Searching for C-Shels

Searching for C-Shels has Moved

2015-05-03T20:51:00.001-04:00

This blog has now moved. Please view and subscribe to our updates on http://www.searchingforcshels.com/

How to Find Your Dream Boat. Choosing the right Boat for You.

2015-01-21T11:35:00.001-05:00

I know every boater has their dream boats. That handful of boats that they know one day they may have to be able to fulfill their cruising aspirations. I'm not talking about those fantasy boats, the boats that most of us will never own, those 100'+ mega yachts. For us budget minded people, the ones who would be deeply impacted by a major purchase mistake, I'm going to show you how to truly dial in to that one boat that you will be most happy with. The one boat out of all others that will be most suited to your lifestyle, values, and priorities. In the end I will share a worksheet with you so you can start analyzing your dream boats, ending up with boats rated so that it is easy to see which boat is the best match for you.

Anyone who has shopped for and bought a boat knows every boat is a compromise in some way, shape or form. But how do you weigh which compromises you can live with and which ones will get annoying really quickly, maybe making you regret the purchase altogether? It was this problem that prompted me to dive into my "day job" toolbox and borrow some techniques for prioritizing and weighing software requirements. I call this the Weighted Quad Method for making major purchases. Here is how it works.

Start with 4 categories:

Must Have
Should Have
Could Have
Won't Have

Must Haves are features of the boat that you cannot live without. Things like size, # of bedrooms, and even your budget limit. The full list of must haves constitutes your Minimum Viable Boat or MVB. You really shouldn't even consider a boat at all if it does not meet at least these conditions. The MVB list is great to initially pass onto a broker if you have one that is aiding in your boat search. Here are some examples of possible must haves.

<= $180,000 (if that is the absolute maximum limit on your budget)
>= 40 feet long
<= 50 feet long
2 bedrooms
Walk around Master berth
2 heads
Flybridge
Lower Inside Helm

Should Haves are attributes of the boat that you hold in very high regard. Items that are boarder line must haves and if the boat doesn't have this attribute it better have a lot of other things going for it. Above and beyond your MVB, this list will provide the heaviest weight in turning you to one boat over another. Here are some possible examples of should haves.

<= $150,000 (in contrast to your must have price, this is your preferred budget)
>= 1 Nautical Mile Per Gallon at cruise speed
Twin Engines
Large Galley for cooking
Late model chartplotter/radar
>= 150 gallon fresh water capacity
>= 50 gallons of waste capacity

Could Haves are items that would be a real bonus if the boat had them, so much so that if the boat lacked some important should haves, and it had a lot of could haves, it might offset what the boat is lacking from your should list.

Dingy, motor and davit
Autopilot

Won't Haves are features that the boat probably won't have but in the slim chance that the boat does, you want to highlight them. This list will be small, if there is anything on it at all. It may contain things like the following examples.

Trash Compactor
Dishwasher

Weighting the Categories
The next step in the Weighted Quad Method is to weight each of the 4 categories. This is done by assigning the following numbers to each category.

Must Have = 4
Should Have = 3
Could Have = 2
Won't Have = 1

What this does is provide a score for every item that falls into that category. So take the 7 Should Haves listed above, for a boat to have a perfect Should Have score it would have 21 points (7x3). To complete the scoring based on the examples above a perfect boat would look like this and have a score of 59.

Category	Weight	# of items	Total
Must Have	4	8	32
Should Have	3	7	21
Could Have	2	2	4
Won't Have	1	2	2
Perfect Score			59

To fully see how this works lets take a pretend boat that fails to have one item in each category. That boat would have a score of 49, which is a 83% match to your perfect boat.

Category	Weight	items for Boat 1	Total
Must Have	4	7	28
Should Have	3	6	18
Could Have	2	1	2
Won't Have	1	1	1
Boat 1 Score			49
Match to the Perfect Boat			83%

Obviously the higher the score and percentage match the better, but what is more important when comparing multiple boats is which boat is higher in score and percentage compared to the others. The more criteria you have in each category the lower the overall scores are going to be for every boat, simply because the likelihood to matching more is less. For example in my own personal experience with this method, the sweet spot was boats at about 75% and above, and very rarely would a boat breach an 80% match. Your mileage may vary.

