# Setting up the boat and engine This chapter takes you from an empty account to a boat whose engine hours are tracked and whose usual engine jobs are planned, then covers what you add later: the boat's details and papers, the rest of the equipment, and readings. ## The first run {#first-run} A new account opens on three steps, each one screen, marked "Step 1 of 3" to "Step 3 of 3". Each step saves its own records when you press its button, so leaving after any step loses nothing. A reload after step 1 goes straight to Today. | Step | What it asks | What it makes | |---|---|---| | 1. The boat | What do you call your boat? (required), Your name (optional), units, Currency | The boat, and your name on your profile when given | | 2. Your engine | Engine name (prefilled "Engine"), Make and model, Hours on the meter (both optional) | A piece of equipment of type Diesel engine, its engine-hours meter, and a first reading when hours were typed | | 3. Usual services | The suggested plans for that engine, all ticked | The ticked plans, and the items they use in Inventory | Steps 2 and 3 have **Skip**, which goes straight to the app. Step 3 appears only when step 2 added an engine. ### Step 1: the boat {#first-run-boat} - **Your name** is used in the greeting on Today instead of your e-mail address. - **Units** are Metric or Imperial. The choice is stored and shown in Boat details, but lengths are entered in metres and weights in kilograms whichever you pick, as the step itself says. - **Time zone** is not asked. It is taken from the device and shown under the units ("Your time zone is set to Europe/Oslo"). It can be changed later in Boat details. - **Currency** is prefilled from the time zone: Oslo gives NOK, Stockholm SEK, Copenhagen DKK, the euro countries EUR, London GBP, the United States USD, Canada CAD, Mexico MXN, Australia AUD. A zone the app has no answer for gives USD. Every price and cost for the boat is in this currency (see [One currency](#currency)). - **Restore from a backup** is offered on this step when the account has no boat and the device is online. It is covered in [Backup, restore and moving devices](backup.html). ### Step 2: the engine {#first-run-engine} **Add engine** makes three records at once: the engine, its meter and, with hours typed, a reading taken now. - **The engine is set up as** type Diesel engine, status In service, condition Unknown, importance Essential. - **Its name** is what you typed. An engine left with the name "Engine" and given a make and model is named after the model ("Volvo Penta D2-40"). - **Make and model** is stored whole in the equipment's Model field. - **Hours on the meter** must be a number of 0 or more, or empty. With no hours the meter exists but has no reading yet. An outboard, a second engine or a generator is added afterwards with **Add equipment** (see [Adding equipment](#adding-equipment)). ### Step 3: the usual services {#first-run-plans} The step lists the plans a diesel engine usually needs, each with how often it repeats and the first line of its instructions. | Plan | With a first reading | With no reading | |---|---|---| | Engine oil and filter | Every 100 engine hours | Every year | | Fuel filters | Every 200 engine hours | Every year | | Raw-water impeller | Every year | Every year | | Drive belt and alternator check | Every year | Every year | | Coolant and heat exchanger | Every 2 years | Every 2 years | - **A plan that can repeat by hours does so only when the engine has a reading.** It is then scheduled by hours alone, the first job due at the current reading plus the interval. Without a reading it is scheduled by the calendar alone, the first job due one interval from today. - **Untick** any plan you do not want. **Add these plans** adds the rest. - **The usual items** (an oil filter, two fuel filters, an impeller, a drive belt) are added to Inventory and to the plans that use them, so To buy can tell you what to buy. Nobody has counted them yet, so they show as Not counted. Plans, the jobs they make and how a job is done are covered in [Work: plans, jobs and problems](work.html). ## Nothing recorded yet {#nothing-recorded} While the boat has no active equipment, no active plan and no trip, Today does not say "Ready for now". It shows one card, **Nothing recorded yet**, with **Add the engine** and **Log a trip**. As soon as one piece of equipment, one plan or one trip exists, the ordinary readiness card returns. **Add the engine** on this card opens the Add equipment form, not the first-run step. Equipment added this way gets no meter automatically: its page offers **Set up engine hours** (see [Engine hours](#engine-hours)). A change the server refused and the Syncing line still show inside the card. ## Boat details {#boat-details} Boat details opens from the boat's name at the top of the sidebar, or the boat's name in a phone's header. It has no navigation item of its own. The pencil beside the title opens **Edit boat details**, one form with one **Save boat**. The page shows only what is filled in, in four groups: | Group | Fields | |---|---| | Identity | Builder, Model, Year built, Flag, Home port, Registration, Hull ID (HIN), MMSI, Call sign | | Dimensions | Length overall, Waterline length, Beam, Draft, Air draft (metres); Displacement, Ballast (kilograms) | | Purchase | Purchase date, Purchase price | | Settings | Time zone, Units, Currency (always shown) | A group with nothing filled in is not shown. Notes follow under their own heading. One line at the end names every empty field ("Not added yet: Flag, MMSI, Beam.") with **Add details**, which opens the form. | Field | Rule | |---|---| | MMSI | Exactly nine digits; spaces are removed. "An MMSI is nine digits." | | Dimensions, displacement, ballast, purchase price | A positive number | | Year built | A whole year from 1800 to two years from now | | Currency | A three-letter code; it cannot be left empty | ### The home port and the home place {#home} The boat's home is a **place**: one saved place