Boat booking
Check what is on the water from your phone, grab a boat before you head to the shed, and let the system knock back clashing bookings. Far better than a shared spreadsheet pinned to the shed door.
How does boat booking work in Row HQ?
Your rowers check the app, spot a free single or double over the coming week, and lock in a slot with two taps. Clashing bookings never go through, boats out for repair are flagged, and every outing is logged against a name - handy when a hull comes back scratched. Per-boat access rules keep novices out of the top eight in the build-up to the Head of the Yarra.
Every Row HQ plan includes boat booking at no extra cost - see pricing for your club size.
Booking Arguments, Sorted
Clipboards on the shed wall and squad group chats were never built for a busy fleet. Here is what changes when a club moves to Row HQ.
Without Row HQ
- Sign-out sheets and spreadsheets nobody keeps up to date
- Two crews turning up for the same boat at 6am
- No idea a hull is out of action until you reach the pontoon
- The same few members grabbing the best singles every week
- Nobody sure who last rowed the boat that came back damaged
With Row HQ
- Book from any device, wherever you are
- Live availability so clashes never happen
- Boat status visible before you leave the house
- Usage caps and access rules applied by the system
- A full outing log for every hull in the shed
The Whole Shed in One Place
Boats, oars and the rest of your gear, tracked from a single screen - clubs rowing out of Melbourne, Sydney or a country town all run it the same way. See how Oundle Town RC runs their fleet on Row HQ.
Live Availability
One glance shows which hulls are free, taken, or off the water for repairs. Members look it up in the member portal before they leave.
Clash-Proof Bookings
Two people can never hold the same boat for the same slot - the second booking is refused on the spot.
Book From Your Phone
Reserve a hull on the drive to the shed. The whole thing takes a few seconds.
Repair Flags
A boat that is out of action shows as unavailable, with the date it is expected back. It is all controlled from the admin dashboard.
Outing Log
Who took each boat out, and when - the record is there when damage turns up. Everything is kept safe and secure.
Fleet Categories
Sort the fleet by class - singles through eights - and filter straight to the boat you are after.
Every Hull, Tracked
Singles through eights, the whole lot lives in one register. Brushing up on classes? The glossary covers all rowing boat types and what a rowing shell is, and coaches put crews into boats with the visual crew builder.
Singles
Solo sculling
Doubles
Two scullers
Fours
Coxed sweep boat
Eights
The big sweep boat
Which boat suits which booking rule?
Common hull classes and the booking rules Australian clubs tend to put on them.
| Hull | Crew size | Typical use | Common booking constraint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single (1x) | 1 | Solo training and novice sculling | In highest demand, so many clubs cap members at a few slots a week |
| Double (2x) | 2 | Pair-ups across experience levels | Needs both scullers named - if one pulls out the slot reopens |
| Coxless four (4-) | 4 | Senior sweep work | Coach sign-off plus a minimum skill level |
| Coxed four (4+) | 4 + cox | Juniors and masters crews | No confirmed cox, no valid booking |
| Quad (4x) | 4 | Squad sculling and Head of the Yarra preparation | Reserved for senior squad roster times |
| Eight (8+) | 8 + cox | First-eight rows and state regattas | Booked by the coach for the crew, not by individuals |
Typical examples only - every rule here is configurable per club.
Also works with
Related reading
- Looking after your club fleet
- Getting training sessions sorted
- How coaches pick their crews
- What is a rowing shell?
- Every rowing boat type explained
- What is a scull? Sculling vs sweep
Still weighing it up? The FAQ covers the common questions, what other clubs say is worth a read, or jump straight in and view pricing.
Boat booking FAQs
What Australian clubs ask before ditching the sign-out clipboard.
The whole fleet sits on a live calendar. A member opens the app, picks a boat, and taps the slot they want - if it clashes with an existing booking it simply will not save, and any change of status shows up for everyone straight away. Setting up is a one-off: an admin loads each hull with a photo, its class and its access rules. After that the only hands-on job is flagging a boat when it needs repair work. Each booking also drops into the member's own calendar, so the reminder arrives before they leave for the shed.
Yes. Access rules are set per boat: who can book it by membership category, whether the coach has to give the nod, and how far ahead slots open up. A common Australian setup locks racing hulls to the senior squad, keeps the junior fleet for under-18s, and puts coach approval on anything new or fragile. Novices never even see the restricted boats in their list. Anyone who tries to book outside their access gets a plain explanation and the name of the person who can open it up.
It does - that is the whole point. A booked slot cannot be booked again. On top of that you can set rest gaps so the same hull is not thrashed in back-to-back outings, weekly caps so one sculler cannot corner the club single, and holds that keep a boat free for squad sessions. Members who hit a clash see exactly why, and can put themselves on the waitlist in case the earlier booking is dropped.
Each booking is written to a permanent log: the member, the boat, the date and how long they had it. When a hull comes off the trailer with gelcoat damage after a regatta, the log tells you who rowed it last. Reports run both ways - hours and users per boat, or booking habits per member, including no-shows. Everything exports to CSV for the end-of-season fleet review.
Yes. From the dashboard an admin marks the hull as out of action, notes the fault, and gives a return date. The boat vanishes from the booking list immediately, and members see an "out for repair" message with the date instead of wondering where it went. Clear the flag when the work is done and it is bookable again. Because every repair is logged per boat, over a season you can see which hulls are costing the club the most to keep on the water.
Try it free
Your fleet online and bookable before the next session