Inventory program

[pessimist]

The previous owner was giving up sailing so left a lot of gear on board most of which was not mentioned on the inventory. SWMO climbed into the lazarette over the weekend and found many treasures we were unaware of. We also have the perennial problem of "where did you leave the grip thribley". The answer would seem to be a simple inventory program. The offerings I can find are all too complicated - we just need a simple search for an item which will return its location. I'd like it to run on a Raspberry as we already have one on board and to have a web browser interface so we can access it from any device. Free and open source would be good. Anyone know of anything freely available before I reinvent the wheel?

 

[capnsensible]

We used a notebook and pencil. Didn't go wrong in over 22 years.

Added bonus. You can write, using the pencil, on a piece of paper listing the locker contents. With the marvel of sellotape, you can stick it to the underside of the locker lid. Hey presto!

Seriously, you can plasticise it for durability too.

 

[lustyd]

If you have so much stuff that you need a searchable database I would recommend a skip, not an app!

 

[dunedin]

I use an Excel spread sheet, saved on drop box so accessible from phone, tablet and home PC.

Very quick and very flexible. We have just three columns Item, location, notes/comments. Easily searched by text search, or can filter by location. Zero extra cost already have Excel.

 

[Lightwave395]

+1 for Excel

 

[Poignard]

These schemes only work if you put things back where they belong . . .

 

[Plum]

+1 for Excel

+another 1 for Excel with the file stored in a cloud drive synced with an offline copy on all or selected devices for when you have no internet connection.

www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[RobbieW]

...Very quick and very flexible. We have just three columns Item, location, notes/comments. Easily searched by text search, or can filter by location. Zero extra cost already have Excel.

.. and if you dont already have Excel, LibreOffice will do the same job and is free

 

[Sandy]

I have a "Notes for <insert boat name here>" document that covers all sorts of stuff from how to start the engine to where the thingi-bob is hidden. Printed annually at the start of the season and updated in pen as I go along.

 

[blush2]

I use an Excel spread sheet, saved on drop box so accessible from phone, tablet and home PC.

Very quick and very flexible. We have just three columns Item, location, notes/comments. Easily searched by text search, or can filter by location. Zero extra cost already have Excel.

Have much the same but organised by cabin, then lockers port fwd to aft and stbd with safety items in red (seacocks, fire extinguishers, flares, lifejackets etc).

 

[mjcoon]

If by any chance you just have Word and not Excel you could probably do all you need with a table. No fancy calculations called for...

 

[LittleSister]

I took the trouble to make a note of what was in every locker, and in every one of the numerous boxes that fill one of the big lockers. It took a surprisingly long time to do. (I would advise having a second person to hand if you are undertaking this task.)

Now where did I put those notes?

 

[Malabarista]

What’s on my boat. An app I downloaded on my iphone several years ago works really well as long as you don’t have a wife ( like mine) who shuffles things around on a daily basis.

 

[lustyd]

Much of this can be solved by simply keeping some tonic water in every locker

 

[mattonthesea]

A bit nerdy I know but I constructed an MS Access. It's a bit more than a table as it also works schedule/needs and stuff to take from home plus costs etc. We use it to audit at the beginning of the season.

Generally works well but today we can't find the dry bags!

I think an equivalent to Access is on Libre office but not sure

 

[SimonKNZ]

There are some good Android apps. I use one which can go down several levels - boat, cabin, locker, container. It's called Magic Home Inventory

 

[dunedin]

There are some good Android apps. I use one which can go down several levels - boat, cabin, locker, container. It's called Magic Home Inventory

The issue there is perhaps less flexibility than something like excel + cloud for such a simple list - mine is accessible from PC, iPad as well as Android phone, plus it prints very easily and efficiently. In my experience few apps give this simple flexibility

 

[dunedin]

If by any chance you just have Word and not Excel you could probably do all you need with a table. No fancy calculations called for...

Yep, also an option. What words lacks is the ability to use the excel Filter feature to quickly get a condensed list of only the items of interest that match your filter - eg stern locker, or engine spares. Zero calculations needed on my inventory.
But whatever you are familiar with.

 

[KompetentKrew]

There are some good Android apps. I use one which can go down several levels - boat, cabin, locker, container. It's called Magic Home Inventory

This looks amazing.

 

[SimonKNZ]

This looks amazing.

It does the trick for me, but as Dunedin pointed out above, you could achieve a similar result with Excel and have the advantage of it being in the cloud for any device. I like the simplicity of the app though