Continuing with the idea of occasionally posting "things we've learned thus far" here is a tip we figured out while looking at a bunch of boats.
After our first boat shopping trip, one of the things we quickly discovered was that we had a hard time remembering details about the boats we saw one after another. So, after our first trip, we decided that we need some better means of remembering. I thought perhaps it would be helpful to start taking videos.
I started using my cell phone to take video of the interior and exterior of the boats we thought we were more interested in. T hese were far from professional grade cinematography, just shaky panning around rooms and wandering through the boats. But it did what we wanted and found it helped jog memories about details.
I also found it did a bit more. We've been able to go back to the videos to answer questions that we had later. It's very handy when you are no longer near the boat in question.
So, if you go shopping for a boat, try taking a video that pans around to explore the space. It doesn't have to be excessively slow or a long filming, but anything captured you may find handy when you have that lingering question in the back of your mind.
I also have a question to ask of you. Would you be interested in seeing the videos I've taken of some of the boats? As I've said, they are just shaky cell phone videos, but if there is enough interest I'd be willing to annotate them and remove/replace the audio tracks so they could be posted. Leave a comment and let me know if you would be interested in seeing them.
when we were looking for our boat I was desperately searching the internet for any video I could find of same model boats. to compare, to answer questions, to get ideas for improvements etc. so I think any video (even with no sound track at all) showing boats in detail will surely help. put them on youtube, tag them with the boats models and it will surely find the right people.
ReplyDeleteRight now the videos do have sound...background conversations with the brokers and unrelated...basically what the cell phone picked up. So, I need to find an application that will strip the audio or replace it before I can post them. As for "in detail"...I'm not sure how much detail can be had from quick, shaky panning of a cell phone camera...but I'll see if I can find an app to help clean them up.
DeleteI'd be interested as well. You should be able to this easily with the free app at http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/
ReplyDeleteLoad the app, open the video with the app, under Audio>Main Track, change Audio source: to None. Then do File>Save>Save Video. New video won't have audio.
Thanks for the app tip, I'll have to check it out. Right now I'm trying an app for my phone called mVideoCut that processes video on a server directly from the phone. Interesting concept, but not quite ready for prime time yet.
DeletePersonally, I'd just be curious about seeing the video of what you currently have under contract, but as catamaranlife indicated, those interested in multihulls may be more interested in seeing as many different videos on the models that they're interested in as possible. I know that's the case for me (while looking at monos) while trying to determine what I want.
ReplyDeleteI'll be sure to include that one. Maybe the one we had under contract back in the spring and one of the Tobagos too...if I can find the videos and get them to a presentable state. Stay tuned.
DeleteWhile we are not at the boat shopping stage yet, I found we had similar problems when we were last house hunting. We had looked at 40+ houses, and thankfully, had the forethought near the beginning to take notes and pictures on everything. We always showed up with the a copy of the listing printed out for each of us. We each took a camera, and took a picture of everything. Usually about 40-50 pics for each house we looked at, and compiled our notes onto 1 copy of the listing. Then when we would be sitting down at night reviewing the last 10-15 homes we could flip back and forth between the hardcopy notes and pictures. Made a big difference! I know we will be using this method again. Video, I'm not sure about, b/c while you could scan 40 pictures in a few seconds, a video you have to watch it or skip through the whole thing to find what you're looking for.
ReplyDeleteHi Stacey,
DeleteIn a house I could see that video might be a bit of overkill. After the first boat or two, we started taking pictures before I switched to video. The problem I found was that it is difficult to get an "encompassing" picture in the tight confines of a boat (at least without a very wide-angle lens...that I don't have). Remember the last time you were in a boats head...now imagine trying to take pictures in there. And a day or two later when we were trying to remember some specific detail about the boat (was there a 110 outlet in the head?) we'd find that, inevitably, the detail we want was missed by the camera.
By using video, I was able to pan around and walk around and capture more of the details. I found that the video also gave me a better feel for the space, or lack thereof, in a given boat. And, since a 38' catamaran is much smaller than a 2000sf house, the videos were not all that big. I also learned that breaking the videos up into port hull, bridge deck, and starboard hull, it helped to locate specifics faster.
The real downside of video, IMHO, is that you do lose some of the fine detail (unless you are filming at a snails pace) such as a blemish in the gelcoat or on woodwork. And in these cases I do end up taking pictures to help remind me.
In the end, the important thing is to get a visual record so, after seeing a bunch of boats (or for that fact, houses) you can keep them straight in your mind. If still pictures work better for you, go with it. But, when you do start looking at boats, at least give the video a try once and see what you think. Oh, and if you ever think you want to post them on a blog...see if you can record without audio...will save you time post-processing them. ;-)