Case Study: How Spencer Christopher Yacht Management Raised Accountability and Clarity Across Mobile Maintenance Crews with ShiftFlow

“In this business, the boat is either ready or it isn’t. ShiftFlow made it obvious who was on which job, when, and for how long—without us chasing texts.” — Lindzey, Operations, Spencer Christopher Yacht Management

Spencer Christopher Yacht Management (SCYM) runs a tight, veteran-led operation out of Stuart, Florida, covering owners spread between the Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach hubs. The team manages vessels from 20 to 220 feet and coordinates a full bench of specialists—divers, detailers, shipwrights, electricians, and A/C technicians—so an owner’s experience feels like “one call does it all.”

Like most yacht management firms, the work happens at marinas, yards, and private docks—rarely in one place or on a tidy schedule. Before ShiftFlow, supervisors spent too many hours reconstructing days from message threads and photos. After adopting ShiftFlow’s GPS-verified clock-ins, live presence, and fast exports, SCYM turned time tracking into a light habit for crews and a reliable audit trail for management and owners.

At a glance

• Business: Spencer Christopher Yacht Management (SCYM)
• Website: https://scyachtmanagement.com/
• Where: Stuart, FL; work across Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale marinas
• Services: Maintenance washes, interior care, teak, ceramic coating, systems checks, diving, electrical and A/C, captain services
• Teams: Mobile field crews with rotating specialists
• Tools used: GPS and selfie verification, geofenced sites, job codes, real-time timesheets, one-tap CSV/PDF exports

The industry problem SCYM wanted to solve

Yacht management blends hospitality expectations with industrial reality. Boats are assets that don’t sit still. Weather shifts, parts delay, and docks get reshuffled. Across the industry, captains and managers routinely burn hours on administration that should be spent planning work or talking with owners.

SCYM’s leadership wanted to eliminate three chronic pain points:

1. Unclear on-site presence across multiple marinas
   Supervisors needed a live view of who was actually on the dock in Palm Beach versus Fort Lauderdale—without calling around.

2. Patchy time records tied to the wrong job
   Clock-ins sometimes followed the person instead of the project or hull. That made it harder to quote accurately and justify invoices.

3. Manual payroll clean-up and owner questions
   Rebuilding hours from messages and photos created reconciliation cycles and slowed month-end billing.

Why ShiftFlow

ShiftFlow fit SCYM’s mobile model because it keeps the crew action one-tap simple and the manager view trustworthy.

• GPS-powered location accuracy and selfie verification to confirm on-site attendance
• Geofenced job sites for marinas and yards to prevent off-site punches
• Job codes to attach hours to the right vessel or work package
• Live presence to see who’s on the clock, where, right now
• Real-time timesheets with instant CSV/PDF export for payroll and owner reporting

Explore these capabilities on ShiftFlow’s product pages: time tracking, GPS tracking, and timesheets.

How SCYM set it up (in one day)

1. Created marina geofences
   SCYM added geofences for their most active locations (Rybovich, Palm Harbor, Sailfish, and private docks) so clock-ins only start inside the perimeter.

2. Turned on selfie verification
   Each clock-in captures a quick photo with the GPS pin. It’s the right mix of accountability and speed for crews moving between slips.

3. Standardized job codes
   Hours map to vessel and job type (e.g., “SY Palmetto – Ceramic Coating,” “MY Sandpiper – Bottom Clean,” “SY Coral – Electrical Diagnostics”) so time stays attached to work, not just to a person.

4. Made presence the morning ritual
   Supervisors check the live view at 7:30 a.m. and again after lunch to confirm coverage and shift breaks.

5. Exported clean timesheets
   At week’s end, managers export a CSV or PDF with anomalies highlighted, then hand off to payroll and attach summaries to owner updates.

A storm-prep week, told by the crew

“We had a tropical watch brewing and four marinas to cover. Instead of a group chat scramble, I watched the presence screen and moved a diver from Palm Beach to Stuart the minute the tide window shifted. Nobody waited on ‘where are you?’ texts.” — Lindzey

• Monday: Coating crew clocks in at Sailfish for a 7 a.m. start, selfie + GPS locked. Divers start a bottom clean in Palm Beach. Supervisors tag hours to vessel codes from the first tap.
• Wednesday: Storm track nudges north. Presence shows the Stuart crew wrapping early, so a diver is reassigned to Rybovich before lunch. Everyone sees the change reflected in their job code and the real-time list.
• Friday: All teams clock out, supervisors export the week’s timesheets, and owner updates include hours by vessel with photo-verified attendance for the highest-value tasks.

“We didn’t add more meetings. We added receipts. Hours match the dock.” — Lead Diver, SCYM

What improved

• Clear on-site presence across marinas
  ShiftFlow’s live view shows who’s on the clock and where. Supervisors spend less time calling around and more time planning the next job.

• Cleaner, defensible hours by vessel and task
  Geofences prevent early or off-site punches. Job codes keep time tied to hulls and work packages, which simplifies quotes and post-job reviews.

• Faster payroll and fewer corrections
  Real-time timesheets and one-tap exports reduce back-and-forth. SCYM reports fewer adjustments because hours are verified at the source.

• Owner confidence during billing
  Photo- and location-verified entries support invoices with simple, visual proof of work—especially useful for high-value services like ceramic coating and electrical diagnostics.

Accountability that feels fair to crews

SCYM treats verification as a shared protection for the team, not a gotcha. The expectation is simple: clock in on site, attach to the right job, and focus on the work. That clarity reduced misunderstandings about start times, shift lengths, and scope creep.

“I don’t mind taking the photo; it takes two seconds, and my hours don’t get questioned anymore.” — Technician, SCYM

Notes on compliance and documentation

Yacht operations intersect with complex rulesets. While ShiftFlow isn’t a compliance system, the verified time records support documentation whenever captains or managers need to reference hours—for example, when preparing audit-friendly summaries that align to crew hour policies on commercial charters. Having a consistent timesheet baseline reduces the scramble when stakeholders ask, “Who was on board, when, and for how long?”

Rollout tips for other yacht management teams

1. Name your job codes by vessel and task
   Keep titles short and specific (e.g., “MY Sandpiper – Engine Flush”).

2. Geofence your top marinas first
   Start where you spend most of your time. Expand to yards and private docks as needed.

3. Make presence checks a daily habit
   A 30-second morning and afternoon glance is enough to catch coverage gaps.

4. Use exports in owner updates
   A weekly PDF or CSV that mirrors the invoice line items reduces disputes.

5. Keep the crew workflow one-tap simple
   The faster the clock-in, the better the adoption.

The takeaway

ShiftFlow helped Spencer Christopher Yacht Management turn a mobile, multi-marina maintenance operation into an accountable, easy-to-audit rhythm. GPS and selfie verification keep hours accurate. Job codes keep time attached to vessels and work. Live presence keeps supervisors out of message threads and in front of scheduling decisions.

The result is a calmer week for managers, fairer records for crews, and clearer, faster billing for owners—exactly what a high-trust yacht management partner should deliver.

Ready to adopt the same playbook? Start a trial, geofence your top marinas, create vessel-and-task job codes, and make the first tap part of your morning dock routine.