Most UK yards already produce service history in some form — typically a folder of carbon-copy job sheets the customer takes away after collection. It works, until the customer loses it, the carbon fades, or they ask three years later for a copy of a job you can no longer find.
Generating service history as a branded PDF, on demand, from your job records is one of the simplest upgrades a yard can make. It costs nothing to send and it pays back in three different ways.
Insurance and BSS Audits
When a customer's insurer queries a claim, or their BSS examiner wants evidence of recent gas-system work, the customer often comes back to the yard for proof. If you can produce a complete, dated, itemised PDF in two minutes, you look like a professional outfit. If you can't, you don't.
The same applies to MCA coding renewals for commercial vessels — service history is part of the evidence pack.
Brokerage Value
Brokers consistently report that boats with documented service history sell faster and at higher prices than equivalent boats without. The uplift varies, but £1,000–£5,000 on a typical 30-foot motor cruiser is not unusual. Customers selling through your brokerage benefit directly; customers selling privately remember who supplied the records.
A branded yard PDF on every page is a marketing artefact that travels with the boat for the rest of its life.
Repeat-Custom Hook
When you send a customer their year's service history each January — automatically — you remind them you exist, you remind them what they spent, and you remind them what's due next. It's the cheapest customer-retention tactic in the trade.
A short cover note suggesting next year's antifoul slot or a winter service booking turns a record into a sale.
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How Marina Yard Manager Generates Them
Every completed job — labour, materials, parts, photos, and engineer notes — is automatically added to the boat's record. From any boat profile, one click produces a PDF in your yard's branding, ready to email or print.
On the DMS tier you can also schedule annual auto-send PDFs to active customers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the PDF include parts and materials?
Yes — all line items from completed jobs, with descriptions, quantities, and (optionally) prices. Prices can be if the customer is buying the boat at trade.
Can I include photos?
Yes. Any photos attached to job cards (rigging surveys, antifoul condition, engine bay shots) appear in the PDF.
Is it GDPR-safe to send service history by email?
Yes, providing the customer is the boat owner. Marina Yard Manager logs the send for your audit trail.
Written by
Hamish Lowry-Martin
Founder & Lead Developer
With 30 years in IT and 20 years developing business systems, Hamish spent the last decade working closely with marinas and boat yards — watching first-hand how they struggle with outdated tools. That hands-on observation led to Marina Yard Manager.
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