If your shop works on boats, jet skis or other watercraft, 1sixty8 Manifold can keep them on the customer's record the same way it keeps cars, identified by the boat's Hull Identification Number (HIN) instead of a VIN.

Turning it on

Go to Settings > Work Orders and switch on "We work on boats" in the Creating work orders section, then click Save in the bar at the bottom of the page. It is free and off by default. While it is off, nothing about boats appears anywhere.

Adding a boat

Anywhere you add a vehicle (the customer page, Add Customer, the invoice form and New Work Order), a Car / truck or Boat choice now appears at the top. Pick Boat and the form changes:

  • HIN: the 12-character number on the transom plate. As you type it, 1sixty8 Manifold checks its shape and reads the build date out of it, for example "Model year 2026, built Jun 2025", and fills in the year. If something looks off (the wrong length, or a 0 where the builder code should have an O), you see a warning, but the boat still saves, since older and foreign boats can carry unusual numbers.
  • Year, make and model. Make and model are typed, with suggestions for common boat brands.
  • Length (feet), hull type (bowrider, center console, pontoon, personal watercraft and more) and hull material.
  • Registration number, in place of a license plate.
  • Engines: how many, the drive type (outboard, inboard, sterndrive or jet), the engine make and model, horsepower per engine, and the engine serial numbers.

A boat never gets a VIN, so VIN-only features stay out of its way: VIN capture on the mobile bay, and recalls and service bulletins do not appear for a boat.

Engine hours

On a boat's work order, Mileage In and Mileage Out become Engine Hours In and Engine Hours Out, on the work order page, the mobile bay, the printed work order and the condition report.

Inspection checklist

A boat's work order gets a marine inspection checklist instead of the car one. Check-in covers the hull and gelcoat, deck and upholstery, glass, navigation lights, bilge pump, batteries, helm electronics, existing equipment and engine hours. Check-out covers the installed equipment, wiring protected from water, sealed through-hull and deck holes, chafe points, panels, lights, bilge pump, batteries and helm alarms. Any check-in or check-out items your shop added under Settings > Custom Fields are added after it, the same as on a car.

Job location

With boats turned on, work orders and appointments have a Job Location: In shop, Marina or dock, or Customer site. For anything but In shop, a Where box takes the marina and slip number or the address. The location shows on the work order, its printout, the mobile bay and the appointment, so the installer knows where to go. Job Location is there for every job while boats are on, not only boats.

Finding a boat

With boats turned on, the menu reads Vehicles & Boats and VIN / HIN Lookup.

  • Search: type a boat's HIN (or the start of it) or its registration number into the search box at the top of any page, or into the search on Vehicles & Boats, and the boat comes up with its owner.
  • Vehicles & Boats: the list has a Cars & boats filter, so you can show only boats or only cars. A boat's row shows its HIN and registration where a car shows its VIN and plate.
  • Boat history: on VIN / HIN Lookup, enter a HIN instead of a VIN. You get every customer who has had that boat on file, and every invoice, work order and appointment for it, so a boat that comes back under a new owner brings its history with it.
  • Ask Manifold can look a customer up by a boat's HIN or registration, and describes the boat's hull, engines, engine hours and job location when you ask about a customer, invoice or work order.

Where boats show

A boat's page shows its hull and engine details, the HIN with what it decodes to, and the registration. The customer's vehicle list shows the HIN and registration, and invoices and work orders show the HIN. Printed and emailed invoices, estimates, work orders and condition reports head the section "Boat" and print the HIN where a car's VIN would be.