Individual hour meters for shared boat

[owennibley]

We are using a shared boat between 8 owners and are going to charge by hour usage. On our previous boat (2005 196) we had individual keys tied to an assigned hour meter that kept track of each members hours.

I'm just wondering if someone has a better setup that's easier or cleaner than that. Maybe something electronic with RFID tags? Our boat is a 2015 Carbon Pro. 

I'd rather not tear into the wiring and try to figure out where to splice the meter in if I can help it.

There's gotta be something out there that shared boat owners are using. TIA

[Rednucleus]

My current techy level would be pen & paper 😞

Edited April 16, 2023 by Rednucleus

[MDB1056]

Yep…agree with @Rednucleuswould seem simple enough. Write down when start and stop. Keep the logbook in the boat . No wiring required 

[Horton]

at the club I ski at now we just have a logbook. somebody figured out what they think a ski ride should cost and we all just pay per ride.

[Wish]

There’s gotta be a shared app of some kind for this but meant for a diff vehicle share. 

[03RLXi]

Sorry to say it however if there's not enough trust between the 8 owners to use pen and paper then I suspect a partnership isn't going to work.  

Edited April 17, 2023 by 03RLXi

[dave2ball]

@03RLXiif you can’t trust all partners involved maybe that partner ship should be split. If you don’t have trust between everyone they why be part of it. 
or just split 8 ways. The people who feel the value is not there may leave.   

[Rednucleus]

@owennibleyhow do you guys supply boat gas? 

[chrislandy]

It depends on on the setup, I looked at it for a communal members club boat. 

 

The idea was to have an RFID fob, this then allowed the engine to start and logged the time the engine is running via an Arduino. Have it allow the engine to start up to 2-3mins after shutdown to allow for driver talking to skier, skier boarding etc. (also gets around the forgetting to tap out issue) This then allowed the boat to be fueled & maintained by the club then time charged to each member monthly on a per minute basis.

[MDB1056]

2 minutes ago, chrislandy said:

This then allowed the boat to be fueled & maintained by the club then time charged to each member monthly on a per minute basis.

If you have to track this at the MINUTE level there is certainly no sense of trust among the owners.    

[chrislandy]

1 minute ago, MDB1056 said:

If you have to track this at the MINUTE level there is certainly no sense of trust among the owners.    

It wasn't about trust, more about housekeeping and the club keeping records easily. Like keeping mileage records for work, the easier and more automated you make it, the more accurate it is, and actually gets done.

[bikesrus]

They have a pretty cool setup at LaPoints Ski Lake in Orlando.  The members each have a code that gets keyed in and they get billed I think monthly (?).   @lpskier would know the details.   Seems to be more about sharing cost fairly….some like 4 passes.   Others 8……

[Dano]

How often do clubs get new boats and how many hours per year are they putting on them?  if getting a new boat every year or 2 do the hours add up to be enough to effect value?  If not why not just let the boat be enjoyed by all members without the stress. 

[chrislandy]

12 minutes ago, Dano said:

How often do clubs get new boats and how many hours per year are they putting on them?  if getting a new boat every year or 2 do the hours add up to be enough to effect value?  If not why not just let the boat be enjoyed by all members without the stress. 

I was basing the calcs on a minimum of 500hrs a year and expecting 750, most of the members at ours do 50-100hrs a year on their own boats (and wanting to reduce the hours on theirs), it also attracts more members as they don't have the outlay and maintenance of a boat of their own.

 

and as @bikesrus said, some like a couple of passes, some trudge up and down on a trick all day.

 

I'd think, if you're only putting 100hrs a year on it, just divvy it up and have fun.

[lpskier]

In our MC club boat at LaPoint Ski Park we have a key pad. Each member has a four digit code for personal skiing and a second code for guests. There is a club code for warming up the boat and doing course work. The boat won’t start without a code. It works great for keeping track of each member’s monthly use. It has the added benefit of reducing the hours out on the boat because if the motor is running, you are paying for it. The system works very well.  Five stars.  

I’m not sure who makes the product but it came with the boat and we get out boats from  Doug Meeker at The Liquid Edge. 

[bko]

I can highly recommend the use of this time tracking app, preferaby installed on an early smartphone.

https://www.xperttimer.com/

It is cheap and easy to use. Let me know if you need help setting it up for your purpose.

We are using it in 2 ski clubs for over a century now. 

[mike_mapple]

19 minutes ago, bko said:

I can highly recommend the use of this time tracking app, preferaby installed on an early smartphone.

https://www.xperttimer.com/

It is cheap and easy to use. Let me know if you need help setting it up for your purpose.

We are using it in 2 ski clubs for over a century now. 

Can i borrow the time machine?? Smart phones a Century ago? Hahaha

[owennibley]

@Rednucleus at the start of the season we evenly put in money to fill up a 500 gallon gas drum and we will fill up as needed. At the end of the year or as needed, we will tally the hours of each member and each member will pay based on usage. I believe our rate is at $35/hour right now. That takes care of storage, Maintenance, fuel, everything. 

This systems works good because then the persons who use the boat the most, also pays the most. It's not about trust as someone implies. It's about paying for your own usage. 

My previous setup was very loose and not a lot of "rules". Noone took care of the boat. Noone did any maintenance and it showed. Even though I "trusted" everyone in the group, I was stuck doing all of the maintenance, winterization and setup. It was absolutely not fair for me. 

Charging by the hour keeps everyone responsible and fair.

[bko]

4 hours ago, mike_mapple said:

Can i borrow the time machine?? Smart phones a Century ago? Hahaha

No, Mike! It works on any current Android-phone as well. We just use older models because we use the phone solely for that purpose and always leave it in the boat. 6-7 year old waterproof Samsungs are just fine. 

[bko]

12 hours ago, bko said:

No, Mike! It works on any current Android-phone as well. We just use older models because we use the phone solely for that purpose and always leave it in the boat. 6-7 year old waterproof Samsungs are just fine. 

Ooops! I am afraid, my first response deserves a panda. Sorry!

We are using that app in our boats for over a decade - not over a century...

 

[owennibley]

To answer my own original question, I found out from another local skier who uses a similar setup, to splice the key/hour meter box into the tether switch wiring. Basically, a key from the box has to be turned on for the tether switch to work. This, I believe, is the easiest and the most simple to remedy my issues. If any one is interested, I can post pictures of the setup once complete.