Vessel Records
Last updated · Markdown
🗂️ 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). 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).
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). 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.
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.
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. Search by file name or uploader, filter by equipment, and open or delete documents.
- Add (primary owner only): upload more documents with First Mate, 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.