Boaters that buy gas at gas docks, please help!
 

I know some of you are familiar with the WinniGas.com web site, as I first learned about it here on this forum myself.

I've used it for years, and always thought it was handy and useful.

For those that don't know about it, WinniGas.com allows you to easily see and report the current gas prices on the lake. This could save you time or money (or both).

The idea is to allow you a simple, easy to use method to report gas prices as you see them, no matter if you're buying gas at the time. Report the price so everyone can see the current prices available.

Last year, I noticed that the owner was looking for someone to take it over. Not wanting to see it disappear, I volunteered to take it over and keep it running.

I revamped it a bit, and added some features that I hoped would make it more useful for everyone.

Previously it was a very basic, text only based site, that only had a listing of the prices as reported by you. But there was no way to sort the data, nor any way view it in different ways. Some of my 'improvements' were to add the ability to sort the information in different ways, as well as a way to easily locate the various gas docks on the lake. But I tried to keep the main functions simple and quick, that is the price listings and price entering screens.

Everyone on this forum is so helpful, and (most of) you seem to have good suggestions and ideas, so I'd like to ask your help to take a look at the new site and see if it's working well for you. I'm more interested in it working well on mobile devices such as your cell phone, than on your home PC, as I think this it the way it is the most useful on the lake, but I'm happy to take any suggestions.

I know it's not boating season now, but if you would take a moment to try it on your cell phone (and PC), and report back here if you see any issues, mentioning any problems, or maybe providing a screen shot if it's hard to describe, I'd truly appreciate it! Obviously there is no rush, as it's still quite some time until Ice out! Note that the menu system is a bit dynamic and will change, depending on if you are using a phone, or a tablet or your computer.

One thing that I could definitely use some help with is reviewing the new "Gas Map" feature. My goal there was to place a marker at every Gas Dock, right at the pumps themselves. So if you can zoom in all the way, switch to the Satellite view and take a look, is the Pin located right at the gas pump itself on each gas dock? After I implemented this, I found the Gas Map very useful, I was surprised to find some gas dock on the lake, some I never knew existed. This could save time and money if I was ever in need of fuel. Instead of making a long run to a gas dock I'm familiar with, I could just look at the map and find one close to me.

Please check your favorite gas docks and let me know if any of the map Pins need to be adjusted. Note, if you don't switch to the Satellite view, many of the pins will look like they are out in the water. You can also see them located on each Station Detail page.

For some docks, I wasn't sure where the pumps were located, so I just put a pin at a general location, For example, "Lanes End" in Melvin Village is not at the specific location of a pump, as I've never been there myself and couldn't see what looked like a pump in the satellite view.

Please don't enter any bogus gas prices. ;) Knowing that we're now at "Ice In" I'm pretty sure that no one is selling gas on the lake at this time.

Note: If you would like a "WinniGas" App on your smart phone, if you go to the "About" page, there are some instructions there that tell you how to install it on your phone's "Home" screen for both iPhone and Android users. This is really handy for use when you are on the lake. If you try it but don't want to keep it on your phone, it's easy to delete it as it simply places a shortcut on your home screen, along with an easily identified ICON (at least I hope it does). :)

Another feature I added is a Twitter Feed. If you subscribe to the @WinniGas Twitter handle, whenever someone submits an updated gas price, you will be notified via a Twitter message. I don't know how many people here use Twitter, but I thought it may be useful to some.

There is also a WinniGas Facebook page. Right now I'm not sure how to make that useful, and perhaps in the future I can add automatic price notifications via FaceBook also. For now, it can allow easy feedback for users that love FaceBook.

Thanks for helping with this. If you have any suggestions for improvements, I'm happy to take suggestions, but I can't guarantee that I will implement every suggestion.

I hope people will find it useful and continue to use it.

Thanks!

What are we helping with?

The site works well on my iPhone 6s. Thanks for taking this on and also for the improvements.

