First start at** a time. - Each division shows the signal that's up and a countdown to the next, then the time since its start. - A pursuit division lists every boat's own start time, with a countdown to the next boat's start. - **Individual recall (OCS)**: tap the boats over the line; tap again when one has come back and restarted. - **General recall** sends the division to the back of the sequence: its new warning is a minute after the recall, or at the last division's start, whichever is later. - **Postpone (AP)** stops the sequence for divisions that haven't started and tells every boat by email and notification, with your note. Skippers are reminded to move their float plan's return time. **AP down** restarts the sequence a minute later and tells the fleet the next start time. - **Abandon (N)** ends the race and tells the fleet. **Racing is over** marks the race sailed. - **Finish:** tap a boat as it finishes to record the time, or enter a time for a boat. **Correct** changes a finish (or clears it) with a reason. The first time recorded is kept, with who corrected it and when. Elapsed times are shown from each division's start (in a pursuit, from the boat's own start). ## Results **Results** under a race (on the Schedule) scores it from race day's finishes, division by division. Admins, Managers, and anyone with the **Scorer** or **Race officer** job title score and publish; everyone else in the organization can look. - **Corrected times.** Each boat's elapsed time runs from its division's start to its finish. A **Time on distance** division takes the boat's PHRF rating in seconds per mile times the course distance off its elapsed time. Set the distance under **Starts & courses**. A **Time on time** division multiplies the elapsed time by A / (B + rating): 650 / 550 unless you change it on the division (600 / 480 is used for heavy air). Boats place by corrected time, and boats with the same corrected time share the place. - **Codes ReadyHelm fills in** (marked "auto"): **OCS** for a boat marked over early that didn't come back, **DNF** for a boat that checked in but has no finish, and **DNC** for one that didn't check in or told you it wasn't racing. - **Click a boat** to change its result: - Give a scoring code: DNC, DNS, OCS, ZFP, UFD, BFD, SCP, NSC, DNF, RET, DSQ, DNE, RDG, DPI, or **RC** for a boat on race committee duty. A disqualified boat loses its place and the boats behind move up. Penalties (ZFP, SCP with its percentage, DPI with its points) keep the place. - **RDG** (redress) takes fixed points or the average of the boat's other races in the series. - **Rating for this race** scores a boat whose rating is missing or wrong. - **Change the finish time** corrects the finish. The first time recorded is kept. - **Pursuit starts.** A pursuit division places boats in the order they finished; each boat's elapsed time runs from its own start. The **Pursuit starts** table lists each boat's rating, its calculated start and the start that counts, as minutes:seconds after the first boat. **Override** sets a boat's start to the committee's own time (the calculated one stays beside it); **Use calculated** puts it back. A boat with no rating starts with the first boat until it has one. Sailors see their own start time on their entry. - **What if…** under a division scores the race another way (PHRF, ORC or ORR by the other method, or IRC or Portsmouth when boats have those ratings) beside the real places. Nothing is saved or shown to sailors. - **⬇ Results CSV** downloads every division's results; **⬇ Sailwave finishes** gives the start and finish times in a shape Sailwave can import. - **Publish provisional** shows the results to sailors without telling them. **Publish final** tells the division's boats by email and notification, and puts each boat's result on a race trip in its Captain's Log (the float plan trip, if the boat filed one). Final needs every finisher scored: a boat with no rating or no course distance is listed until you fix it. **Unpublish** hides the results again. ## Standings The **Results** tab shows each series' standings in each division, from the races whose results are published (provisional races are marked *). **Scoring** sets how a division scores the series: - **Low point (RRS Appendix A)**: a place scores its number, and the lowest total wins. DNC, DNF, DSQ and the like score one more than the boats entered in the series (or, if you choose, in the race). - **High point (CHIPS 3)**: each place scores up to 100 points, more for beating more boats; a retirement scores as last place plus one, and DNC, DNS and disqualifications (including OCS) score zero. The highest total wins. - **Discards**, either by races sailed (for example "4, 8": one discard from four races, two from eight) or by counting only the best races. A DNE can't be discarded. - **Races to qualify**: boats that sailed fewer rank after those that did. - **RC credit**: a boat marked RC for a race scores the average of its other races, if it has sailed enough of them. Ties are broken by RRS A8: the best scores first (discards left out), then the last race, then the one before. **Preview** in the Scoring form shows the standings under the settings you've chosen before you save them. **⬇ CSV** on a series downloads its standings. ## Overview A season opens on **Overview**: - **Boats registered**, by division. - **Paperwork**: boats missing waiver signatures or an amendment acknowledgment. - **Fees outstanding** against what's been collected. - **Ratings** missing or expired. - The **next race**: its starts and courses, how many boats have checked in on race day, and **Race day**. - The **latest results**, and the **latest registrations**. Each card links to the tab with the detail. ## Protests The **Protests** tab is the protest committee's queue. Skippers file protests and redress requests from their entry in the app; **+ Committee protest** files one for the race committee. - **Protest time.