First day — getting your vessel into theONE

Walk through the boat survey and Vessel Setup so the app understands your boat.

The first time you open theONE, the first-launch wizard asks for the things only you can answer — who you are, what the boat is called — and then offers the boat survey: 14 quick screens, from hull and main engines through tanks, HVAC, tenders and bridge electronics. Every screen says the same thing and means it: all optional, skip anything you don't know. The more you fill in, the more useful Mission Control becomes immediately, and you can come back and finish later.

Two promises hold on day one. Every answer you give before you finish is kept — when setup closes, the boat you named takes the survey's answers with it. And a screen you skip is not asked again: Skip this and Not sure both count as answered, so the count and the resume card move on.

Steps

1. Where the survey is

   From the fork at the end of first launch (Continue setup). Later: the First Things card's footer on Mission Control ("Boat survey · N of 14 screens"); once that card retires, the survey's own resume card takes the same slot; and nowhere else. It always picks up at the first screen you have neither answered nor skipped.

   Settings → Vessel Setup is NOT a door to the survey. Its rows — Main Engines, Fuel Tanks, Bridge Electronics and the rest — open standalone editors for that one kind of gear: same facts, no survey chrome, no resume.

2. 1 of 14 to 14 of 14

   The header counts the 14 numbered screens and nothing else — the first one, Hull & structure, reads "1 of 14", and Mission Control's "of 14" is the same number. The optional Documents to scan screen that first launch can open with sits before step 1 and carries a note, not a number; the finish screen reads "Complete". Back is off on the first numbered screen and on the scan screen, where there is nothing behind you.

3. Skip what you don't know

   Skip this in the footer moves on and records the skip. On Thrusters, Stabilizers and Anchor windlass, choosing Not sure does the same. Either way the screen counts as answered: the resume card's "N of 14 done" climbs, the survey opens on the next unanswered screen, and when you have answered or skipped all 14 the card leaves on its own. The First Things card's footer counts differently — "Boat survey · N of 14 screens" counts only the screens you answered, so a skip does not move that number and the footer door stays put. Nothing is written to the boat for a skip — the field stays open for the day you know.

4. The resume card, and Hide

   "Tell us about <Vessel>" — "N of 14 done — pick up where you left off" — sits at the top of Mission Control while the survey is unfinished. Under it, "Hide — Vessel Setup stays in Settings" puts the card away for this boat. Every answer stays, and Vessel Setup still lets you edit any of those facts in its own per-type editors.

   BUT HIDE TAKES AWAY THE LAST DOOR TO THE SURVEY ITSELF. Once the First Things card has retired, the resume card is the only way back into the 14-screen run; Vessel Setup does not reopen it. Hide when you would rather fill things in one screen at a time — not when you mean to come back to the survey later. The row's own wording, 'Vessel Setup stays in Settings', is true and is not the same promise.

5. What the survey actually opens on

   Screen 1 is Hull & structure — material, year built, year acquired, HIN. The boat's name, home port and length are asked for earlier, during first launch; make and model are not part of the survey at all (they live on each system's own page).

   Home port is worth getting in early: it drives weather and tide on Mission Control when GPS is unavailable. One catch — the port is turned into coordinates at STARTUP, so if you type it after the app is running, Today keeps saying 'Add a homeport for weather' until the next launch.

6. Engines and generators

   Add each main engine and each generator as a separate unit. Engines you enter on the survey's Main engines screen are tracked for hours from the start — the First Things card's Engines and hours row opens the Hours Monitor for them, and your first reading starts the clock. Even if you only know the most recent reading, type it in; theONE tracks deltas from that baseline.

7. Tanks

   Four screens: fuel, fresh water, grey water and black water. Capacities are optional but useful — they let the Mission Control tiles show 'gallons remaining' as well as percent.

   Shore power is not asked for in setup; amps and volts are live telemetry tiles, not facts you enter here.

8. Tenders and toys

   If you carry a tender, jet ski, e-foil, SeaBob, or paddleboards, add them here. They show up on Mission Control's tender row and roll into trip planning for transport.

9. You can change anything later

   Nothing is locked in. The survey and Vessel Setup are just the fastest way to enter a lot of facts at once. Each system has its own detail page where you can update or replace it later, and Settings → Vessel Identity is where the boat's name changes — tap Edit there.

Related

• Welcome — the 5 things to know firstIf you only read one article, read this one.
• Add or edit a vessel systemEngine, watermaker, windlass, AC unit — how to add one.
• Tenders & Toys — your toy rosterWhere dinghies, jet skis, paddleboards, and other toys live in the app, and how they stay separate from main-vessel systems.
• Your first fifteen minutesThree things make a new boat yours; the search box, the Chart tab and a long-press answer everything else. Fifteen minutes, start to comfortable.

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