One suggested change: on the page where we report gas dock prices, the heading reads “Date of price (ie: 01/09/18):”. I think the correct abbreviation should be e.g.
I.e. and e.g. are both abbreviations for Latin terms. I.e. stands for id est and means roughly "that is." E.g. stands for exempli gratia, which means “for example.”

Rich, thanks for taking this on. I have used the winnigas site in the past and found it helpful. I will check out the new and improved and get back to you. The more people who use it and post the better!

I usually buy gas where I valet. They save receipts and give great service, so this is ore to let them know ta I cold go elsewhere if they are out of line. A great service.
It would be an additional service if there were more than one place selling diesel. I can buy from a truck, but no price competition.

I normally buy my boat gas at West Alton because of their service and closeness to where I dock, as well as price. I would go on winnigas to make sure the price was current. Other times I would post just to get their price more in view. Looking forward to the app, and thanks for what you are doing, Rich.

Dave

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Rich - Nice job!!

I was looking at Pier 19 info and saw that “Holding tank pump-out” is listed as “Unknown”. Pier 19 does not provide holding tank pump out.


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Wow, thank you Rich. This is an excellent resource, when the season rolls around I will use this quite often.

Rich, I tried to edit my post to add something, and couldn't.
I did take a look at the site, nice job and I found it easy to navigate.
The other reason reason I buy at WAM is the Valvtect additive. Is there any way to add an indicator that a marina has fuel additive premixed, like adding an asterisk or other character after the marina name to indicate additives added. Then boaters can find these marinas without going through all the marinas.

Just a thought

Dave


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This is awesome -- I had no idea that there were such variations in price! I'll be referring to it (and adding my own observations) once the new season kicks in. Great job!

Take a look at WinniGas.com, check your favorite gas dock, and let me know if it all looks good.

If possible, please check the station detail page (click on the name of your favorite gas dock(s)), and see if the red "Pin" is located right next to the actual gas pump on the dock.

Any other suggestions for improvement will be considered.

Thanks! :)

This forum makes me wait 120 seconds between each reply, and it doesn't seem to have a 'multi-quote' button, so I'll summarize here instead of trying to reply to each of you.

Thanks everyone for your feedback! I appreciate it! This is for you, so I want it to be as useful and easy to use as possible.

DBreskin: I fixed the Latin errors, thanks! I never had any Latin training back in school, so I've been making this error for too many years!

Descant: I have friends that use Diesel also, and you're not the only one that would like some alternative locations for Diesel. I made a note about this on the About page.

The Real BigGuy: Thanks, I fixed the holding pumpout report.

Upthesaukee: I did have the additive listed, but only on the Price History and the Station Details pages. To make it easier, I took your suggestion and added it to the Gas Docks and Gas Map listings also. This should make it easier to find stations with Additives.

Someone also submitted feedback about Meredith Marina not pumping gas last season, so I made a note about it in the Station Details. Hopefully they will be back this season.

Rich, I also suggest you delete the data point dated January 1, 1970 for Winnisquam Marine on Winnipesaukee (which didn’t exist then.)

Mvyc
 

Irwin at Mountain View says that their gas is mid-grade not regular.

Also, their contract with Mountain View limits how much they can mark the gas up from what they pay. I am not sure how closely that is adhered to.

Thanks Rich. There must have been something wrong when I loaded the post initially, only the first two sentences were showing, everything else was blank. All fixed now:) Nice job!

Don’t know if you got my comment about Meredith Marina but they had no public gas available all last season the outer dock pumps were closed and they fueled only the members that valeted there or docked there from a pump on shore.
Don’t know the situation for the coming (2018) season.

The date you see is a side effect of having no data on them. It will go away as soon as someone posts the first gas price.

TiltonBB: I believe (but could be wrong) that most gas docks sell mid grade (89 octane) fuel. But there always are exceptions.

