The Captain Network is where you keep a roster of licensed captains, assign them to tour departures and rentals, post open-slot jobs when you need coverage, and track what you owe each of them. Captains are platform accounts, so the same captain can work for more than one operator and sees all of their work in one place through the external Captain Portal.
The operator console has three tabs: Roster, Jobs, and Earnings.
Roster
The roster lists every captain affiliated with your business, along with contact details, their default rate, and a platform-wide reliability signal.
Inviting a captain
Click Invite captain and fill in:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Full name | Required |
| Required. The captain signs in to the portal with this email using a one-time code | |
| Phone | Optional |
| Default rate | Optional. Pre-fills the rate on assignments and jobs for this captain |
| Rate unit | Per trip or per hour |
Captains are shared platform accounts. If the email you invite already captains for another operator, no new account is created. They simply see your business added in their portal. If the email is new, an account is created for them and they sign in at captains.rentaltide.com with that email.
Affiliation status
Each captain on your roster has a status that controls whether you can assign them:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Invited | Invited but not yet activated |
| Active | Available to assign and to receive job offers from you |
| Suspended | Kept on the roster but not eligible for assignments or offers |
Use the Activate and Suspend buttons on each roster row to move a captain between these states. Only active captains can be placed on an assignment or offered a job.
Reliability
Captains who have built up a track record show a reliability percentage next to their name. This score is calculated across the whole platform (every operator the captain has worked with), not just your business, so a captain who is dependable elsewhere arrives with a reputation.
- The score stays hidden and the captain is labeled New until they have at least three resolved signals (offers responded to plus assignments finished).
- It blends how reliably the captain responds to offers with how reliably they complete the trips they accept, weighted toward completion.
- Colors give you a quick read: green for strong, amber for middling, red for weak.
The roster row also shows how many trips the captain has completed.
Jobs
The Jobs tab is an open-slot job board. When a departure or rental needs a captain and you have not assigned one directly, post a job and let the system fill it from your active roster.
Posting a job
Click Post job and set:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Title | Optional description, for example "Sunset cruise, 26ft pontoon" |
| Starts / Ends | The window the captain is needed for |
| Rate | Optional pay rate for the job |
| Rate unit | Per trip or per hour |
| Fill mode | How offers go out (see below) |
| Offer window | Auto mode only. Minutes each captain has to respond before the next is offered. Defaults to 30 |
| Notes | Optional notes shown to the captain on the offer |
Fill modes
| Mode | How it works |
|---|---|
| Auto | Offers the job to one available captain at a time. If they decline or the offer window expires, it cascades to the next captain. More reliable captains are offered first |
| Broadcast | Offers the job to every available captain at once. The first to accept wins and the rest are closed out |
| Manual | Posts the job without sending any offers. Use this to track a slot you will fill by hand |
After you post in auto or broadcast mode, the confirmation tells you how many offers went out.
Job status
Filter the board by status using the chips at the top:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open | Still looking for a captain |
| Filled | A captain accepted. Their name shows on the job |
| Expired | The job's offers ran out without an acceptance |
| Cancelled | You cancelled the job |
You can Cancel any job that is still open.
Assignments
A captain can end up on a departure two ways: you place them directly from a roster (only active affiliates are eligible), or a captain accepts a job you posted. Either way the trip lands on that captain's schedule in their portal.
The same captain cannot be double-booked. If their window is already held, whether by you or by another operator, the placement is refused as unavailable. Cross-operator conflicts are never named, so you only learn that the captain is busy, not who they are busy with.
When a trip is over you release the assignment as completed or cancelled. Completing an assignment records what you owe the captain as an earning. Cancelling records nothing.
Earnings
The Earnings tab tracks what you owe your captains. RentalTide records these payables but does not move the money. You settle with captains off-platform (e-transfer, check, or cash) and then mark the earning paid so both sides have a record.
Earnings roll up into three totals at the top of the tab: Owed (new), Approved, and Paid out.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Accrued | Booked automatically when you complete an assignment. Awaiting you |
| Approved | You have reviewed and approved the amount |
| Paid | You have settled with the captain and recorded it |
| Voided | Cancelled out |
For each accrued or approved earning you can Approve, Mark paid, or Void it. Marking paid opens a short dialog where you can add an optional reference (for example "e-transfer Jul 20" or "check #1042"). Once marked paid, the captain sees it as paid in their portal.
Use Export CSV to download the full earnings list with captain, trip window, amount, status, and payment reference.
Payments to captains happen outside RentalTide. The Earnings tab is a shared ledger of what is owed and what has been settled, not a payout tool. Marking an earning paid is you asserting that you settled with the captain.
The Captain Portal
Captains have their own external portal at captains.rentaltide.com. It is a separate surface from your operator console, scoped to the individual captain, and it shows everything they need across every operator they work with.
Signing in
Access is invite-only and passwordless. The captain enters the email you invited them with, receives a six-digit sign-in code by email, and enters it to sign in. The code expires after 15 minutes. There is nothing for the captain to install and no password to manage.
What a captain sees
| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Job offers | Open offers with the trip time, rate, notes, and an expiry time. The captain accepts or declines. Accepting puts the trip on their schedule. Broadcast offers are marked "first to accept wins" |
| Upcoming schedule | Their confirmed upcoming assignments, with time, role, and rate |
| Earnings | Their earnings across all operators, with totals for what is owed and what has been paid. Amounts show as awaiting payment until an operator marks them paid |
| Profile & operators | Editable profile (name, phone, home port, bio) and a list of the operators they work with, each with the affiliation status and default rate |
A captain who also has an affiliate account sees a link across to the Affiliate Portal.
Trip manifest
For a tour departure the captain currently holds, the schedule offers a Manifest button. The manifest is built for a phone at the dock: one guest party per full-width card that swipes left and right, a tap-to-call button for each guest's phone number, and a weather summary for the departure. Anything a guest told you at checkout (allergies, dietary restrictions, or answers to your custom questions) is pinned in an amber callout at the top of the card so it cannot be missed. Each card also lists the party members, any add-ons, and booking notes.
The manifest is only available while the assignment is active and only to the captain who holds it.
Troubleshooting
Cannot assign a captain -- Only captains with an active affiliation can be placed on an assignment. Activate them on the Roster tab first.
Captain shows as unavailable -- The captain already has an overlapping assignment for that window, either with you or with another operator. Choose a different captain or post a job to fill the slot.
Captain did not get a job offer -- Offers only go to active captains. In auto mode captains are offered one at a time in reliability order, so a captain may not have been reached yet. Broadcast mode offers everyone at once.
Captain cannot sign in to the portal -- Access is invite-only. The captain must use the exact email you invited them with. Re-check the email on their roster row and confirm the six-digit code has not expired (codes last 15 minutes).
Earning did not appear -- Earnings accrue only when an assignment is released as completed. An assignment released as cancelled records nothing.