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David Alton

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Buying a Used Boat? How to Evaluate Its Maintenance History

Buying a Used Boat? How to Evaluate Its Maintenance History

A survey tells you what condition a boat is in today. Maintenance history tells you how it got there, and gives you a much better idea of what’s coming next.

That distinction matters more than most buyers realize. Two boats can survey similarly and have very different futures ahead of them, depending on whether previous owners stayed ahead of problems or waited for things to break.

The Real Cost of Deferred Maintenance: Why "Later" Gets Expensive

The Real Cost of Deferred Maintenance: Why “Later” Gets Expensive

Every boat owner knows the feeling. You notice something that needs attention (a small drip, a slight squeak, a fitting that looks a little corroded), but you’re busy, the weather’s perfect, and it doesn’t seem urgent. So you file it away under “I’ll deal with it later.”

The problem is that boats don’t wait for later. And on the water, small problems have a remarkable talent for becoming big, expensive ones.

Time-Based vs. Hours-Based Maintenance: Which Schedule Does Your Equipment Need?

Time-Based vs. Hours-Based Maintenance: Which Schedule Does Your Equipment Need?

One of the most common questions we hear from new boat owners is some version of: “How do I know when this is actually due?”

It’s a great question, and the answer isn’t always obvious. Some maintenance should happen on a calendar schedule—every six months, every year—regardless of how much you use your boat. Other maintenance depends entirely on how many hours your equipment has run. And some equipment needs both.

5 Essential Tips for Getting Started with MaintenanceROS

5 Essential Tips for Getting Started with MaintenanceROS

Starting anything new and maintenance-related on a boat can feel overwhelming, especially when it distracts from the whole purpose of owning a boat - being out on the water. Getting started with MaintenanceROS is straightforward, but a little preparation makes the process even smoother.

These five tips—learned from helping hundreds of boat owners set up their accounts—will have you up and running efficiently, tracking maintenance with confidence in under an hour.

Know Your Lifting and Blocking Points: A Critical Haul-Out Safety Guide

Know Your Lifting and Blocking Points: A Critical Haul-Out Safety Guide

Haul-out day is stressful enough without wondering whether your boat is being lifted and blocked correctly. But here’s the thing most boat owners don’t realize: improper lifting or blocking can cause serious, expensive damage to your hull—damage that might not even be visible until much later.

We learned this lesson the hard way in Thailand.

Prepping for a haul out

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