So now that you have an overview of the method its time to try it out on your own boat list. Take this worksheet, fill it out with your criteria and the exact boats you are looking for. If you have a Google Drive account then you can make a copy under the File menu. If you don't have a Google Drive account then you can download it as an Excel file under the File menu.

I'd be interested to get your comments and feedback on how useful this has been to you or if you have any ideas on how to make this method better. In my next post I'll show you some of my criteria and how it helped me choose the boat that could very soon be mine.

C-Shel's Move From the Rideau to the St. Lawrence River

2014-08-04T20:39:00.001-04:00

I really do enjoy writing for our blog, however, you would never say it, by the amount of posts I put here giving updates on our travels. Such is life I guess, with the demands of work, and leisure for that matter.

The biggest news is that the C-Shel has left the Rideau. Last year, given all the talk of the mismanagement of the system by Parks Canada, we thought there might be a mass exodus of boaters off the system to the 1000 islands, St. Lawrence River. This we thought, would cause a shortage of available dock space in the 1000 Islands region, so we decided to get ahead of the game and put our name on the 3 year waiting list at Gananoque Municipal Marina. So instead of 3 years going by, about half a year did. Gan Marina called us and said we have a slip on a set of new docks that are going to replace the break wall, it will have a wonderful view, and will be ready for spring 2014. Since we are the type of people who seem to thrive on change we decided to take the slip. I am able to live and work aboard for the summer, so commuting from Ottawa to Gananoque wouldn't be an issue, it seemed like the right thing to do.

We took a week vacation at the end of May to bring the boat down the Rideau to Gananoque. We only needed a weekend, but wanted to take our time and fully enjoy and say goodbye to the river system that gave us so many memories over the last 15 years. The Rideau was like a ghost town at the end of May. Very few boats, and we even stayed as the only boat at the ever popular Davis Lock. Our only company was a family of Geese tending to their Goslings.

Mother Goose and Her Young by C-Shel Photography on 500px

After saying good bye to the Rideau, we stopped into Kingston's Confederation Basin for provisions and some eating out, then the next day off to Milton Island for the night. We rarely stop at Milton, it is usually packed. This time however, we had the island to ourselves. The water looked inviting for a swim, clean and clear. However, one touch and that idea soon dissipated. The water temp was much colder that the Rideau. About 12.5 degrees celcius, the Rideau at that time was around 16-17 degrees. I know this first hand because I fell in during our trip down the Rideau...

While on a mooring at Colonel By Island, on Big Rideau Lake, I decided to take a kayak ride in the cool calm evening to take some video. We had just purchased a new Hobie i9s inflatable Kayak and we were still smitten with the novelty of it, using it whenever we had the chance. I was a little over confident in the stability of the kayak, I laid Cyndi's Canon HD Camcorder with expensive wide angle lens attached on the Kayak before getting on from the swim platform of the boat. Stepping aboard the kayak a little to much to one side I immediately knew I was in trouble. In the millisecond it took for the boat to flip I was already thinking about my wife's video camera, the very video camera that was used to take all the videos on our YouTube Channel. As I was completely submerged and my body going into shock from the cold water, especially my lower extremities, I managed to swipe my hands a few times to see if I could miraculously get ahold of the video camera. No such luck. As Cyndi came out of the boat after hearing the splash I made on entry, she could do nothing but laugh, and continued to even after I told her I had lost her video camera. I had a hoodie and pants on so I looked like a drowned rat. I promised we would get another camera, and that was that.

...Back at Milton, with the fresh memory of how cold the Rideau felt, there was no way I would enter the St. Lawrence River on purpose in May.

The next morning with a cruise though the thick fog down the Bateau Channel, we arrived at our new home base for the summer of 2014 in Gananoque.

