Berths: Moorings & Slips

Last updated October 28, 2026 · Markdown

🟠 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. Departure and return days count as present. The same numbers feed the Harbor Master report on Vessel Summary (see Home & Vessel Summary).

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), 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.