per boat is home. **Home port** in Boat details is a place chooser, not a text field. - **Choosing a saved place** makes it the home. - **Typing a name** makes that place home if one of that name exists (any case), otherwise creates a new home place with that name and no position yet. - **Not set** removes the home flag; no place is deleted. - **Making another place home** clears the flag on the old one. There is only ever one. Home port on Boat details opens the home place's form. The home is the default From of a new trip. A place with no position yet is never matched to the phone's location and is not on the map. Places are covered in [A trip: before, during and after](a-trip.html). ### The time zone {#time-zone} The time zone is the boat's clock. It decides which calendar day a moment falls on wherever a day matters to the boat. - **On the boat's clock:** the day a planned trip is for and the next-trip card on Today, which planned trips Start a trip offers, how long ago Today's engine hours were read, the months of Budget, Buy later months, how long ago an order was placed, and what an assistant reads through `readiness_get`. - **On the device's clock:** the rest of Today, including when a job or an equipment date moves into Do first or Soon. The two differ only when the device is in another zone from the boat, and then only near midnight. ### One currency {#currency} The currency in Boat details is the currency of every amount in the account: prices, costs, estimates, expenses and the purchase price. There are no exchange rates. Changing the currency changes the code shown beside every existing amount; it does not convert the numbers. Money is covered in [Budget and projects](budget.html). ### Papers {#papers} The **Papers** section lists the boat's papers in four fixed slots, then **Other papers**. - **The four slots** are Registration, Insurance, Ownership and Licence, in that order. Every active document of one of those types fills its slot, soonest expiry first. - **An empty slot** reads "Not added" with **Add**, which opens Add document with that type chosen. **Add a paper** opens it with Registration chosen. - **Other papers** are certificates and surveys attached to nothing but the boat. - **Each row** shows the type and "Expires 3 May 2027", or "Expired 3 May 2026", marked, once the date has passed. The row opens the document's page. Today reports a paper as it nears its expiry, like any document. Documents, files and expiry are covered in [Documents and papers](documents.html). ### The boat's photo {#photo} **Add a photo** in the page's header takes one image. The photo then appears at the top of Boat details and on the boat card in the sidebar. - **The photo is a document** of type Photo, titled with the boat's name, which the boat points at. It syncs and is backed up like any document. - **It is made smaller on the device**, to at most 1,600 pixels on its longer side, before it is saved. A file that is not an image is refused, and so is one still over 25 MB after that. - **Change photo** (in the photo's More menu) adds a new photo and points at it; the old one stays in Documents. - **Remove photo** takes the photo off the page; the document stays in Documents. - **Archiving the photo's document** hides the photo; restoring it brings the photo back. - **Offline**, a photo not already on this device shows "Photo not available offline." ## Adding equipment {#adding-equipment} Equipment is what is fitted to the boat: the engine, pumps, electronics, rigging, safety gear. **Add equipment** (on the Equipment page) asks **Name** and **Type**; everything else is behind **More details** and can be added later. ### Type is the one classification {#type} - **Type** is chosen from 115 built-in types, searched by name ("battery", "pump", "VHF"), or "Other / not listed". - **A type you add** ("Add “Hydrovane”" in the type list) becomes a choice for the whole account. - **The type decides the system** the equipment is listed under on the Equipment page: Propulsion; Rig, sails & deck; Electrical; Navigation & communications; Hull, steering & underwater; Plumbing & comfort; Safety; Ground tackle; Tender & outboard; Other. There is no separate system or category field. - **The type sets suggested plans.** After Add equipment, a type with suggestions opens the new equipment's page with "Equipment added. Review the suggested plans below." **Add N plans** there adds the ticked ones, with a choice to add the usual items to Inventory too. - **Diesel engine and Outboard engine** are the types that carry engine hours. ### Status, condition and importance {#state} Three separate facts describe a piece of equipment. A new piece is In service, Unknown and Important unless you choose otherwise. | Fact | Values | What it is for | |---|---|---| | Status | In service, Out of service, Spare | Whether it is in use | | Condition | Unknown, Good, Fair, Poor, Failed | The state you last judged it in | | Importance | Essential, Important, Useful | How loudly Today reports it out of service or failed | - **Out of service or Failed** puts the equipment on Today: in Do first when it is Essential or Important, in Soon when it is Useful. It is not reported this way while a problem or an open job already puts it on Today. - **Something wrong with it is a problem**, never a status. The edit form has "Something wrong with it? Record a problem". Problems are covered in [Work: plans, jobs and problems](work.html). - **The equipment page** shows importance and status together ("Essential · In service"), and the list shows a status only when it is not In service. ### Dates {#dates} The edit form's Important dates are Purchase date, Installed, Warranty until, Last serviced or checked, Service or expiry due, and Removed. - **Service or expiry due** is a date the equipment itself needs attention: a life raft's service, flares' expiry, a fire extinguisher's check. Today reports it in Soon from 60 days before ("Service or expiry due 3 Oct") and in Do first once