C-Shel Docked at Milton Island

Now that it is the end of July, do we regret out move? Not in the slightest. Just as the Rideau is a boaters paradise in its own way, so is the 1000 Islands. So many places to go, so many anchorages, the water is beautiful, and we are having a blast. A few weeks after the video camera incident, we bought a new GoPro Hero 3+. The 1000 Islands video below is the result. I think Cyndi is glad I lost that camera overboard.

Though we have plans on another boat to get us down the intra-coastal and to the Bahamas, I don't think we will give up our dock at Gan. We will more than likely be back up here for the summer months to enjoy the world class freshwater boating Eastern Ontario has to offer.

Golden Cottage by C-Shel Photography on 500px

Tollycraft 34 Walk-through Video

2014-07-03T08:24:00.001-04:00

Well we finally got around to doing a video walk-through of the C-Shel. This was taken in June 2014. You can view it below, on our YouTube Channel, or on the 1989 Tollycraft 34 Sport Sedan For Sale link at the top of the page.

Stay tuned as more video is coming very soon, as we get back to our regularly scheduled programming. :)

Boating on the Rideau 2013 Video

2014-01-29T17:17:00.001-05:00

Summer 2013 was a rather quiet and reflective boating season. We didn't get much vacation time because of a new contract, so we did not get a chance to venture out of home waters. However, there is certainly nothing wrong with spending the summer on the Rideau. We spent many beautiful nights anchored, providing the perfect ambiance for dreaming, planning, and preparing for the new boating adventures that may be coming in our not too distant future.

Here is a little of that ambiance the Rideau so graciously provides.

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee... in Boats!

2014-01-11T08:47:00.000-05:00

Forget about the frilly orange Jolly car, Louis CK takes Jerry Seinfeld to his boat for a cruise and a coffee. I'm pretty sure the boat is a 47 Grand Banks Heritage EU. Nice boat Louis! He gives Jerry some fender lessons, and it's then off to an anchorage. I really enjoyed the cruise around New York, and especially enjoyed Louis animated story about being stuck on the mud at low tide with his kids. This is the best episode of CiCGC so far, don't miss it.

http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/louis-c-k-comedy-sex-and-the-blue-numbers

The Launch of C-Shel Photography

2014-01-05T11:49:00.002-05:00

If there is one thing I became passionate about during all these years of boating and taking in the natural surroundings, it is photography. I make no claim to being some great photographer, I have a lot to learn. However, one this is for sure I really do enjoy it, and will continue into the future and grow as a photographer. So I am am officially starting C-Shel Photography. A place where I will share my best work to date. It will only have the top 15-20 photos in the available portfolio, as more current work comes up I will be taking others down. So each print will have a limited time to purchase. You have the option to purchase different sizes of prints on a wide variety of medium, like traditional canvas to modern aluminum.

We are destined to travel by boat (the C-Shel of course) and capture some of the most beautiful places on earth. Reaching for imagery that is in some small way a capture of that deeply intense emotional experience I and others feel when we are on or near the water. There is just something about a boat, silky water, and a sunset.

The main theme of my photography is nautical, but to me this includes a wide variety of categories such as the voyage and the destination, the people and the places, the boats and the equipment, the rivers, lakes, and oceans.

We believe that life's journey is meant to be shared. Join us through imagery on our journey as we share ours with you... Even hang it on your wall if you like.

Boat Builder Blunders

2013-12-13T13:49:00.000-05:00

There is a popular quote in the book "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame - "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats"
However I think dear old Mr. Grahame may have changed his tune if he owned one of today's popular boat brands touted as "premium".

Over at The Marine Installer's Rant, a blog I thoroughly enjoy, Mr. Bishop documents some of the horrible circumstances he has to face on boats doing electronic installations. Some of his insights are brilliantly documented, and these need to be compiled in a book, then shipped to every builder on the planet.

You can see the contrast in values of most of today's boat builders compared to the builders who truly understand what it takes to own and operate a boat.
Superficial Glitz and Glam over Maintainability,
Layout over Accessibility,
Technology over Usability and Longevity.

