Handoff, Yacht Passport

A vessel's memory should not disembark with her captain.

Captains and chief engineers move on. Most vessels change command every few seasons, and each new arrival rebuilds the same picture from scratch: a laptop of PDFs, a drawer of manuals, and whatever the last engineer remembered to write down. A Yacht Passport keeps that knowledge with the vessel, not with whoever happens to be aboard.

Whatever yard built her, Dutch, German, Italian, or British, the record is built the same way: verified, organised, and handed forward.

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Published pricing. Scoped to the vessel's size.One record, one vessel.Private record, not a class document.

Specimen, Yacht PassportSample record, for illustration only

LOA: 140'0" / 42.6m
Beam: 27'0" / 8.2m
Draft: 7'11" / 2.4m
Gross Tonnage: 499 GT
Staterooms: 6
Guests / Crew: 12 / 11
Builder / Year: Custom build, 2019 (refit 2024)
Flag / Class: Cayman Islands / Classed, survey current

A Yacht Passport is a private operating record, prepared for the vessel's owner and crew. It is not a statutory or class document, and it does not replace Flag State registration, Class certification, or MCA compliance.

She will outlast her crew.

Most vessels change command every few seasons. Everything the last engineer knew leaves with him, and the next one starts the picture again from nothing.

The record stays aboard.

Systems, serials, service history, yard periods, the drawings and the certificates. Held with the vessel rather than on a laptop that goes ashore.

III

And it hands forward.

At survey, at sale, at the change of a captain, the next person aboard inherits what the last one knew. That is the whole of it.

The handover problem

When the captain leaves, so does the vessel's memory.

Most yachts change captain every few years, often the chief engineer with them. What leaves is not just a person, it is the accumulated judgment of a season or a refit, which genset runs hot in following seas, which yard actually finishes on time, which stabiliser seal needs watching before the next haul-out. The next crew rebuilds all of it from scratch.

The service history that lived in the outgoing engineer's head, never the logbook.
A folder of PDFs split across three laptops and two email accounts.
The operating manual for a genset that was swapped out two refits ago.
Tender registration paperwork nobody can locate before a class survey.
A yard that did excellent work, remembered only because someone still had the number.
A new captain's first season spent rediscovering what the last one already knew.

What it holds

Everything the vessel and her next crew need to know.

Seven categories cover what an owner, captain, or presenting broker actually needs on hand, organised once, kept current, and handed forward with the vessel.

Machinery & Systems

What's installed, and its condition.

Main engines & gearboxes
Generators
Stabilisers & thrusters
Watermakers & chillers
Hydraulics
Navigation & communications

Running Hours & Service Intervals

Tracked against actual use, not a calendar.

250 / 500 / 1,000 / 2,000-hour services
Oil and filter changes
Overhaul schedules
Warranty conditions

Documents & Certificates

The paperwork a survey or a sale actually asks for.

Certificate of Registry
Class certificate & Tonnage
Load Line certificate
Radio licence & MMSI
Insurance & survey reports
VAT status & temporary importation
Builder's Certificate
Refit & yard records

Safety Equipment

Each item with its own dated service interval.

Life rafts
EPIRB
Fire suppression systems
Service due dates, tracked by expiry

Tenders & Toys

What's aboard, and what it needs.

Tenders & chase boats
Water toys & dive equipment
Registration & servicing
Storage & handling notes

Crew Handover Notes

What the last crew wished they'd known sooner.

Vessel-specific quirks & workarounds
Preferred settings & routines
Owner preferences
Season and passage notes

Trusted Yards, Surveyors & Specialists

Contacts kept on file, not in a group text.

Yards who already know the vessel
Surveyors used at the last haul-out
AV/IT, upholstery, tender specialists
Direct contact details

The real differentiator

Maintenance is measured in hours, not months.

Main engines and generators are serviced against running hours, 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000. A vessel that runs hard for six weeks in the Med needs attention on a completely different clock than one that sits quiet through a winter lay-up. Safety equipment doesn't follow that clock at all: life rafts, EPIRBs, and fire suppression are serviced against a date, set by regulation, whether the vessel moved an inch or not. A calendar-based system built for a house cannot model either of these. A Yacht Passport tracks both, and flags what is actually due, not what a generic schedule assumes.

Running-hour driven

Machinery

Main engines (250 / 500 / 1,000 / 2,000h)
Gearboxes
Generators
Stabilisers & thrusters

Date driven

Safety equipment

Life rafts
EPIRB
Fire suppression
Insurance & survey renewals

What's next

Running hours, read from the vessel's own bus.

In development

Every planned-maintenance system in this market, this one included, today, depends on someone entering hours by hand. Hours entered by hand drift, get entered late, or get entered from memory after a change of command. A service interval computed from the engine's own counter does not.

What already exists

Modern marine engines expose data over NMEA 2000 or SAE J1939. Signal K, an open, JSON-based marine data standard, has been formally recognised by the marine electronics standards body as a way to gateway NMEA 2000 data into internet-friendly formats. Maritime satellite internet has, in a few seasons, made persistent connectivity ordinary on vessels that previously had none.

What that makes possible

Taken together, running hours can in principle be read directly from the vessel's own data bus, instead of being typed into a form by a crew member at the end of a watch.

This depends on a gateway aboard the vessel, and on what her specific engines expose. It is not available today, will not suit every vessel, and is not a replacement for the engineer's judgement or the vessel's official logs. It does not offer navigational, stability, or compliance advice.

