Migration fear is almost always data-loss fear. Here's the promise: if it's in DockMaster today, it's in BoaterOS on cut day.
What actually happens, when it happens, and what you get at the end of each week.
We connect to your DockMaster backup (SQL or nightly export — whichever your install supports). We inventory every object: customers, hulls, WOs, deals. We flag quirks — old photo paths, abandoned custom fields, that one location that stopped updating service records in 2019.
Your DockMaster objects map to BoaterOS objects. Where DockMaster has one "Customer" table, we build Contact + Household so repeat buyers finally link up. Photos are deduped, rotated, color-corrected. Custom fields land in a typed custom-field store.
Both systems are live. We re-run the DockMaster import on demand so anything your team adds in the old system lands in BoaterOS before cut. You keep DockMaster open as your safety net and reconcile against it. Zero downside for keeping the old system running.
The new Next.js dealer website goes live. Inventory serves from BoaterOS. We redirect the old URLs so Google doesn't lose a thing. Schema.org markup refreshes. Page weight drops ~70%. We reconnect your existing syndication accounts (Boat Trader proven at Fish Tale) the same day.
Four sessions per location — sales, service, F&I, management. Two hours each, hands-on with real data. Recorded so new hires can self-serve. Your CSM is on-site or on Zoom. Cheat sheets printed and laminated for the service counter.
DockMaster goes read-only. BoaterOS is the system of record. Your CSM stays embedded for 30 days. If anything doesn't feel right, we fix it in that window — no tickets, no escalation, direct access.
We don't run a generic importer. A human — our migration engineer — maps every DockMaster object to its BoaterOS counterpart, including the custom fields your F&I manager added over the years. You sign off on the mapping before we cut anything over.
During weeks 3–5, you keep DockMaster running as your safety net while your team gets hands on BoaterOS. We re-run the import on demand so nothing new gets stranded in the old system. Reports reconcile against DockMaster. Nobody holds their breath.
We'd rather tell you up front. A handful of small things change for your staff. Most of your world stays exactly the same. This is the honest list we send every prospect.
"Week 5 was the last parallel run. Week 6, Monday morning, the sales manager logged in, closed DockMaster on the desktop, and never opened it again. No drama. That's the whole migration story."
Switching DMS is a big decision. Here's how we take the downside off the table.
Your DockMaster install stays read-only, untouched, with your fallback intact from the parallel-run window. We refund the migration cost and the first month's subscription. We carry that risk so the decision to switch is an easy one.
BoaterOS is the hub. Here is exactly what is wired today, what we proved on Fish Tale, and what is on the roadmap. No vapor.
Want a feature-by-feature breakdown? See our side-by-side comparison of DockMaster vs BoaterOS.
See the comparison30-minute call with our migration lead. Bring your DockMaster version, location count, and rough customer count — we'll sketch the timeline live.