the day has passed ("Service or expiry was due 3 Oct"). The equipment page shows "Due 3 Oct" or "Overdue". - **Mark done** (on the equipment page while the date is set) asks **Done on** (today by default) and an optional **Next due**. It saves Last serviced or checked and replaces Service or expiry due; left empty, Next due clears it. - **Removed** is the day the equipment left the boat. Saving one asks "Archive this equipment too?"; **Keep it** leaves it on the lists. - **Warranty until** shows "(ended)" once past. Service or expiry due is separate from plans. Which to use for what is covered in [Work: plans, jobs and problems](work.html). ### Specifications, parent and location {#specifications} - **Specifications** are any values worth keeping: Name, Value, Unit, Source, Note ("Battery capacity, 400 Ah, Manual page 12"). - **Location** is free text ("Port cockpit locker"). - **Parent equipment** makes one piece part of another (a raw-water pump under the engine); the parent's page lists its children. ## Engine hours {#engine-hours} Engine hours are **readings** on a **meter**. A meter belongs to one piece of equipment, and each piece has at most one. A reading is the total the meter showed at a moment. The current hours are the latest reading by the time it was taken, not by when it was typed. ### Where readings come from {#reading-sources} - **Add a reading**, in the Record menu, Today's row of things to record and the search box. With one meter it is preselected ("For Volvo Penta D2"); with several it asks which engine; with an engine and no meter it offers **Set up engine hours**; with no engine it says "Add your engine first". - **Record hours** on the engine's page. - **A trip**: Log a trip, End trip and a log entry's Engine hours field each record a reading linked to the trip. - **Did the job** with engine hours, and an assistant (`reading_record`). Today lists each engine's current hours with how long ago they were read ("432.5 h · read 3 days ago"), counting days on the boat's clock, then the date after 30 days. ### The rules a reading must pass {#reading-rules} | Rule | Refusal | |---|---| | A number of 0 or more | "Enter a valid positive hour value." | | Not lower than the current reading, when taken at or after its time | "This is lower than the current accepted reading (432 h). Record an earlier observation or correct the earlier record instead." | | Not more than 15 minutes ahead of the server's clock | Refused by the server; the reading waits in Sync problems | | A log entry's hours: not above a later reading, not in the future | Shown under the field | A reading dated before the current one is not checked against it: it is an earlier observation and does not become the current hours. ### Correcting a reading {#correcting} Readings are never edited or deleted. A wrong reading is voided and a new one recorded in its place, and both stay in the record. - **A reading linked to a trip** is corrected from the trip page: its row opens **Correct engine hours**. - **Any other reading** (from Add a reading, Record hours or the first run) cannot be corrected in the app today. The equipment page's History lists it without an action. A reading typed too high therefore stops every lower reading after it from being saved. | What you see | What it means | What to do | |---|---|---| | "This is lower than the current accepted reading" | A reading at or before this time is higher | Check the time; if the higher reading is from a trip, correct it on the trip page | | A reading in Sync problems | The server refused it: another device recorded a higher one, or it is dated in the future | Discard it, then record the right value | | "This meter has readings, so it cannot be removed." | Engine hours cannot be removed once read | Leave the meter; it does no harm | ### For assistants {#for-assistants} 1. **One meter per piece of equipment.** `meter_list` first; `meter_create` on equipment that has an active meter is refused. `meter_archive` (Remove engine hours) needs the owner's approval and is refused once the meter has a reading. 2. **`reading_record` is the only way to record hours**, and a value lower than the latest accepted reading is refused. Read `reading_list` first; if the owner's number is lower, say so and ask which is right rather than retrying. 3. **There is no tool to void a reading.** A wrong reading recorded over MCP is corrected by the owner in the app, and only when it is linked to a trip; be sure of a number before you record it. 4. **Dates on equipment are plain days** (`2026-10-03`) in `purchaseDate`, `installedAt`, `warrantyUntil`, `lastInspectedAt` and `nextInspectionAt` ("Service or expiry due"). 5. **Type decides the system.** Send `type` from `list_values_get`; do not send a `system` for a built-in type, and add a custom type with `list_value_add` before using it. 6. **Never set a status or condition to say something is wrong.** `operationalStatus` says whether the item is in use and `condition` what the owner judged it; something wrong is `defect_create`. ### Removing engine hours {#removing-engine-hours} **Remove engine hours** (in the equipment page's More menu) archives the meter. It is offered only while the meter has no reading, and asks "Remove engine hours from Volvo Penta D2?" with **Remove** and **Keep it**. Engine hours can be set up again later. An assistant needs your approval to do the same. ## Not in this chapter {#not-here} The ideas behind the app: [How LazyJack thinks](how-it-thinks.html). Plans beyond the first run, jobs and problems: [Work: plans, jobs and problems](work.html). Documents beyond the papers: [Documents and papers](documents.html). Items, stock and To buy: [Inventory and To buy](inventory.html). Trips and places: [A trip: before, during and after](a-trip.html). Money: [Budget and projects](budget.html). Restoring a backup at the first run: [Backup, restore and moving devices](backup.html). What an assistant can do with the boat's records: [Assistants](assistants.html).