Boat Cards

markpierce said:

The gentleman on the left provided us with their boat card at our boat's christening in 2011, the only card we've received. He

Click to expand...

Wifey B: Oh no, Mr. Mark.... That's going to stun some people.

BandB said:

Wifey B: Oh no, Mr. Mark.... That's going to stun some people.

Click to expand...

I think Mark's findings are an east coast / west coast thing.

I'm sorry - I misinterpreted your remark about not seeing boat cards. I thought you meant that you hadn't seen them until this thread. For what it's worth, they are talked about on many different forums all the time. It's a common subject for any type of cruising boat. Needless to say, the comparison to the vision of electronic boat cards has been discussed in those places as well.

Jeffrey S said:

Saving money.

Allowing marinas to see your travel plans allows them to tempt you to stay at their facility. They'd do that with discounts.

Allowing boat yards to see the projects you'd like done will allow them to bid on them when they have down times and are looking for workers to do more than sweep the floors. Or when you say you want bottom painting and a new yard wants to specialize in that, what better way than bidding on your work.

Allowing a facility to see how much fuel you're down will allow them to tempt you with a special fuel price or discounts to beef up their sales before the end of the month. This would be especially attractive to trawler owners since our boats typically hold much more fuel and are more attractive to businesses.

Having an electronic boat card would give you the ability to allow certain groups or classes of people to see the information you allow them to see. It's not just the people you meet on the docks. It's many other groups of people and organizations. And it's all because there's no need to hand-deliver a piece of paper - it's out there in the cloud.

Switching the dynamic from us boaters calling a dozen places to decide where to go for dockage, service, or fuel, to a mode where they call us to bid on our needs, is an incredible shift that provides upside for the boater and more efficiency (and profit) for the commercial businesses. Needless to say, we've made the same presentation to a few hundred facilities and they all want it.

Click to expand...

Sounds like marinas and other service providers think all that is useful. I don't. Not interested in having marinas and other service providers chasing me around (I can do my own shopping, on my terms, my schedule)... and we certainly don't share info about ourselves readily.

Jeffrey S said:

Somehow I must be hanging around a different type of cruiser because I think I've exchanged boat cards with others every week for the last 14 years or so. Gosh, just go to a wine social at Brunswick Landing Marina and you'd be guaranteed to walk away with a handful of new boat cards after a week.

Click to expand...

That's very likely (the different cruiser part), and then there's also your own personality (outgoing?) and the business benefit you'd need/want from meeting cruisers, marina people, service providers, etc.

The chances we would attend a wine social anywhere on the planet with people we don't already know (meaning, we already know we can tolerate them, at least for a brief period)... are slim to zip.

I think I remember one time, maybe 7-8 years ago, somebody gave us a paper boat card. Don't remember why, or if there was even a reason, but that card probably lasted about 30 seconds after we returned to the boat. Other than that, I've not seen (or at least noticed) anyone with boat cards.

I expect folks who like 'em oughta enjoy 'em. That just doesn't happen to be us.

-Chris

Jeffrey S said:

Saving money.

Allowing marinas to see your travel plans allows them to tempt you to stay at their facility. They'd do that with discounts.

Allowing boat yards to see the projects you'd like done will allow them to bid on them when they have down times and are looking for workers to do more than sweep the floors. Or when you say you want bottom painting and a new yard wants to specialize in that, what better way than bidding on your work.

Allowing a facility to see how much fuel you're down will allow them to tempt you with a special fuel price or discounts to beef up their sales before the end of the month. This would be especially attractive to trawler owners since our boats typically hold much more fuel and are more attractive to businesses.

Having an electronic boat card would give you the ability to allow certain groups or classes of people to see the information you allow them to see. It's not just the people you meet on the docks. It's many other groups of people and organizations. And it's all because there's no need to hand-deliver a piece of paper - it's out there in the cloud.

Switching the dynamic from us boaters calling a dozen places to decide where to go for dockage, service, or fuel, to a mode where they call us to bid on our needs, is an incredible shift that provides upside for the boater and more efficiency (and profit) for the commercial businesses. Needless to say, we've made the same presentation to a few hundred facilities and they all want it.

Click to expand...