** Each race's protest time is set under **Edit** on the Schedule, in minutes after the race's last finish (60 when blank). Filings after it are accepted but marked **Late**, for the committee to decide whether to hear them. - **Schedule hearing** sets the time and place, and tells every boat involved by email and notification. - **Decide** records the facts found and the decision, and can change the boats' scores: **DSQ**, **DNE**, a scoring penalty (**SCP**) or penalty points (**DPI**), **redress** (fixed points or the average of the boat's other races), or **exonerate** to clear an earlier code. The race's results change at once, with the decision as the note; republish them to tell the fleet. The boats involved are told the decision. Admins, Managers, and anyone with the **Scorer** or **Race officer** job title handle protests. **Show** filters open, decided and withdrawn ones. ## Duty The **Duty** tab is the race committee roster. **+ Add duty** under a race takes the job (pick a suggestion such as **Principal race officer** or **Mark boat**, or type your own) and who: - **A member of the club**, from your team. - **A registered boat**: the boat on duty scores **RC** for that race (unless it also has a finish), so it gets RC credit if the series' Scoring gives it. - **Someone else**, by name, with an email to reach them. Each person is emailed (and, with a ReadyHelm account, notified), and sailors confirm in the app; the roster shows **Confirmed** or **Not confirmed**. **Send reminders** emails everyone on duty for that race again. Admins and Managers assign duties. ## Waivers The **Waivers** tab holds your club's waivers, in your own words. ReadyHelm doesn't provide waiver language; have your club's counsel review yours. **+ Add waiver** takes: - a title; - whether it's for the whole season or one race; - who signs: **The skipper only**, or **The skipper and every crew member**; - whether a parent or guardian signs for crew under 18; - the wording. Skippers sign the season waivers as they register. A waiver for a single race is signed from the entry. Crew sign in the app, or from an emailed link that needs no account. Each signature keeps the typed name, the time and the signer's device address, and a guardian also gives their relationship. If you change the wording after people have signed, saving makes a new version and everyone signs again. The wording each person signed is kept. A waiver with signatures can't be deleted; untick **In use** instead. ## Documents The **Documents** tab holds the Notice of Race, Sailing Instructions and anything else sailors need, as PDFs, for the season or a single race. - **+ Post document** uploads one and tells the registered boats. - **Post amendment** uploads a new version, with a note on what changed. Every registered skipper, and the crew who asked for race notices, gets an email and a notification. Each skipper is asked to acknowledge it, and the document shows **Acknowledged by N of M boats**. Earlier versions stay listed. - **Hide** takes a document off the sailors' season page. ## Notices The **Notices** tab sends a message to the fleet: every registered boat, or just one division or one race. It goes by email and notification to skippers and to the crew who asked for race notices. Replies go to the season's contact email. Sent messages are listed here and on the sailors' season page. ## Entries The **Entries** tab lists every boat: division, registration, skipper and phone, rating, fee (and whether they said they're a member) and crew count. A **Missing** or **Expired** rating is highlighted; the boat is still registered. Filter by division, rating or status, search by boat, sail number or skipper, and use **⬇ CSV** for a spreadsheet or **⬇ Sailwave** for the competitor list in Sailwave's import shape. The **Paperwork** column shows each boat's waiver signatures (for example **Waivers 3/4**) and any amendment its skipper hasn't acknowledged. **Send waiver reminders** emails a fresh signing link to every crew member who hasn't signed and has an email, and sends each skipper with signatures missing a notification. Click a boat to see its crew (with roles, minors and emails), who has signed what, and, for Admins and Managers: - **Division** moves the boat to another division, any time. - **Committee notes** are only seen by your organization. - **Re-read rating** picks up a certificate the skipper has added or renewed. - **Send waiver reminder** does the same as **Send waiver reminders**, for this boat only. - **Withdraw** takes the boat out; the entry stays on the list, marked withdrawn. Your Admins, and anyone with the **Registrar** job title, get a bell notification when a boat registers or withdraws. ## Safety The **Safety** tab is the fleet compliance view, and where you set up safety inspections for offshore races (or any race whose notice of race asks for one). - **Fleet compliance** lists every registered boat with its rating certificate (**OK**, **Missing** or **Expired**) and, when inspections are on, its inspection (**Not started**, **Open items** or **All passed**, with how many items are done and who inspected). Click a boat to see each item's result, the inspector's notes, and items that failed and have since been fixed. **Remind N boats** emails and notifies each skipper with something open, listing their own items. - **Boats need a safety inspection** turns inspections on for the season. - **Safety checklist**: start from the **Offshore starter** (the usual offshore safety items, grouped like World Sailing's Offshore Special Regulations; check them against the OSR category your notice of race names) or the **Inshore starter**, then **Edit**, **Remove** or **+ Add item** to match your rules. Removing an item that already has results hides it and keeps the record. - **Inspectors**: give a name, an email and whether they inspect **Every boat** or one boat, and **Invite inspector**. They get an email with a link; they sign in to ReadyHelm (or create a free account) and inspect in the owner app on their phone. **Remove** stops their link working. Inspectors mark each item **Pass**, **Fix** (fix before the start, with a note) or **N/A**. The skipper is told what to fix, and again when the boat has passed. Once a fixed item is re-inspected and passes, it keeps a note of when it failed. ## Fees ReadyHelm shows sailors what they owe and records what each boat has paid, but doesn't take payment. Collect it the way your club already does. Put your instructions under **Settings → How to pay the club** (for example "Checks payable to …" or a Venmo handle); sailors see them with every fee. **The Fees tab:** - **+ Add item** offers something besides the entry fee: a fee, a ticket, merchandise or anything else. Each item has a price, and optionally sizes (e.g. "S, M, L, XL"), a most-per-boat limit and a description. Sailors pick items when they register, or later from their entry. Changing a price doesn't change what boats already asked for. An item boats have asked for can't be deleted; untick **Offered to sailors** instead. - **Treasurer's report:** totals requested, collected, outstanding, refunded and waived, broken down by item and size, and the boats that still owe. **⬇ CSV of every line** downloads every fee line for your books. **On a boat's entry** (Entries tab), the **Fees** section lists each line: - **Change** sets what happened: **Paid**, **Partly paid** (with the amount), **Refunded** (with the amount returned), **Waived**, **Cancelled**, or back to **Requested**. Add a note such as a check number. Each change is kept with who made it and when. - **Mark all paid** marks everything still owed as paid in full. - **+ Add charge** adds a line by hand, such as a burgee sold at the dock or a late fee. Withdrawing a boat doesn't change its fees; refund or waive them as your club decides. **QuickBooks.** If your club has connected QuickBooks Online (Admin & Settings → Integrations), each boat's fees can go to your books as an invoice to the skipper: - On a boat's entry, **Send to QuickBooks** invoices everything still owed: one line per fee, on ReadyHelm's Fees item, with merchandise marked taxable. The skipper becomes a QuickBooks customer; if they might already be one (same email or name), you choose **Use this customer** or **Create a new customer** first. - The entry then shows the invoice number and its status (**Unpaid**, **Partly paid** with what's due, **Paid**, **Voided**), **View in QuickBooks** and **Refresh**. Status comes back on its own within a day, or straight away with Refresh. - When QuickBooks says the invoice is paid, its lines are marked **Paid** here, noted "Paid in QuickBooks". A part payment is left for you to record. - Fees added or changed after sending show "fees changed since sent"; **Update in QuickBooks** puts them on the same invoice. If the invoice was edited in QuickBooks, you're asked before it's replaced. - On the Fees tab, **Send to QuickBooks** sends every boat that owes and isn't invoiced yet (and updates changed invoices) in one go. Payments you mark here aren't sent to QuickBooks: record payments in one place or the other. --- # Plans, Prices & Limits _ReadyHelm Plans & reference guide, chapter 01 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/plans-pricing-and-limits.html_ ReadyHelm has two kinds of plan. An **owner plan** covers your own boats in the owner app. A **Pro plan** covers an organization's work in the Pro Portal, such as a boatyard, mooring service, marina, harbor master office or brokerage. One account can have both: your boats stay on your owner plan whatever your organization's plan is. Prices are in US dollars. ## Owner plans | Plan | Monthly | Annual | Boats | Storage | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Free** | $0 | $0 | 1 | 250 MB | | **Skipper** | $4.99 | $49.90 | 3 | 2 GB | | **Captain** | $9.99 | $99.90 | Unlimited | 10 GB | Every new account starts on Free, with no credit card. Annual billing is two months free compared to paying monthly. Subscribing, switching and canceling are covered in [My Account, Plans & Upgrading](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html#my-account-and-plans-plan). ### What each owner plan includes | Feature | Free | Skipper | Captain | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Maintenance reminders by date or engine hours, and the service log | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Quotes from your boatyard | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Built-in checklists and checklist