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Vessel transfer — handing the boat to a new owner

Export the vessel's history, vendors, playbooks and documents into a file the next owner imports. Owner-only, one-way, and nothing on your side changes.

When the boat changes hands, you don't want the next owner starting from zero. Vessel Transfer writes a .theone-transfer FILE — observations, service records, engine hours, surveys, vendors, playbooks, documents — which you send however you like and they import.

Boat IT passwords go only if you pick them, one by one, and only locked with a passphrase you set; the buyer types it to open them. A passphrase also gives the whole file a tamper check. Without one no password goes, and the file carries a damage check only — it catches a file damaged in transit, not one changed on purpose.

Two things to know before you start. It is OWNER-ONLY: if your role is captain or manager the rows are not on your Settings screen at all. And it is one-way and non-destructive — building the file changes nothing on your install, you keep everything, and there is no handover to accept afterwards.

Steps

  1. Open the transfer hub

    Menu (☰) → Settings → Vessel Transfer. Settings is not under the Stowage tab for a captain or owner — Stowage is inventory only.

    Nothing warns you that your access changes, because it does not. The exporter only reads: your vessel, your data and your owner role are untouched, and you can build the file again any time.

  2. Build the bundle

    Tap 'Generate transfer bundle' and confirm. Vessel identity, customised playbooks, maintenance, observations, engine hours, vessel systems, service events and issues ALWAYS travel — they are not toggles. Surveys are not a separate item: they are documents filed under the survey category, so they travel only if you switch on Documents binder. An observation you marked Private stays on your device and is never in the bundle. What you can switch: Trip log, Fuel-burn samples, Charter / rental history, Marina / slip info, Operating costs, Captain's intro note, Vendor contacts, Tenders & toys, Manuals & schematics, Vessel photos and Documents binder — and, one switch each, the boat passwords in Boat IT. Four start off: Charter / rental history, Marina / slip info, Documents binder and every password. Any password you switch on needs a passphrase, typed twice, at least 8 characters. Three of them carry nothing today — Fuel-burn samples and Charter / rental history write an empty section whether you switch them on or not, and Manuals & schematics adds nothing to the file. Marina / slip info carries your homeport and nothing else, and Operating costs leaves out any bill you filed under Crew. Vendor contacts carry each vendor's website and address and the vendor's people — name, title, email and phones — but never anyone's app access: the buyer gives that again. A work order or issue that named one of your vendors names the buyer's copy of that card; with Vendor contacts off, it names none. Issues, observations, vessel systems and run-hours logs arrive with every field you had — an archived issue stays archived, a service due by engine hours keeps its hours, a meter reading you typed stays a reading — except links to what does not travel: trips, your calendar events, playbook runs, stowage spots, and who raised an observation.

    There is nothing to uncheck for Crew Book or your private notes: crew, notes, fuel log, deck logbook, float plans, safety equipment, air draft and the boat's papers are simply not in the bundle. Nor are spares and everything else stowed, the stowage locations, saved routes, incidents, or the PDFs on the Manuals shelf — the buyer starts those fresh; the transfer screen says so under Inventory.

  3. Send the file

    Generating opens the iOS share sheet with a .theone-transfer file — AirDrop, Mail, Files, whatever suits. THERE IS NO TRANSFER CODE; nothing in the app asks for one or generates one, so a buyer hunting for a code-entry field will not find it. On their side: Menu (☰) → Settings → Import Transfer, then pick the file (or open it straight from Mail or Files). They must be the owner on their install too. If you set a passphrase, they type it before anything imports — tell it to them in person or by phone, not in the same message as the file. Past trips, tenders & toys, vessel photos, marina / slip info and your intro note travel in the file, but the import does not bring them in: the buyer's preview lists them under Not brought over.

  4. Two things the buyer must get right

    There is no handover step — once they import, it is done, and nothing comes back to you to accept.

    FIRST: the import lands on whichever vessel is ACTIVE on their install. It never creates one. A buyer with more than one boat must add and switch to the new hull before importing, or the previous owner's maintenance, observations, vendors and credentials merge into the wrong boat.

    SECOND: importing the same file twice duplicates almost everything — vendors, playbooks, credentials, maintenance, observations, service events, run-hours logs, documents. Only operating costs de-duplicate. There is no undo.

  5. Mark her sold

    Once the buyer has imported the file, and if the boat is in the cloud, the hub shows After the sale → Mark her sold (owner only). It is the one step here that changes something: the boat's cloud record closes — nobody can add to it — everyone you had aboard in the cloud is taken off, and every invite code you handed out stops working. You keep your copy on this phone and can still read her in the cloud; this phone stops syncing her, so anything you change on your copy afterwards stays on this phone only. Optionally give the day the sale closed. Tapped by mistake? Account lists her as marked sold with Undo “sold” (owner only; you are asked first): her cloud record opens again, but nobody taken off is put back and no stopped code works again — a new invite brings them back. The buyer's boat is a new vessel carrying the history you sent; your record of her is yours.

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