They could do all that today by monitoring AIS and calling us on the radio to offer us dockage, fuel, repairs, etc.

Do we really want that?

90% of the marinas I've stayed at or purchased fuel at are just not that organized. They may advertise in the cruising guides or magazines but other than that, they just wait for boaters to call for dockage or fuel.


As for (paper) boat cards, we never heard of them until a few years ago when some people we met in Wilmington, NC gave us one. Apparently the dealer that sold them their boat provided them. So there we are, looking for a scrap of paper and a pencil to give them our information and they are handing us a nice glossy color boat card.


Someone above likened boat cards to calling cards. That pretty much nailed it.

ranger42c said:

The chances we would attend a wine social anywhere on the planet with people we don't already know (meaning, we already know we can tolerate them, at least for a brief period)... are slim to zip.

Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, are you out cruising right now or has your boat been winterized?

WesK said:

They could do all that today by monitoring AIS and calling us on the radio to offer us dockage, fuel, repairs, etc.

Click to expand...

Perhaps I don't know how to use all the AIS technology I have already.

How do I set my intended destination today and over the season in AIS-B?

How do I have AIS project the amount of fuel I need or the services I'm looking for?

How do I allow AIS to tell others the type of boat I'm in?

How do I have AIS show me the locations of my friends (the ones I've exchanged boat cards with) especially when they are hundreds of miles away?


What you might not realize is that these types of profiles are being generated to thousands of businesses already every time you perform a Google search. Don't even start discussing Amazon (which I love but who has been a master at data collection and analysis). It's one of the reasons the banner ads on this forum are directed to me - the one right now in front of me is about my nutrition choices which I can pretty much guarantee are unique within this group.

The places that I'm exploring are using these 2016 technologies to create much more personal benefits to cruising boaters. Google certainly isn't my model. Waze is (who is owned by Google). If you haven't used Waze, you should try it on your next road trip. The group here will probably hate it too - please explain why.

And by the way, I love, love, love the disagreements to this. This is music to entrepreneurs. The last thing I want is everyone saying, "that's perfect - we love it!" Just like ActiveCaptain, I yearn for the aggressive I'll-never-use-it-because-XYZ arguments. It's providing incredible market research.

Jeffrey S said:

Perhaps I don't know how to use all the AIS technology I have already. ...................

Click to expand...

I don't know if I was unclear writing my post or if you were unclear reading it.

You (a marina employee) are sitting in your marina office monitoring AIS. You see "Bills Boat" headed your way so you hail him on the VFH and ask if he needs dockage or fuel. You tell him how nice your marina is and offer him a special discount.

Thankfully, it hasn't come to that yet, but it's certainly possible.

WesK said:

You (a marina employee) are sitting in your marina office monitoring AIS. You see "Bills Boat" headed your way so you hail him on the VFH and ask if he needs dockage or fuel. You tell him how nice your marina is and offer him a special discount.

Click to expand...

No, I pretty much understood the idea with AIS.

First, doing as you suggested would violate about 6 FCC regulations and would produce fines to the marina for transmitting commercial messages over marine VHF channels. They are specifically prohibited. It took a major, multi-year effort for SeaTown to get their automated radio checks through the FCC and I'm sure their message there are very regulated.

Second, AIS doesn't give enough information to target a boat. A 65 foot boat might just as well be a tug as a Fleming. No one would waste time with boat targets they see as blips on a screen.

Third, often by the time a boat is in range, it's too late to change their plans. We're formulating our plans now for April and beyond, far away from the reach of my AIS. And nothing about AIS shows where I'm thinking about being in April.

Greetings,
You're going to have to talk to the Nav-robot regarding that AIS stuff...

Jeffrey S said:

Out of curiosity, are you out cruising right now or has your boat been winterized?

Click to expand...

In the water, so we're onboard occasionally... but system are winterized. The marina was lightly frozen in over these last two nights; thawing now and likely to be clear of ice for another week or so.

I've been lobbying for "south" during this season, but just at the mo life has conspired against that.

-Chris

ranger42c said:

I've been lobbying for "south" during this season, but just at the mo life has conspired against that.

Click to expand...

