Keeping A Log

A detailed maintenance log can be a positive or negative.

I bought a Logbook just after buying my boat. But after a couple of weeks did not bother with it. Instead, I then put date, engine hours, fuel used, distance and destination in a notebook. Every day or two I enter that into a spreadsheet where I can, and do, simple analysis.

Subsequently I added fuel purchases. The spreadsheet also has a maintenance log of oil changes and anode check/replacement, haulout and antifoul. By keeping it pretty simple it isn't a chore.

Bigsfish said:

A detailed maintenance log can be a positive or negative.

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Not a negative if you leave out all the bad stuff......

Slip Aweigh has a spiral 4x6 notebook. Usually fit two days on each page.

Simple: Date, who is on (initials, since I know everyone), from/to, time start/stop, fuel-water tank levels upon completion. BilgePump count number (Since I installed a bilge pump counter so I can tell when I return if/ how much the bilge pump comes on when I'm gone.) When appropriate, Fuel filter change and the hour. When I fuel, and how much (not much!) and when I pump the poop tank. Usually this takes 4 or 5 lines on the notebook. I usually note if it's exceptionally rough since that effects fuel filter performance too.

For me, the most important thing is hours between filter changes for filter maintenance. This actually lets me have a heads up on tank cleanliness with more frequent changes, I have to hook up the polisher. The fuel system vacuum gauge is important also, but only while running.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

...The State of Washington demanded my logs trying to establish taxes.

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Geez!!! Un-bloody-believable!

I keep a log. Start and finish locations, departure and arrival times, engine hours and distance. Occasionally waypoints along the way, but not often. Occasional observations and issues.

Jim

No logbook. I was on the flybridge backing out of our slip. Boat wouldn't shift into forward. Fast approaching docks and other boats in reverse. Run downstairs and find the logbook wedged between the shifters and the chart plotter. Haven't used it since.

How much would you be willing to spend on a system to log all key information automatically?

JDCAVE said:

Geez!!! Un-bloody-believable!

I keep a log. Start and finish locations, departure and arrival times, engine hours and distance. Occasionally waypoints along the way, but not often. Occasional observations and issues.

Jim

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Well they didn't get them as they are not entitled to them, however it might help an owner to prove he was in the golden waters of Washington for less than 90 days.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Well they didn't get them as they are not entitled to them, however it might help an owner to prove he was in the golden waters of Washington for less than 90 days.

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That's how people prove regularly if they need to things such as that. In FL one of the common ones is to prove you left and re-entered the country. Simple log, marina fee in Bimini and fuel purchase in Bimini and you're ready to go. A lot of boats make their annual trips to Bimini and come back and renew their cruising permits.

A lot of people in border areas, FL/GA SC/GA NC/SC who keep good records of their time in the state they are not registered in.

I have kept a "basic" log since 1996; numbered chronologically, who, when,where,etc but I also did a travel blog I called a "Captain's Log" with detailed entries of my nautical travels which I would later print and attach to the basic page. This for friends & family and over the years I have had many people tell me they enjoyed them. Summary:

72 separate voyages - from Florida through Bahamas, Cuba, Mexico, Belize through Central Americas to Venezula, back around every Caribbean island I could find. Gulf coast from Texas to Florida.

Many exciting and wonderful trips (not done yet). If I ever wish to have details of any trip I have them right at my fingertips. Makes for great winter reading.

I highly recommend keeping at least a basic log.

I tried on every boat. So far, with my new to me Mainship 34T I have been doing well. I enter engine hours, where to and from and anything interesting that happened. When I get around to oil changes and stuff, I'll enter that as well. I figure it will be nice to look over in my "rockin chair" years when I don't own a boat any more. Who knows? My wife calls it a journal. I said "It's a ships log!" It sounds more manly!

We keep two logs. One is manual, and minimal: date, destination (sometimes with marina/slip info), engine hours start/stop, NM start/stop, crew, unusual events, sometimes weather if it might be important...

The other is a maintenance log, an Excel file with about 12 different worksheets (engines, hull, genset, plumbing, electrics, fuel, etc etc etc.)

Latter is about the boat itself, former is about what we've done and where we've gone on the boat.