For brokers

A prepared record is easier to present, and easier to diligence.

A prepared Yacht Passport can make a vessel feel better documented, better maintained, and easier for a buyer's surveyor to work through.

A Yacht Passport doesn't change what the vessel is. It changes how quickly a buyer's side can understand it. We brand the delivered record for the presenting brokerage or management company, so it arrives as part of your listing, not a third-party product.

We make no claim about sale price or time to sale. What we deliver is documentation a serious buyer's team can move through quickly.

Astra Intelligence

Ask the vessel a question.

Every Yacht Passport includes Astra Intelligence, the AI layer built by Werner Harmonic Labs. Ask a plain question and get an answer sourced from this vessel's own records, with the source shown.

An example exchange, sample record

“When is the port generator due for its next 1,000-hour service, and who serviced it last?”

The port generator has logged 940 hours since its last 1,000-hour service, completed by the contracted engineering yard in March. The invoice and service report are attached to this record.

Source · Machinery & Systems, Generators

Available today

Typed questions, answered from the vessel's own records, with the source shown.
Finding certificates, manuals, and service records.
Confirming running hours, intervals, and dates against the actual record.
Plain-language explanations of what a document says.

In development

Voice input
Photo upload
Document Q&A
Comparing across a fleet

Astra Intelligence retrieves and explains what is already in the vessel's record. It does not offer navigational, stability, or regulatory compliance advice, and it does not certify that any procedure is safe. For anything safety-critical, the vessel's own certificates, class surveyor, or flag administration remain the authority.

How it's built

We build the record. You don't have to.

We collect
The specification, machinery records, certificates, and service history, from the vessel, the yard, and the management company.
We organise and verify
Every document and interval is checked against the actual machinery and current certificates before it enters the record.
We brand it
The delivered Yacht Passport is branded for the presenting broker or management company, it arrives as part of your work, not a separate product.
We deliver it
The finished record goes to the owner and the crew, ready for the next season, the next survey, or the next change of command.

Pricing

The build, once. The record, kept current.

A privately operated 130–200 foot (40–60 metre) motor yacht typically costs 12–15% of her purchase price to run every year. Crew alone can run $500,000 to $700,000 a year on a 130-footer, and $1 to $2 million a year on a 165-footer, before management fees, typically another 3–5% of annual running costs. Set against numbers like that, a Yacht Passport is priced as what it actually is: specialist work, not software.

The build

The one-time fee is specialist labour, not a signup. It covers collecting the specification, machinery records, certificates, and service history from the vessel, the yard, and the management company; verifying every interval against the actual machinery; and organising and branding the finished record. It is weeks of work, not a form.

Custody

The monthly fee keeps the record current: certificate and service expiries tracked as they fall due, Astra Intelligence included, crew seats included, and the record maintained through every change of command.

Vessel	Build (one-time)	Custody (monthly)
Under 100' / 30m	$8,500	$500
100–150' / 30–45m	$19,500	$1,000
150–200' / 45–60m	$35,000	$1,750
Over 200' / 60m	Price on application	Price on application

Total annual running cost on a vessel this size is commonly put at 12 to 15 percent of her purchase price, so the $1,750 custody fee for a 150–200 foot (45–60m) vessel is well under one percent of a typical annual running cost. We make no promise of savings, and none should be inferred, only that the fee sits far below the scale of the budget it sits alongside.

Handoff builds the same kind of operating record for luxury residential property, known there as the Home Passport. For residences →

Own an owner-operated vessel or a smaller yacht rather than a professionally crewed one? Vessel Passport is scoped and priced for her instead, from $4,500. Explore Vessel Passport →

Consultation

The price is published. The scope is still worth a conversation.

Standard tiers are published above, scoped by vessel length. Vessels over 200 feet (60m), where refit history and a bespoke scope make a fixed number meaningless, remain price on application. Either way, a private consultation is the right first step: the vessel, the current state of her records, and what building a Yacht Passport actually involves.

By appointment. We respond within one business day.

View a Yacht Passport

Questions

Frequently asked questions.

Is a Yacht Passport a statutory or class document?
No. A Yacht Passport is a private operating record, prepared for the vessel's owner and crew. It is not a substitute for Flag State registration, Class certification, or MCA compliance, and it does not confer, satisfy, or maintain any regulatory status. Those remain the vessel's own certificates and her Class and Flag Administration.
Who typically commissions one, the owner, the captain, or the broker?
Most often the owner or the owner's representative, though a captain or a presenting broker frequently initiates the conversation on the owner's behalf. Either way, the finished record belongs to the vessel and travels with her.
How is the information collected without disrupting the season?
Most of the work happens off the vessel, through the management company, the yard, and existing paperwork. Time aboard is scheduled around the vessel's actual programme, not the other way around.
Does a Yacht Passport help sell the vessel faster, or for more?
We don't make that claim, and we'd be cautious of anyone who does. What a prepared Yacht Passport can do is make a vessel feel better documented, better maintained, and easier for a buyer's surveyor to work through.
What happens to the record at a change of ownership?
The record can transfer with the vessel, on terms the owner sets. It is designed to move forward with a sale, not disappear at closing.
How does the running-hours model handle a vessel that sits idle for part of the year?
Machinery intervals track actual running hours, so a quiet season doesn't advance a service clock that hasn't earned it. Safety equipment is unaffected either way, life rafts, EPIRBs, and fire suppression are serviced against their regulatory dates regardless of how much the vessel ran.