Hillcountry: I did get your note and made a note in the station detail about Meredith Marina. You can see the details or notes on any station by clicking on their name in the price listings.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Please keep the comments coming. This gives us a couple of solid months to make any changes before Ice Out!

Does anyone know where the Lanes End gas pump is located? (click on that link to see the location of the Pin) I couldn't see it on the map, and I've never been there. I'd like to get this Pin updated on the map. I'm fairly certain I have most of the other Gas Pumps accurately located, but feel free to check and let me know.

Hopefully everyone will find the new features useful.

I'd like to also ask the Gas Docks operators themselves to review the data I have on them, their hours of operation, phone numbers, etc. If would be nice if they would post prices changes as they occur. But I don't know if they would care to do that.

Everyone should feel free to post gas prices every time they go by a gas dock, even if they are not purchasing gas at the time. It can't hurt, and can only help every else. I know I used to use this myself every time I was headed for gas, so I'm happy to keep it online.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cbe08a7493.jpg

Something is definitely up with Tapatalk. This is why I was confused.

Sorry you had trouble, HRZR004. I'm on Tapatalk (Winni App) on my phone (Samsung S7) and my tablet (Samsung Tab 3). Both display Rich's post 1 fully on my two units.
I thought your question was pretty silly, but now I see why you asked. 🤤
Are you on Tapatalk App so that you can visit other forums as well, or are you on the Winni Apr just for Winni Forum?

Good luck

Dave

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More Updates
 

The pump at Lanes End is right at the bottom left of the L shaped dock. You can see the shadows of it when you zoom in.

May I suggest that you change the current location name of Melvin Village to Melvin Village Marina.

Really great App. Thanks.

This would be confusing, it makes you wonder what else you may be missing.

Have you updated the app? Maybe a new version will fix the issue?

Rich - Another suggestion -
When I am using the lake map and I tap a numbered bubble it brings up a box showing price. Is it possible to have a tap on this box take me to the gas dock specific page that has the dock close up & specific info? If I’m in the boat & looking for closest options it would make things easier.


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Thanks for this info! I fixed both items.

Dbreskin: I also 'fixed' the date display issue for Winnisquam Marine on Winni, just to keep the confusion down.

A few others sent feedback via the app, I'm handling those issues also.

Thanks everyone!

Wow, great job updating the site so quickly. By the time ice out comes around it is going to be an unbelievable resource.

I believe this is the gas pump location.

Take a look, is this better?

You can also click on any Gas Dock name on the list below, but perhaps this is easier? Thanks for the suggestion!

Observation and Suggestion
 

On the Gas Map, The number 4 for Fay's Boat Yard is hidden by the number 12.

Perhaps the gas availability locations could be included on the list of these locations. ⛽️

Due to the nature of the map, at some zoom levels, an overlap of the pins can occur, I can't really control that.

The best thing to do is to zoom in. You can use the + or - buttons to zoom in or out. Alternatively on a phone or tablet use two fingers to "pinch / expand" to zoom in or out. On a PC with a mouse, you can also double click to zoom in, double right click to zoom out, or if your mouse has a wheel, you can sometimes zoom in our out by holding the CTRL key down while using the scroll wheel if the mouse if over the map.

SIKSUKR: Thanks for the clarification. I think I have it fixed now.

Recently Google's updated satellite view of the lake is very clear. It almost seems like you can zoom in and almost look inside the windows of many boats now. LOL it's nice to have this much clarity.

Please let me know if any other Pins are not right at the gas pump on each dock. I think I have most of them ok now, but could have made an error as I haven't been to every gas dock on the lake.

Another idea I have is to take a photo of each gas dock, showing how it looks on approach from a boat's point of view. I'll put these photos on the station detail page. I think it will help someone that may not be familiar with each gas dock.