Most people will measure quality by values on the left, when true quality is always measured by the values on the right. My advice to you, be careful what you are valuing when you are looking for your next boat, and hold builders and current owners to a higher standard.

I am thankful that Mr. Tollefson, the maker of my Tollycraft, leaned more to the right of these values above, and I hope to maintain those values in my next boat.

Here is Mr. Bishops post.
The Top Ten Things That Make My Life Difficult

Out of the Rat Race

2013-11-19T11:21:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow Somewhere New from Dark Rye on Vimeo

I wanted to find a great way to let people know our future plans. Maybe a nice inspirational writeup or a video, however finding the time to do such a thing is hard to come by. Then today this video popped up on my Facebook feed. This is it! This captures what we have deep rooted in the core of our beings; the freedom, simplicity, and adventure that my Wife and I value so much. We are on the same road as the family in this very well executed video... except swap out the Airstream for a Trawler Yacht, and the "no date night" thing for date night every night. We have sold most of our belongings, at least the things that anchor us to a place. Our home is also sold. We are waiting for our boat to sell, and the right boat to come our way. We are slowly but surely finding our way out of the rat race. We don't know if it will work, or how long term it will be, but we are going to try to make a go at it. I once said to someone, the worst thing that can happen is if the plan fails, I come back and do what everyone else does. Then he said something that stuck with me ever since... "the only thing worse than failing, is not trying".

The C-Shel is For Sale

2013-07-24T18:56:00.000-04:00

Yes, the time has come, our Tolly is for sale. It is with mixed feelings that we are doing this. This Tollycraft 34 Sport Sedan has been a joy to own. I may even go as far to say this boat has changed our lives in a lot of respects. However, there are plans and dreams almost within reach that will include a C-Shel 2.0, and we are looking forward to the future.

If you are interested in a 34 Tollycraft, look no further. Check out the for sale link above, or click here.

That's Boating!

2013-07-03T11:17:00.000-04:00

Whether motor, sail, or paddle, there is something magical that happens when we step aboard a boat. The day ahead is filled with endless possibilities; a chance encounter with a monster of the deep, treasures on a remote island, or just breathing in the intoxicating breeze off the water, filling our heads with dreams that only seem possible when you are afloat. For us that "get it", and let our inner child roam free, our eyes are opened, and we smile, as if by some sort of miracle, it is instantly revealed to us, the secrets of a happy life.

Freedom, Adventure, Simplicity,

C-Shel

How to Get Rid of Mold & Mildew from Boat Canvas

2013-04-29T21:16:00.000-04:00

I'm going to tell you the number one best way to remove mold and mildew from your boat canvas, or any canvas material for that matter. It will not use any harsh chemicals, toxic smelling products, or highly labour intensive proceedures. You will only be using fresh water and a little bit of arm movement.

I have the type of canvas on my boat that does not breath all that well, it has some sort of coating underneath that makes it extremely waterproof, but when the canvas is closed up, it traps moisture, and therefore mold can grow. I have spent many labor intensive hours trying many products to remove mold and mildew, from expensive made for boat products, to bleach, ajax, vinegar, and pine-sol. Some of those solutions worked to a degree, but I was never completely satisfied.

So while putting on my canvas one spring getting ready for launch, I noticed that my canvas once again was not its cleanest. Later that day, a good friend was walking into the boat yard with a sale item they bought at a local hardware store. It was actually a small handheld Shark Steamer.

I can't remember how I got the new steamer out of her hands and onto my flybridge trying out different attachments, but I did, and after 5 minutes of use, I left the boat yard to go and purchase my own steamer.

The process was as follows. Use a small bristle brush attachment where the steam still comes out with some force, and you are able to lightly brush the fibres of the canvas as the steam is doing its work on the mold. When an area of about 3'x3' is done, take a clean cotton rag and wipe down the area. Repeat if necessary. That's it. Just take a look at the before an after pictures.

Before

After

I have never had as good a result with any other product or solution. It isn't like new in my case because my canvas is older, and the mold has discolored the canvas backing just a little, but it is 99.9% better than it was. Every boat owner with canvas, needs a small steamer like this one. I wonder what else this little steamer will come in handy for?

