The results of Mad Mariner's Second Annual Reader Survey are in "” and they could not be more helpful.

More than 300 people took the Web-based survey in the last two weeks, providing comments and feedback that will be used to redesign the Mad Mariner Web site this summer.

In most cases, the news was good. Fully 97.5 percent said they were satisfied with Mad Mariner, and 85 percent said the same about our weekly newsletter. When we asked for volunteers to help us with the redesign, more than 80 people signed up.

But we are not getting lazy. More interesting than any vote of confidence were your preferences for editorial content and ideas for new features – and we plan to act on them.

For example, many readers expressed interest in articles on do-it-yourself projects, equipment installations, maintenance tips and marine news. So we'll be serving up more.

Mad Mariner serves both power and sail, but 55 percent of readers say they are powerboaters.Similarly, readers want new features like updates on boating content across the Web, enhanced photo galleries, new sections that make content easier to find, and the ability to comment on stories. We'll be addressing these, too.

Of course, there are also some items that still need to be worked out. Fully 63 percent of you said that, because Mad Mariner publishes daily, a daily e-mail would be helpful. But 37 percent said that it would not. So we'll be examining that more closely.

WHO ARE WE?

There have been some changes in the Mad Mariner community since the last reader survey in January 2008. For example:

• We have more women – but not enough. The number of women reading Mad Mariner has more than doubled, but it is still only about 8 percent.

• We have more powerboaters than sailors. Mad Mariner serves both sides equally, but more than half of us – 55 percent – now identify as powerboaters, compared to 29 percent who call themselves sailors (16 percent said they enjoy both). In the last survey, power and sail were split almost evenly.

• Some of us are making less money. Roughly 58 percent of us make at least $100,000 in household income, down slightly from about 63 percent in the last survey.

• Some of us are spending less money. True to the economic environment, only about 28 percent said they spent $10,000 or more on boating last year, compared to 42 percent in the last survey.

• We still have needs. Almost one-third of us plan to buy marine electronics in the next year, and one-quarter plan to take a boating course.

• We still have dreams. One in five of us plan to do extended cruising in the next year, and one in 10 plans to buy a new boat in the next two years. Move the timeline out five years, and almost 25 percent of us expect to be in a new vessel.

GOOD AND BAD

We also got scores of comments, some good, some bad and all extremely valuable.

A few readers laid into us. "Your stories are interesting but a bit on the light side," one wrote. "You need to publish more in-depth articles." Ouch.

Others raised questions, such as, "the main problem is that the mix of stories is so broad that sometimes nothing appeals to me, or maybe only one item."

But many more were very encouraging. "You're doing real well, and you're different and unique," wrote one reader. "I enjoy Mad Mariner full-length articles every day. It's one of the few Web sites I visit almost every day. It's clear you're innovative in many ways."

And some just made us smile. "I tend to find myself coming to MM every day after reading the news," another reader wrote. "Sometimes you can just tell that there are good people behind certain publications (like Good Old Boat) and your team sends that impression, loud and clear. Add that to great content, and I couldn't be happier. I will be buying a subscription as soon as I get past my daughter's wedding..."