How Chaos on the Docks Led Us to Build ShopTrack

Running a marine service center should be about helping people get back on the water—not drowning in paperwork, confusion, or miscommunication.

But that’s exactly what we found ourselves doing in the early days of operating a full-service marine shop at a marina in North Texas. Like many shops, we started out the old-school way: paper and pen for quotes, invoices, and work orders. It worked—until it didn’t.

The Paper Problem

Paper has a short shelf life in a marine environment. Between oil-slicked fingers and test drives that involved hauling paperwork down to the lake, our work orders would come back wrinkled, water-stained, and sometimes completely illegible. We tried making copies to keep backups, but even that created new problems—multiple versions of the same job, with no clear way to know which one was the most accurate or up-to-date.

• “Who has the latest version of that invoice?”
• “Did we already quote that job, or was that just verbal?”
• “Why are we calling the customer again if we already updated them yesterday?”

Spreadsheets: A Temporary Fix

Eventually, we moved to spreadsheets. We created templates for quotes and invoices and kept a shared file to manage active work orders. This helped somewhat. Our service advisor could now track progress and even centralize some communication with customers.

But even that didn’t scale well. Searching through tabs and folders for a specific job became a scavenger hunt. We couldn’t quickly filter by customer name, boat type, or service status. Sometimes, we'd be looking at outdated files because someone forgot to save the latest version.

The Breaking Point

What finally pushed us to take action was realizing how much time and revenue we were losing—just by not having a formal system. Missed follow-ups. Lost quotes. Repeated phone calls for simple updates. We weren’t just frustrating ourselves—we were frustrating our customers.

That’s when the idea for ShopTrack was born.

From Frustration to Foundation

We didn’t want a generic repair shop platform. We needed something that understood the specific workflows of marine service centers:

• Jobs that shift based on weather or parts availability
• Technicians who need access from the dock, not just a desktop
• Customers who expect quick updates but aren’t always nearby
• Boats, trailers, engines, and accessories—all with their own service histories

We built ShopTrack to solve these problems for ourselves—and for other marine shops facing the same pain.

What ShopTrack Does Differently

ShopTrack helps marine shops move from guesswork to clarity with:

• Centralized Work Orders: Track every job from quote to completion
• Real-Time Status Updates: Keep your team and your customers in the loop
• Mobile-Friendly Interface: Use it from the service bay, the dock, or the office
• Searchable Job History: Quickly find past work, customer info, or service notes
• Marine-Specific Design: Built by people who know the difference between a PWC and a pontoon

Why It Matters

At the end of the day, marine service is about trust. If a customer drops off their boat and doesn’t hear back, that trust erodes. If they get billed for something they didn’t approve, it’s gone. We built ShopTrack so your process builds confidence—not confusion.

We’ve lived the chaos. We built the solution. And now, we’re sharing it with other marine shops who are ready for a better way.