On demand maintenance marketplace for boat owners

The problem

Boat ownership is expensive. A single neglected engine issue can strand you at sea or cost thousands in escalating repairs. Yet the process of finding qualified help is completely informal: a mix of marina bulletin boards, Facebook groups, and word-of-mouth that hasn't changed in decades.

"I texted four people from my marina group chat. Three didn't reply. The fourth came, looked at the engine, and sent a quote three days later. I had no idea if that was a fair price."

Lars Henrik - BoatHelper Owner

There were three distinct failure points: discovery (can't find who's available), trust (no ratings, no reviews, no credentials), and communication (job context scattered across texts and calls with no shared record).

The solution

Rather than building a simple listing tool, BoatHelper had to solve discovery, trust, communication, and multi-boat management simultaneously. Each pillar maps to a specific part of the product.

Key screens

Each screen handles a precise moment in the user journey. Below are the screens grouped by the task they accomplish.

Key UX decisions

Onboarding gate

New users are shown the "Please add a boat" splash before accessing any core feature. The app only makes sense with a boat attached to your account, so front loading this removes orphaned tasks and reduces confusion downstream. The empty state uses a warm illustration and a single CTA to keep the moment feel encouraging, not restrictive.

Task creation

Task creation slides up as a modal sheet rather than navigating to a new screen. This keeps the home context visible and signals that posting a task is a quick, focused action rather than a complex workflow.

Tab structure for task detail

Details, Bids, and Chat each represent a distinct mental mode when reviewing a posted task. Separating them prevents cognitive overload: the Details tab is for reviewing what was submitted, Bids is a decision surface, and Chat is for async negotiation. The badge on Bids communicates unread activity without requiring a notification.

Bid cards showing profile, price and pitch

Each bid surfaces the technician's name, star rating, price, and a one-line pitch. This mirrors how owners naturally evaluate service providers, credibility first (rating + experience), then value (price). View Profile and Accept Bid sit side by side to support both research-minded and time-pressed decision styles.

Conversion analysis

A good UX conclusion doesn't just summarise what was built. It answers the one question every stakeholder has: did the design move the numbers? Here's how BoatHelper's design choices translate directly into conversion, retention, and business health.