Feel This Moment, A 2012 Boating Recap Video

2013-04-17T08:25:00.000-04:00

C-Shel's splash date is set for May 10th, so here's to a great 2013 boating season! May you have lots of those special boating moments this summer.

The Anchorage Channel Launch

2013-04-08T18:04:00.000-04:00

With inspiration from the likes of the Sunset Channel and the Aquarium Channel on cable, comes the Anchorage Channel... not really a channel but series of anchorage videos put in a YouTube playlist. :)

Last year we started mounting the HD camera and taking video of the sights and sounds of sunset anchorages. We have a few from around the Rideau and St. Lawrence to upload, but first in line is of course one of our favorite anchorages on the Rideau, Nobels Bay. This is a peaceful 10 minute video of the sunset as we are swinging on the hook to enjoy on a big screen in HD, for times when you are not boating but wish you were. For best results, hopefully you have some way to sling YouTube video to your TV, like an Apple TV, a WDTV, or similar.

If you have a video of an anchorage at sunset from anywhere in the world, let us know about it, I'd love to consider adding it to our YouTube Playlist.

2012 Vacation Cruise Video

2012-10-16T10:19:00.000-04:00

Last time I posted here I was trying post my trip status every few days. During our month vacation, it didn't take long for the leisure to kick in and my updates to fall by the wayside. None the less, it was a fantastic cruise. We had bigger plans than we ended up doing because of a battery charger problem that took some time to resolve, so we just hung out in the 1000 Islands up to Brockville most of the time, with a trip down to Sackets Harbour NY, and of course the Rideau.

Fitting 30 days of boating in a 5 minute video was tough, but the speed in which the scenes in this video fly by, is about the same feeling as the actual 30 days in July. Hold out till the end for some great Sackets Harbour fireworks!

Day 11 Trip Log - Navy Islands to Club Island Anchorage

2012-07-11T15:03:00.000-04:00

Start Time: 2012-07-11 12:33 PM
End Time: 2012-07-11 1:53 PM

Active track info:
Distance: 8.2 NM
Total time: 1h 20'
Average Speed: 6.2 kts
Max Speed: 8.1 kts

Click on the link to see it in Google Earth.

In keeping with the theme of trying the anchorages in the 1000 Islands instead of island docks or moorings, we have anchored on the south side of Club Island. It is a long bay with good depth in the middle.

Stopped by Constance Island to chat with some friends. Was looking to anchor off of Pine Island and kayak over to Constance, however, it was too weedy near Pine for a good overnight anchorage.

Day 8-10 Trip Log - Charger Replacement

2012-07-10T23:06:00.000-04:00

Day 9
Gan to Kingston
Start Time: 2012-07-09 10:53 AM
End Time: 2012-07-09 12:38 PM

Active track info:

Distance: 16.7 NM
Total time: 1h 44'
Average Speed: 9.6 kts
Max Speed: 19.3 kts
Click on the link to see it in google earth

Day 10
Kingston to The Navy Islands
Start Time: 2012-07-10 9:58 AM
End Time: 2012-07-10 12:44 PM

Active track info:

Distance: 20.3 NM
Total time: 2h 45'
Average Speed: 7.4 kts
Max Speed: 8.4 kts
Click on the link to see it in google earth

Spent 2 nights in Gananoque. Had a new charger delivered from Kingston West Marine by my gracious Father-in-Law. The charger worked for a few minutes then failed. Our decision was to go to Kingston in boat on Monday to be close to supplies and Marine stores. We got a second charger on Monday and everything has been working great ever since.

With the lost time, backtracking, cost of marinas, added fuel burn, and the cost of a new charger, it looks like we will forego our loop around Lake Champlain and the Erie Canal. We will stay in the 1000 Islands for now. Maybe we will end up in Montreal.

It is great to be anchored out again. We are in a lovely anchorage nestled in the Navy Fleet of Island just east of Gan. This place is packed on the weekends, however we are the only ones in the bay tonight. The weather is cooler but comfortable.