templates | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Custom checklists | No | Yes | Yes | | Equipment and replacement tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Expenses, with CSV and PDF export | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Receipt auto-fill for expenses | No | Yes | Yes | | Captain's Log, trip invites and USCG sea-service tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Float Plans with NOAA forecasts | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Crew and vessel sharing | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Messages with crew and your boatyard | No | Yes | Yes | | Berths: moorings and slips | Yes | Yes | Yes | | First Mate document reading and chat | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Connecting an AI assistant such as Claude | No | Yes | Yes | | Broker listing visibility | No | No | Yes | ### First Mate credits for owners [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/first-mate.html#first-mate-first-mate-credits) uses credits from two balances: one-time **onboarding credits** for setting up boats from documents, and **monthly credits** for chat and filling in specs. Higher plans get more of both. Your balances are under **My Account → Storage**. Log something in Simple mode doesn't use credits. ### If you downgrade Nothing is deleted. If you own more boats than the new plan allows, the extra boats become read-only for you until you upgrade again or choose which ones stay active. See [What happens if you downgrade below your boat count](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html#my-account-and-plans-what-happens-if-you-downgrade-below-your-boat-count). ## Pro Portal plans | Plan | Per seat, monthly | Per seat, annual | Seats | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Pro Free** | $0 | $0 | 1 | | **Pro Standard** | $15 | $150 | Up to 10 | | **Pro Plus** | $25 | $250 | Unlimited | An organization picks one plan for everyone and buys a seat (a **license**) for each person who does Pro work. Admins never need a seat to manage the team, plan or profile. Annual billing is two months free. Every new organization gets a 14-day trial of Pro Standard. When a trial ends without a subscription, the organization moves to Pro Free: features above it become read-only, and nothing is deleted. Billing is covered in [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html#pro-admin-and-settings-plan). ### What each Pro plan includes | Feature | Pro Free | Pro Standard | Pro Plus | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Fleet, work orders and the verified service log | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Quotes to owners | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Disputes and verification requests | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Mooring and slip work: inspections, reports, slips held for tenants | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Brokerage listings and verified history reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Messages with owners | Yes | Yes | Yes | | QuickBooks Online invoices, estimates and payments | No | Yes | Yes | | Harbor operations: roster, harbor map, issue queue, transient berths | No | Yes | Yes | | First Mate for the team | No | 1,000 credits a month | 3,000 credits a month | | Connecting an AI assistant such as Claude | No | Yes | Yes | Some modules also depend on the organization's type. For example, Listings and Reports are for brokerages, and Harbor is for harbor master offices and marinas. See [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html#pro-admin-and-settings-organization-type). ## AI assistant connections | Connection | Address | Who can connect | | --- | --- | --- | | Your own boats | `https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp` | Owners on Skipper or Captain | | An organization's fleet | `https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp/pro` | Licensed members of an organization on Pro Standard or Pro Plus. An Admin must have accepted the business agreement, and Admins need two-factor authentication turned on. | A connected assistant uses its own AI subscription, not First Mate credits. It can make up to 120 lookups and 30 changes a minute. See [ReadyHelm for AI Assistants](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/ai-assistants.html). ## Other limits - **Boats per owner plan:** 1, 3 or unlimited (see above). - **Storage per owner plan:** 250 MB, 2 GB or 10 GB, counting photos, documents and receipts. You're warned at 90%. - **Pro seats:** 1 on Pro Free, up to 10 on Pro Standard, unlimited on Pro Plus. ## Common questions ### Is ReadyHelm free? Yes. The Free owner plan costs $0 with no time limit and no credit card. It includes one boat, 250 MB of storage, maintenance reminders, the service log, checklists, equipment, expenses, moorings and slips, Captain's Log, Float Plans, crew sharing and First Mate. Pro Free is also $0, for a one-person business. ### How much does ReadyHelm cost for a boat owner? Free is $0. Skipper is $4.99 a month or $49.90 a year, for 3 boats and 2 GB. Captain is $9.99 a month or $99.90 a year, for unlimited boats and 10 GB. ### How much does the ReadyHelm Pro Portal cost for a boatyard or marina? Pro Free is $0 for one seat. Pro Standard is $15 per seat per month ($150 a year) for up to 10 seats. Pro Plus is $25 per seat per month ($250 a year) with unlimited seats. Every new organization gets a 14-day trial of Pro Standard. ### Do