I also thought about adding navigational warnings or notes for any gas docks that may be difficult to approach. For example, a friend told me that Melvin Village Marina can be difficult to approach when the lake is low, he claims he hit a rock last fall on the way in, but I don't remember what the solution to this was. I thought that having notes about any potential hazards would be helpful, but not knowing of any myself, I would have to rely on the boating community to provide this info to me.

After a friend saw the Gas Map, he asked if I could place all the navigational markers on the lake on the map. If anyone has the lat/lon position of all the lake NAVAIDs, perhaps send me a message here or via the App. ;) I'm not sure if I would want to implement this as it may make the map a bit cluttered, but I could take a look and consider it.

Thanks again everyone for the contributions and corrections. I appreciate it, after all, this is for you, the Winni boating community.

Agreed. I go for less clutter whenever possible.

Pier 19 Gas Pump Location
 

Pier 19 Gas Pump Location

Thanks for this, I was pretty close! Let me know if any others are off a bit, i'm happy to update them.

Reading this again, I'm not sure what you mean, perhaps you can elaborate?

FYI: On the Gas Map, you can scroll down and see the list of stations, and then tap on a station number, and it will point out that station number on the map. I tried to make it as easy as possible, but I'm always open to suggestions for improvements.

Yes, but if I had the Lat/Lon positions of all the markers, I could offer a separate map, perhaps even showing your current location on the map at the same time.

Is there a list of the Lat/Lon positions of all the markers on the lake somewhere?

This is not important, but might be fun to see how the data could be useful.

Rich, you say you want your pins placed "right on the gas pump" so you might want to take another look at the pin placement for West Alton Marina.

Your pin is real close but it's currently about 8-12 feet out in the water, straight off the gas dock. That short peaked roof to the left of the current pin placement is the roof over the gas pumps (but you probably already knew that!). :D

Thought you might like to know!

Gas on Winnisquam?
 

A friend asked me why not include gas docks on Lake Winnisquam also?

This would be very easy to do, as I think there are just two (or are there three?) Gas Docks on Winnisquam.

I don't boat on Winnisquam, so I have no local knowledge, any thoughts on this?

This way WinniGas.com would be covering both 'Winni' lakes in NH. Any thoughts on this, pro's vs con's?

If I did this, I suppose the easiest way to implement this would be to 'rebrand' this as the "Winnipesaukee Lakes region Gas Dock's listings", vs creating a separate lists for Winnipesaukee vs Winnisquam.

Nice job with the gas docks info.

It would be nice to be able to sort on location and additive also.
If you made 5 columns instead of 3 it would make this possible.

This is how it might look:

Nice changes to map.

Re: Nav aids - I’d suggest focusing on what you do well i.e. ( or is it e.g.?) gas. If you add nav, what’s next, sub shops, stores, . . . ? Pretty soon the clutter send people to look for another simpler option to find gas prices. Other better nav options are available.


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There was a lat/lon list for markers on the back of the green chart. Don’t know of an available digital listing.


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Oops!
 

Sorry, Rich. My mistake. The station number is included. My ancient eyes missed it. Your system works just fine! 🐻

Boaters that buy gas at gas docks, please help!
 

Bizer has a digital list of navaids. I expect you’d have to license it from them in order to use it.

more info, less clutter
 

A one letter code (max five?) under the station name similar to what Yachtworld uses for boat features would work, no extra columns needed. Maybe this is a way to monetize the site just a little?

I don't think very much about gas--I'm certainly not going to drive across the lake to save a dime per gallon.

That being said, what would make this useful for me would be hours of operation.

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Click on the station detail, it has hours of operation, phone numbers, etc.

As an example see the Y Landing page

As we get closer to Boating season, I'll try to poll the various gas docks to ask for updated information.

Also, saving you money isn't only about the price of gas, it could also be helpful to locate a nearby gas dock so you don't have to cross the lake to purchase it, or finding one that is open late when you need it.

It's easy to add a separate page, this way nothing gets cluttered.