Day 7 Trip Log - Camelot Island to Gananoque

2012-07-08T08:40:00.000-04:00

Start Time: 2012-07-07 12:01 PM
End Time: 2012-07-07 12:55 PM

Active track info:

Distance: 5.0 NM
Total time: 0h 52'
Average Speed: 5.7 kts
Max Speed: 7.5 kts

Needed to make a run to Gananoque. House batteries needed charging but the charger will not charge anything anymore. We are in Gan for a day or two to install a new charger.

Weather has remained beautiful. Had our first rainfall in the morning but it quickly cleared by noon.

The anchorage we were in just north of Camelot, just across the channel, is not marked on the charts. I have been noticing boats in there for years and decided to try it out. You need to stay away from setting you anchor deep in the bay, there is an underwater power cable that runs across it. If the wind is from the South, set your hook well out so when you let your anchor rode out you can just see Gan to starboard and the eastern tip of Camelot to port. This will allow you to see a spectacular sunset over Gananoque; which we did.

Click on the link to see it in Google Earth!

Day 5 & 6 Trip Log - Kingston to Camelot Island

2012-07-06T17:44:00.000-04:00

Start Time: 2012-07-05 12:42 PM
End Time: 2012-07-06 3:09 PM

Active track info:

Distance: 20.3 NM
Total time: 26h 26'
Average Speed: 0.8 kts
Max Speed: 8.1 kts

Another wonderful few days. Weather has been great. Stayed in Kingston for a night, then anchored south of Beau Rivage Island for a night, now we are anchored just north of Camelot Island for this evening.

Click on the link to see it in Google Earth!

Day 1-3 Big Rideau to Lower Brewers Lock

2012-07-03T14:06:00.000-04:00

Canada Day fireworks off of Cow Island in Big Rideau Lake
Start Time: 2012-07-01 11:48 AM
End Time: 2012-07-03 1:20 PM

Active track info:

Distance: 33.9 NM
Total time: 49h 27'
Average Speed: 0.7 kts
Max Speed: 7.8 kts

Has been a beautiful start to our 2012 vacation cruise. 3 days in, and we will hit Kingston Ontario tomorrow afternoon. Current plans are to go down the St. Lawrence, head south on Lake Champlain, up the Erie canal, then cross Lake Ontario to home. Pictures and video to follow.

Click on the link to see our track in Google Maps.

Opinicon Lake Anchorage
Morton Bay Kayaking. Cave!
From inside the Cave

A beautiful 52 Krogen Express anchored in Morton Bay. Cyndi says that's the boat she want to have as a liveaboard. :)
The C-Shel and the Krogen Express (Jackets II)

C-Shel Launch 2012

2012-05-03T13:24:00.001-04:00

Well with the heat wave we had in March, we are ahead of the game. We managed to splash the boat earlier than ever before. We are usually in the water just before the May long weekend, this year we were in before May! An early start to the season, and if we go till the end of Oct like we usually do, it will be a full 6 months of floating pleasure. See you on the water!

How to Fit One Thousand Islands on an iPad

2012-05-01T18:59:00.000-04:00

Released today, from famous regional photographer Ian Coristine, an app that displays one of my favourite places on the planet, the 1000 Islands.

In an interactive e-book, Ian showcases the 1000 Islands in high resolution glory. Though this app will work on all iPads, it is specifically tailored to take advantage of the 3rd gen iPad's retina display. I can't wait to be able to see it, I need that iPad first though. (Honey! Where's my check book?)

Catch the video for a taste of what is in store.

By the app here, http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/one-in-a-thousand/id518088485?ls=1&mt=8

Vacation Cruise 2011

2012-02-02T20:04:00.001-05:00

Well its a little late coming. 2011 was a busy year for sure. The vacation cruise has been uploaded to YouTube. Three parts, Rideau River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River/1000 Islands. There are a couple of places here we have never been before; Waupoos and its Winery, along with a trip to Sackets Harbor NY. Both very lovely places and worth a visit. I hopefully will write separate posts showcasing our experiences at those places. We hope you enjoy the videos. Here's to a wonderful 2012 boating season, that will soon be upon us.