Perhaps you might keep your open mind on hold then and wait until you're a thousand miles from home to see the potential value. I have a feeling there's a difference in perspective when you're knee-deep in it all day-to-day.

I think I've said everything about boat cards that needs to be said. Be safe out there and have fun.

Boat Card whoops

We had not seen many before doing our cards. We used the back for mailing addresses. Wish we would have left it blank. Many times we end up writing boater info on the back of our card if they do not have one.

This is such a "first world problem" discussion.

Jeffrey S said:

I think I've said everything about boat cards that needs to be said. Be safe out there and have fun.

Click to expand...

I'm glad you let us know about your ultimate plans to sell our data to vendors so we can avoid future spamming.

Jeffrey S said:

Perhaps you might keep your open mind on hold then and wait until you're a thousand miles from home to see the potential value. I have a feeling there's a difference in perspective when you're knee-deep in it all day-to-day.

I think I've said everything about boat cards that needs to be said. Be safe out there and have fun.

Click to expand...

Not to worry, I'll keep watching. But we've got about 5,000 NM on this boat already... I think we just have different personalities, different approaches to troubleshooting and problem-solving, different preferences for interaction with businesses or other service providers, and way different ideas about being social.

-Chris

kthoennes said:

This is such a "first world problem" discussion.

Click to expand...

That is this forums target market. Not too many folks listing Bangladesh as their home country.

CPseudonym said:

That is this forums target market. Not too many folks listing Bangladesh as their home country.

Click to expand...

How about Pocky-stahn!!!!....

So long as it ain't Dumbshitistan, that's my home turf

Paul: the only mistake you've made is asking us for suggestions. Wow! 7 pages of chatter! Your card clearly shows a nice photo of your boat and your contact info. Anything else is bonus.

BB's comment about everything going electronic: I got into IBM PC's in 1983, when they first came out. The spreadsheet of choice was Lotus 1-2-3. I was a power "programmer" and developed many applications and models in that environment. Then came umpteen iterations of Excel and I developed applications in that environment. But there were some old models in the Lotus and Excel that can no longer be used, loaded or examined. Gone for ever. Same with the changes to Microsoft's early versions of Access. I had QB models that no longer worked with the newer versions of Access. It's fine if you have the people and resources to migrate or reprogram. However too many small companies, agencies or individuals simply don't have those resources. 100 years from now how much of Digital photos and other "digital" stuff will we be able to access? I suspect it will be an issue. It already is.

Jeffrey S said:

Saving money.

Allowing marinas to see your travel plans allows them to tempt you to stay at their facility. They'd do that with discounts.

Allowing boat yards to see the projects you'd like done will allow them to bid on them when they have down times and are looking for workers to do more than sweep the floors. Or when you say you want bottom painting and a new yard wants to specialize in that, what better way than bidding on your work.

Allowing a facility to see how much fuel you're down will allow them to tempt you with a special fuel price or discounts to beef up their sales before the end of the month. This would be especially attractive to trawler owners since our boats typically hold much more fuel and are more attractive to businesses.

Having an electronic boat card would give you the ability to allow certain groups or classes of people to see the information you allow them to see. It's not just the people you meet on the docks. It's many other groups of people and organizations. And it's all because there's no need to hand-deliver a piece of paper - it's out there in the cloud.

Switching the dynamic from us boaters calling a dozen places to decide where to go for dockage, service, or fuel, to a mode where they call us to bid on our needs, is an incredible shift that provides upside for the boater and more efficiency (and profit) for the commercial businesses. Needless to say, we've made the same presentation to a few hundred facilities and they all want it.

Click to expand...

I'll send you an electronic copy of my boat card if you like. But where I boat, you can count the number of marinas on...well...lemme see...no fingers. Heck we don't even have cell service for most of the BC coast. I go to a marina based on where I'm going, their reputation and whether their water is any good. I'm not interested in them contacting me...and for the most part, they can't.

JDCAVE said:

Paul: the only mistake you've made is asking us for suggestions. Wow! 7 pages of chatter! Your card clearly shows a nice photo of your boat and your contact info. Anything else is bonus.