boat owners pay to see work their boatyard logs? No. Verified service entries and quotes from a boatyard show up in the owner's app on every plan, Free included, and an owner can approve or decline a quote on any plan. ### Does connecting Claude or another AI assistant cost extra? ReadyHelm doesn't charge for it, but it needs Skipper or Captain for your own boats, or Pro Standard or Pro Plus for an organization. The assistant runs on its own AI subscription, not your First Mate credits. ### What happens to my records if I downgrade or stop paying? Nothing is deleted. Owners keep read access to every boat, and extra boats beyond the plan's limit become read-only for the owner only. An organization that drops to Pro Free keeps its records, and features above Pro Free become read-only. --- # ReadyHelm for AI Assistants _ReadyHelm Plans & reference guide, chapter 02 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/ai-assistants.html_ ReadyHelm is a boat maintenance and records app. It keeps each boat's maintenance reminders, service history, checklists, equipment, expenses, trips, Float Plans, moorings, slips and documents, tied to the boat's hull identification number (HIN) so the record stays with the boat when it's sold. Boatyards, mechanics, mooring services, marinas, harbor master offices and brokerages use the ReadyHelm Pro Portal to work on their customers' boats and log verified service. There are two ways an AI assistant can work with ReadyHelm: by connecting to someone's ReadyHelm records over MCP, or by reading this guide. ## Connecting to ReadyHelm records ReadyHelm runs two remote MCP servers with OAuth sign-in. Claude (claude.ai, the Claude Desktop app and Claude Code) supports them as custom connectors, and other assistants that support remote MCP connectors with sign-in should work the same way. | Connector | Address | Requirements | Setup | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | ReadyHelm (owners) | `https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp` | Owner plan Skipper or Captain | [Owner guide](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/ai-assistants.html) | | ReadyHelm Pro (organizations) | `https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp/pro` | Organization on Pro Standard or Pro Plus, a license (Admins don't need one), the business agreement accepted, and two-factor for Admins | [Pro Portal guide](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/ai-assistants.html) | ### What the owner connector can do - **Look up** boats and their records, maintenance due and past service, to-dos, equipment, documents, trips and Float Plans, checklists, moorings and slips, expenses, certifications and emergency info. - **Add** to-dos, service entries, expenses, equipment, insurance policies, ratings and certifications; check off checklist items; update registration and emergency info; invite crew. - **Change** to-dos, the owner's own service entries, expenses, maintenance schedules (including marking a task done), equipment condition and replacement plans, and trip details. - **Never** delete anything, change a service entry a yard or mechanic logged, change a trip's crew, or run First Mate. ### What the Pro connector can do - **Look up** the organization's fleet, a boat's summary and service history, work orders, quotes and maintenance due across the fleet. - **Create** open work orders with priced lines, draft quotes and maintenance tasks. - **Change** work orders, draft quotes, complete a work order (which logs verified service) and log verified service. - **Never** send a quote, message or email an owner, delete anything, see QuickBooks data, or touch boats the organization has no Service Provider access to. ### Shared rules - Both connectors follow the same plan and permission rules as the apps, and every change appears in the app straight away. - Text in records was typed by people and is passed to the assistant labelled as record text, never as instructions. - Each person can make up to 120 lookups and 30 changes a minute. - ReadyHelm logs every request and change made through an assistant. - Disconnect any time under **My Account → Security → Connected AI assistants**. Changing your password or turning off two-factor also disconnects every assistant. ## Reading this guide This user guide is the current, authoritative description of what ReadyHelm does and costs. It's published in forms that are easy to fetch and cite: - **One page per chapter**, as plain HTML that needs no JavaScript, listed at `https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/`. - **Markdown**: the whole guide at `https://app.readyhelm.com/guide.md`, and each chapter next to its page with a `.md` ending. - **llms.txt**: a list of every chapter with a one-line summary, at `https://app.readyhelm.com/llms.txt`. - **Sitemap**: `https://app.readyhelm.com/sitemap.xml`, with each chapter's last-updated date. Prices and limits are in [Plans, Prices & Limits](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/plans-pricing-and-limits.html), and recent changes are in [What's New](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/whats-new.html). ## Common questions ### Does ReadyHelm work with Claude? Yes. Add `https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp` as a custom connector in Claude for your own boats, or `https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp/pro` for an organization's fleet, then sign in to ReadyHelm. Owners need Skipper or