Some of the best uses for a mobile phone aboard a boat are obvious, programs that help navigate or obtain information on weather, tides and currents. But there is a whole family of additional applications that can make your boating experience easier, safer and more manageable.
As smartphones grow in popularity, there are applications to help manage lists, maintain a blog, streamline email and perform web browsing that helps with dozens of other common boating tasks.
What follows are some of the programs we have used while cruising, but this is by no means a complete list. A quick Internet search will turn up many more, so shop around when you have a need.
One of the first smartphone applications that we used, and continue to use today, is SmartList To Go by DataViz. SmartList is an easy-to-use, highly-functional database program for Palm OS devices. There's a free 30-day trial and the software costs $49.99.
Some of our database lists on Palm OS.Not only can you create your own custom databases, there are 50 pre-defined templates that come with the program and thousands of others available on the web. For example, there is a data conversion template, which can be helpful if you want to convert liters to gallons, and a grocery list program to streamline your provisioning trips. You can customize any of the templates and add to the lists to meet your specific needs.
A few years ago we made our way down the Florida Keys to Key West. Armed with the DrinkMaster template, a bar tending guide with over 650 preloaded drink recipes, we decided to develop "the perfect Margarita." With plenty of opportunities to do research along the way, we started with one of the DrinkMaster recipes and continued to tweak it until we felt we had reached perfection. Our friends and family tell us we were successful and often beg for the recipe.
LIST SOFTWARE
But SmartList really excels at practical boating uses. We keep project lists and maintenance log reminders. We keep a list of all boat parts with manufacturers, model numbers, serial numbers and other data. That way we always have this information with us when we go ashore. Once we were at a marine supply store and found a great sale on zincs. We simply popped into the parts list and got all the specs we needed to get the right parts. The savings from the ZHC-17 hull zincs paid for our slip that night!
ListPro on Windows Mobile.We use a fuel log to keep track of our fuel usage and how it might change, which is important with today's rising fuel costs. For example, we can track the savings we obtain by slightly reducing our cruising speed. In addition, spotting a moderate change in fuel consumption might point to an engine issue looming in the future.
We also keep a log of every marina and anchorage we have ever stayed at. Included is the exact latitude and longitude, notes about the stay, and other details. That was the first set of data we put into our ActiveCaptain website.
Finally, to show how completely obsessed we can be, we keep an engine room log that records various information on our hourly engine room checks. The information includes engine hours, temperature and RPM's, sea conditions, and other observations. This has actually proven to be an extremely useful practice. We have noticed engine issues early, such as when the engine temperature began behaving differently.
Programs also exist for other smartphones. Ilium Software has ListPro which runs on Windows Mobile and Palm OS smartphones. It has a variety of lists which you can download for free and customize to meet your needs. We've purchased ListPro for Windows Mobile and have run all of our boating databases on it with excellent results. There's a free 30-day trial and the software is $29.95.
HanDBase on Blackberry.
HanDBase by DDH Software runs on Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Symbian smartphones. Check their website for more information about the specific phones supported. The website offers more than 2,000 databases which you can download for free and use or modify. There's a trial version available and the software costs $39.99.
THIRD-PARTY BROWSERS
If you have been looking at some websites with your mobile phone, you may have discovered that some will display quite well, while others offer a challenge. Most are somewhere in between. There are several third party additions for your Windows Mobile and Symbian smartphones which can help make web browsing easier. Of course, the Apple iPhone already has excellent software for web browsing included, as do the Palm OS devices. Blackberry devices also have a built-in web browser which is known for its lackluster appearance. Fortunately, there's a third party replacement for Blackberry also.