Actually I like the idea of showing baoting destinations for food and other things, I've been thinking about this for a while. But I would want it useful to everyone. People new to the lake need it more than the life long residents.

Thanks for this suggestion, I'm considering it, but I need to work out the details as small phones don't work well with too many columns. There are still a lot of small iPhones out there!

I was thinking hours on the main page, or a way to make it "live" like Google. The boaters I know--granted, most own on/near the lake--all have charts and/or gps and know where gas can be found--much more quickly than just using the town and clicking on each marina link--but I see tons of posts on Facebook and forms asking if stations are open, especially pre- and post-season.

PS These are my thoughts after having been exposed to the site four years ago and having returned to it almost never again. Good on you for trying to move it forward, as there's a ton of potential value.

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Thank you.
It's good to see someone who actually responds to suggestions & questions the way you do. GOOD JOB!

Thanks for this! I just updated the Pin location.

We wouldn't want someone trying to park their boat in the wrong place and attempting stretching the gas pump hose too far! :cool:

Thanks for the ideas! I could add hours to the main listing, but similar to another suggestion, too much information makes it harder to read on some of those small iPhones out there.

I suppose I could color code some fields to show currently open (green) or closed (red) at the time you load the page. This wouldn't take up any more screen real estate. As it is now, currently some of the listings wrap to a second line on some of the small phones.

The other issue I have is that I don't have operation hours for every gas dock. So I'd hate to provide possible misleading info if my data was wrong or missing.

Please take a look at the new site again, it's significantly different than the previous site, but should look familiar enough to be easy to use (at least this was my goal).

As an example of a new feature, at first I thought the Gas Map would just be a fun thing to do, but after implementing it I was surprised to see their actual locations of many of the gas docks on the lake. Maybe this would help someone? It would certainly help new boaters that may not be as familiar with the lake.

Hours
 

Definitely add hours to the pushpin popup details. More important than an address when you’re on the water.

Keep in mind that as the boating season progresses from spring to fall, hours of operation change greatly.

This is a valid point, but until I feel that I have most of the hours correct, I'll leave them on the details page.

It's just one tap on the details link in the pop up window to see the hours now. So it should be easy to find.

The detail page has room to list peak season, off season, and possible winter hours plus a lot more info such as a phone number in case you need to call them near closing time to see if they will wait for you when you are running on fumes (I was on a friend's boat when he had to do that once)!

I tried to make the phone numbers clickable, so on a phone, you don't have to try to remember the numbers and enter them in your phone again, just click it and it should dial it for you.

Dockside Gas
 

Dockside Gas does not do Holding Tank Pump Out. They send people to the Wolfeboro Corinthian Yacht Club.

Thanks for this, I just updated it!

Yes, on the station details pages, I have room to list Peak season, off-peak season as well as 'winter hours' (whatever that means, is anyone open after ice-in?).

Charts and maps are copyrighted, so I couldn't use their info without permission.

I didn't know if anyone knew of a listing of the markers on the lake that was available.

I've heard rumors that at one time someone had a file or spreadsheet that had all the markers, perhaps as waypoints from a GPS? Maybe this is old info or one of those lake legends that is no longer available?

The chart is copyrighted, however the longitude/latitude of the markets is not. I believe, and I may be wrong, that you can use the data (it might even be available from Marine Patrol) if you manually input it. You can’t, however cut & paste the map or data, or use location data that they have identified that isn’t publicly available


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The Bizer chart has a list of the markers on the back (and a lot more). If you are concerned about copyrights just send Stewart an email and ask him if you can use the marker list. I can't speak for him but I think he'd be OK with it since it is public information. stewart@bizer.com

If you need a Bizer chart you can order one here and help support this site:

https://www.winnipesaukee.com/index.php?pageid=store

Good idea! Stewart is a great guy and is always helpful.

I have a couple of Bizer charts, it's hard to imagine a boater on the lake not owning at least one.

Thanks for the idea!