Captain; organizations need Pro Standard or Pro Plus. ### Does ReadyHelm have an MCP server? Yes, two: `https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp` for owners and `https://api.readyhelm.com/mcp/pro` for organizations in the Pro Portal. Both use OAuth sign-in with the person's ReadyHelm account. ### Can an AI assistant delete my ReadyHelm records? No. Neither connector can delete anything. A connection can also be read-only, and you can disconnect it at any time. ### Is a connected assistant the same as First Mate? No. First Mate is the AI assistant built into ReadyHelm and uses First Mate credits. A connected assistant, such as Claude, uses its own AI subscription and works with your records through the connector. --- # What's New _ReadyHelm Plans & reference guide, chapter 03 · Last updated 2026-10-28 · https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/whats-new.html_ What's changed in ReadyHelm, newest first. Each entry links to the chapter that describes it. ## October 18, 2026 - **The user guide is easier to read and cite.** Every chapter has its own page with a last-updated date, the whole guide is available as Markdown, and this Plans & reference part adds [prices and limits](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/plans-pricing-and-limits.html) and a page for [AI assistants](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/reference/ai-assistants.html). ## October 15, 2026 - **Pro Portal notifications.** A bell for each organization, and email settings for each kind of notice. See [My Account & Feedback](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/my-account-and-feedback.html#pro-my-account-and-feedback-notifications). - **Pro Portal profile.** Your name, phone and location save from Pro Portal My Account. ## October 14, 2026 - **Connect your AI assistant.** Owners on Skipper and Captain, and organizations on Pro Standard and Pro Plus, can connect Claude or another MCP assistant. See [Using ReadyHelm from Your AI Assistant](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/ai-assistants.html) and the [Pro Portal version](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/ai-assistants.html). ## October 11, 2026 - **Two-factor authentication.** Optional for everyone, and required for organization Admins. See [Security](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/my-account-and-plans.html#my-account-and-plans-two-factor-authentication). - **Shared harbors.** Several organizations can hold one harbor, with one primary organization that places berths and imports. See [Harbor](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/harbor.html#pro-harbor-claiming-a-harbor). - **Held slips.** A marina can enter utilities, dock boxes and lease terms on a slip it holds for a tenant. See [Adding a slip for a customer](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/moorings.html#pro-moorings-adding-a-slip-for-a-customer). ## October 9, 2026 - **Harbor operations.** Harbor master offices and marinas can claim a harbor, see its berth roster and map, work an issue queue, and put visiting boats on free berths. See [Harbor](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/harbor.html). - **Berths for owners.** Report issues to the harbor or marina, see when your berth is on a harbor's roster, and lend your berth while you're away. See [Berths: Moorings & Slips](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/berths.html#berths-issues). - **Berth maps** open on the NOAA nautical chart, with search and GPS tracking. - **First Mate for the Pro Portal**, on Pro Standard and Pro Plus. See [First Mate](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/first-mate.html). - **Quotes and QuickBooks Online.** Send owners quotes to approve, and invoice work orders through QuickBooks. See [Work Orders & Service Log](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/work-orders-and-service-log.html#pro-work-orders-and-service-log-quotes). ## October 6, 2026 - **Guided setup and Simple mode.** A short first run for new owners, a one-screen Home, Log something, a calendar feed and a weekly email. See [Simple Mode & Guided Setup](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/simple-mode-and-guided-setup.html). - **Pro plans and licenses.** Organizations choose Pro Free, Pro Standard or Pro Plus and give each person a seat. See [Admin & Settings](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/admin-and-settings.html#pro-admin-and-settings-plan). ## September 29, 2026 - **Moorings and slips.** Tackle, components, inspections, permits, leases, fees and transfers for owners, and inspections and reports for mooring services. See [Berths: Moorings & Slips](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/berths.html) and the [Pro Portal version](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/pro/moorings.html). ## September 28, 2026 - **Marine locations and NOAA weather.** Link a home port or trip stop to a known location for wind, wave and tide forecasts, including on Float Plans. See [Marine Locations & Weather](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/locations-and-weather.html). - **Deleting equipment.** See [Equipment](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/equipment.html#equipment-deleting-equipment). ## September 23, 2026 - **Expenses.** Log fuel, dockage and other costs, with receipt auto-fill on Skipper and up, a chart, and CSV and PDF export. See [Expenses](https://app.readyhelm.com/guide/owner/expenses.html).