Descend Kingston Mills Locks in 4.5 Minutes

2011-11-30T19:21:00.001-05:00

In the vain of one of our 2010 vacation videos, where the end featured a quick descent of the Ottawa Locks on the Rideau River System, we have put together a quick video of our down bound lockage of Kingston Mills Locks heading toward Kingston, Ontario in the summer of 2011. This is a 45min - 1 hour lockage, but here it is done in 4.5 minutes. Enjoy!

10 Ways Evernote Can Organize & Streamline Your Boating

2011-11-06T21:36:00.001-05:00

Evernote is a platform to capture everything you would ever want to make a note of; from handwritten notes, e-mails, pages out of books, checklists, pictures, webpages, documents, audio notes, and pretty much anything else you can snap, write, or record. Capture anything from your life, and it will all stay in sync across all your devices. So what on earth could we do with this on the boat?

If you try to track and organize anything for your boat, you know how quickly those efforts get outdated, disorganized, and unmaintainable. Do you have a drawer that is overflowing with this stuff, or if your keen you have it all put in large binders that has little bits of paper sticking out around it? Leave all that behind with Evernote.

Scan or take a picture of all work orders, and work progress. Need engine work or fiberglass work done? Take a snapshot of the work order, snap the before picture, the in progress pictures and then the state of the work when finished. A virtual, historical, pictorial record of all your jobs in one spot.
E-mail notes to your Evernote account. E-mail your Evernote account tasks, pictures, or text notes as you think of them on the go.
Inventory all serviceable items. Snap pictures of oil filters, fuel filters, batteries, flares, hoses, clamps, impellers, etc, along with noting the date serviced, and possibly the next service date. Also use text notes, or audio notes do describe what you need, and web clippings of replacement parts with prices for comparison.
Pictures of all of your boating services business cards and letterheads. Whenever you get service done, or foresee the use of someone, snap a shot of the business card, letterhead, magazine ad, or signage, along with a note on what you used them for or will use them for.
Track all your fuel usage and expenses. At the fuel dock? Take a snapshot of the receipt, throw it away, then save it to Evernote with more pics or text of the volume on the fuel meter, and the hours on the engines.
Save trip logs with pictures. Out on the weekend or on an extended vacation? Log your trips to Evernote with the trip specifics and snapshots of the trip. Record your engine hours along with it.
Winterization/Spring Checklists. Create checklists for all your winterization tasks for each part of your boat. The checklist feature even has an actual checkbox to check when the item is complete. What I have done in my winterization checklist is I have taken pictures of the off season storage procedure pages right out of my manuals for my A/C, engines, genny, etc. I have also attached web clippings from web sites and forum threads that have useful information and things to keep in mind when doing my winterization.
Catalog your next boat purchase research. Thinking of upgrading the boat? I know you are, you're a boater. Whether you or online and saving web clippings or pages to Evernote of the boats you like, or you are out and about looking around the boat yard and snapping pictures and taking notes, you have all that information in one place and easily accessible. Saving audio notes is a great feature in this scenario. Save an audio note of your conversation with a broker (without him knowing of course), or record yourself doing a walk around of a boat while you talk about likes and dislikes.
Catalog service recall information. Every boat, engine and parts can have a series of recalls, service procedure adjustments, and different parts for those recalls. Keep these items in one place, noting what has been done one your boat, attach service bulletin pdfs along with it, and you will have your complete recall history online for your reference or for a potential buyer to look at to see how well you maintain your vessel.
Text searching on everything. Above and beyond the benefit of going paperless, there is the added benefit of having a searchable archive of all your notes. That's right, not only text notes, but Evernote will even index text in images, PDFs, or other documents. Imagine searching for all notes with the name of your marina, then it will quickly show you all the images or scans of work orders or receipts with your marina's name in it. That's pretty sweet if you ask me.

Whether on or off the boat, remember everything. www.evernote.com