When looking at boat ads what do you want to know?

[camaraderie]

Originally Posted by twisty

Boat Class
Type
Manufacturer/Model:
Year
Length
Beam
Asking Price
Boat Name
Location
Displacement
Hull Material
Number of Hulls
Cruise Speed
Max Speed
Water Tank Capacity
Holding Tank Capacity
Sleeps how many people
Engine Manufacturer
Eng. year
Eng Horsepower
Eng. Hours
Eng. Coolant
Fuel Type
Fuel Capacity
Keel type
Long text boat description
Head y or n
galley y or n
shower y or n
Electronics long text description
Has boat been a charter

Draft + Air Draft
Included additional equipment i.e. dinghy/epirb/extra sails
Rudder Type...spade, skeg etC

[David_Old_Jersey]

Just a sudden thought ......although perhaps of more importance on motorboats - type of drive. i.e shaft, saildrive or outboard.

[nautical62]

For me what's as important as what's listed on the spec. sheet is what I can search for. I'm closing on a boat that I'm buying with Bahamas cruising in mind, so draft is very important and it was very frustrating that draft was not a search feature on most sites, which meant that I'd have to open up so many individual spec. sheets to find the 5% that were shoal draft versions.

[Norm]

Waterline length - LWL

[skipmac]

How about an exclusion or NOT option in the search engine. For example I want to find boats with any rig except ketch so I could do searches for sloop, cutter, yawl, schooner, etc or just one search that excludes any listing that includes the word "ketch".

Would of course work for other options and features as well. For all you ketch owners out there I am not trying to pick on ketches it was just the first example that came to me.

[twisty]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Draft + Air Draft
Included additional equipment i.e. dinghy/epirb/extra sails
Rudder Type...spade, skeg etC

Got it all, ok programming it now.

[twisty]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Just a sudden thought ......although perhaps of more importance on motorboats - type of drive. i.e shaft, saildrive or outboard.

Covered already, well sort of, will keep that in mind for future revisions

[twisty]

Originally Posted by skipmac

How about an exclusion or NOT option in the search engine. For example I want to find boats with any rig except ketch so I could do searches for sloop, cutter, yawl, schooner, etc or just one search that excludes any listing that includes the work "ketch".

Would of course work for other options and features as well. For all you ketch owners out there I am not trying to pick on ketches it was just the first example that came to me.

Thats highly possible, haven't gotten to the search yet, but will add this to the possibilities list for it. The only problem I see with it, with hundreds of listings you are going to be overwhelmed with results. But there is always a way to refine ideas.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by twisty

Thats highly possible, haven't gotten to the search yet, but will add this to the possibilities list for it. The only problem I see with it, with hundreds of listings you are going to be overwhelmed with results. But there is always a way to refine ideas.

Exactly. To avoid too many results the exclusion would have to be only one of the search parameters. For example:

Length - min 38, max 44
rig - NOT ketch
draft - max 6'
price - max $125,000.00
engine - NOT gas
etc.

Another feature that many buyers really want or really do not want, Center Cockpit. Or was this already mentioned?

[twisty]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Exactly. To avoid too many results the exclusion would have to be only one of the search parameters. For example:

Length - min 38, max 44
rig - NOT ketch
draft - max 6'
price - max $125,000.00
engine - NOT gas
etc.

Another feature that many buyers really want or really do not want, Center Cockpit. Or was this already mentioned?

Why do I get the feeling I am going to be writing code for the next 2 months...lol

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by twisty

Why do I get the feeling I am going to be writing code for the next 2 months...lol

Well, you did ask a bunch of opinionated sailors a pointed question.

Don't worry. If you get too overwhelmed I have a friend that is senior programer and project manager for a big software company. I'm sure he would love to help out for a "small" fee.

[twisty]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Well, you did ask a bunch of opinionated sailors a pointed question.

Don't worry. If you get too overwhelmed I have a friend that is senior programer and project manager for a big software company. I'm sure he would love to help out for a "small" fee.

"small" fee huh? I am a programmer I know what "small" fees are...LOL

Plus I don't get overwhelmed, I get even, everyone who posted in this thread has to add a fake ad to test the form! Did I forget to mention that part?


OK here is what we have so far... Test Form

[H27Tom]

For those of us taller sailors who enjoy sailing/can only afford smaller boats....Headroom?

[dacust]

Originally Posted by twisty

Why do I get the feeling I am going to be writing code for the next 2 months...lol

Yep!

But here's the deal. All the other sites have various omissions on their search engines. I wonder why? The programming effort could be part of that. So, you can fix that and really have the best search out there. But it'll take a lot of work.

-dan

[nautical62]

If this has already been mentioned, I missed it:

Bridge Clearance.