BB's comment about everything going electronic: I got into IBM PC's in 1983, when they first came out. The spreadsheet of choice was Lotus 1-2-3. I was a power "programmer" and developed many applications and models in that environment. Then came umpteen iterations of Excel and I developed applications in that environment. But there were some old models in the Lotus and Excel that can no longer be used, loaded or examined. Gone for ever. Same with the changes to Microsoft's early versions of Access. I had QB models that no longer worked with the newer versions of Access. It's fine if you have the people and resources to migrate or reprogram. However too many small companies, agencies or individuals simply don't have those resources. 100 years from now how much of Digital photos and other "digital" stuff will we be able to access? I suspect it will be an issue. It already is.

Click to expand...

Not to worry, I have all my data safely stored on 5 1/4" floppy discs.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
You're going to have to talk to the Nav-robot regarding that AIS stuff...

Click to expand...

I swear I can't stop laughing at that!

I think it reminds me of old times, with friends and alcohol.

You made my day RT!

Jeffrey S said:

No, I pretty much understood the idea with AIS.

First, doing as you suggested would violate about 6 FCC regulations and would produce fines to the marina for transmitting commercial messages over marine VHF channels. They are specifically prohibited. It took a major, multi-year effort for SeaTown to get their automated radio checks through the FCC and I'm sure their message there are very regulated.

Second, AIS doesn't give enough information to target a boat. A 65 foot boat might just as well be a tug as a Fleming. No one would waste time with boat targets they see as blips on a screen.

Third, often by the time a boat is in range, it's too late to change their plans. We're formulating our plans now for April and beyond, far away from the reach of my AIS. And nothing about AIS shows where I'm thinking about being in April.

Click to expand...

Hello Jeffery. Just a FYI regarding info available from an AIS if it is completely programmed on the vessel. The AIS will give the type of vessel, such as pleasure craft, fishing vessel, tug, tanker, RoRo, etc. Shoreside operations, such as marina operators can follow AIS targets on LiveShips or marinetraffic.com, that will show a different color for each type of target and even a relative size of target. So, it is possible for a marina operator to see a pleasure craft heading toward a marina or harbor.

I like it. Too many options to say anything is right or wrong. But, I do have a few thoughts.

I'd reduce the size of your hailing port to be the same width (or slightly smaller if readable) as the boatname.

I'd switch the order of your first names so that your names are under the correct face in the photo.

I think it's okay if the cards are not "professional". Printing them yourself in small batches allows you to make changes or customize a small batch with more info if you want.

River Rat said:

I like it. Too many options to say anything is right or wrong. But, I do have a few thoughts.

I'd reduce the size of your hailing port to be the same width (or slightly smaller if readable) as the boatname.

I'd switch the order of your first names so that your names are under the correct face in the photo.

I think it's okay if the cards are not "professional". Printing them yourself in small batches allows you to make changes or customize a small batch with more info if you want.

Click to expand...

I print out limited runs to satisfy my needs and hand them out as is seen fit.

I have thought about 2 sets....one for people that will have one level of access and another to be social and just think that if paths cross again...the basic info might be saved.

I can only hope for the same in reverse.

The compromise between Vista Print or another commercial printer and printing them at home on your personal ink jet printer (the ink runs if it gets wet) might be to take them to Staples or a similar store and have them laser printed for a dollar a sheet or so. That's eight cards if I remember correctly.

Paul,
Regarding concerns over printer ink running when it gets wet...
You could try a trick I use on my homemade wine labels. Just coat the fully dried sheets of boat cards with clear spray lacquer. Works almost as good as W/P ink.

greysailor said:

Paul,
Regarding concerns over printer ink running when it gets wet...
You could try a trick I use on my homemade wine labels. Just coat the fully dried sheets of boat cards with clear spray lacquer. Works almost as good as W/P ink.

Click to expand...

Outstanding idea!! That's a life hack I'm filing away in my memory bank.

That goes way beyond boat cards and wine labels.

A couple of other inkjet thoughts

Match ink, printer, and paper. Make sure you have the inkjet cards and not laser ones. Always let dry uncovered.

Use a clear acrylic sealer, normally found in craft stores, sometimes called art protectants. This is the same as what greysailor is saying, just saying where we find it.

If you don't have the sealer, you can try other things like nail polish (would take too much for this I think) and hair spray or a polyurethane spray.