-Chris

I keep a detailed maintenance log on Excel spreadsheets and a “boat diary” on iPad. It’s a narrative description of each day, with miles traveled, time underway, engine hours. I print it out when I have access to a printer and keep a hard copy on the boat. It’s fun to occasionally go back and remind ourselves of our travels. Plus, from time to time we use ot to settle a disagreement about where we went when.



Paul

Maintenance log and general log are two different subjects. I think 90% of us on here would agree that some type of maint log if DIY and/or keeping receipts of past work is prudent.

I keep two logs in the same book. A maintenance log in the back of the book, and in the front I log only trips with a destination with start and arrival times, guests, speed and rpms. if i'm just out for a boat ride, that does not go in the log.
As far as logging things in general (non nautical); in my work life, I kept a daily log of all phone calls, business trips, mileage, contacts, discussions, etc. Twice this saved my ass. first time a customer tried to sue the company for something that happened 3 years prior. I went to court and the prosecuting attorney asked me on the stand about discussions from the meeting. I pulled out my notebook to the day in discussion. The case was thrown out. Once the IRS called me in and wanted to disallow travel expenses for my vehicle for 5 years. I pulled out the books for the years in question and everything was allowed.
John

I started keeping a log when Diane bought me a logbook as a gift when we bought Datenight. Log time, date and starting location of every trip. When we arrive note destination. Also note fuel burn and engine hours at beginning and end of each trip. Will often note weather and current as well.

All oil and filter changes and any maintainence also noted in same book. Generator time as well. Would probably be better to have a seperate maint. log but everything is there.

We just sold Datenight and the logbook was a hit with the buyer and surveyer.

Rob

Always keep a log. Get in the habit. It doesn't take long and you never know when you might need it. I log weather, wind, sea state, date/time of Dep/Arr, names of people on board and, when transiting, position every hour, ETA, hdgs, etc. Anchoring, I log depth - current and max with tide effect, rode out etc. Eng hours and fuel taken give me average consumption for year as I don't have flow meters.
Useful for the effort.

OK, why is it useful?

Use a log as a diary of who was on board when; for a last fixed position in case of a plotter failure; as reference in case of authorities investigating any criminal activity or a SAR event nearby; for checking the accuracy of compasses, GPS, etc; estimating ETAs; recording tide for anchoring depth; recording fuel consumption and expense vs budget; recording bilge and holding tank pump-outs for regulation compliance; demonstrating care of vessel & credibility in seamanship; general interest and boat history. That's for a 'deck' log.
A maintenance log records all serviceability checks, equipment/parts malfunctions, repairs & replacements, part numbers and/or descriptions for future reference, and provides good background info and history/condition for sale of the boat.
Would you rather buy a boat with every service detail recorded, or one with no history?

I’m not sure what a proper log is, but I learned to always keep a deck log for navigational purposes. On our current boat you can open any one of our log books and see the following: position at every hour of the day on the hour, who was on watch, water temp, air temp, course and speed, engine rpm, barometric pressure, true wind speed and direction as well as current speed/ direction , wave height direction and period. We also include observations such as shaft temps, generator temps, hydraulic oil temps engine room temps, alternator temps, radar targets, course and speed of targets, Important radio comms, fuel consumed, distance travelled and any unusual observations during the hour on watch. Notes for the next watch stander such as fuel tank switching for reballasting or watermaker starting or stopping any planned and unplanned course changes notes to fix anything that breaks etc...Takes at most 5 mins to record but what else have you to do on watch at 0300. Back in the days before gps this was all standard operating procedure. When you bought a well seasoned boat these logs were available and more often than not they added value for both the seller and the purchaser. Each log covers a little more than 950 hours of run time so we use one of the 6 radio log pages for maintenance items as well. Now there are actually companies making equipment to automatically record this kind of data so I guess it must be useful and even worth paying for.

Rusty said:

No logbook. I was on the flybridge backing out of our slip. Boat wouldn't shift into forward. Fast approaching docks and other boats in reverse. Run downstairs and find the logbook wedged between the shifters and the chart plotter. Haven't used it since.

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Float tested?

I keep a log faithfully. I don’t pretend it has any tangible value, I just do it because I like to. I think it helps keeps me mindful of my actions and the status of the boat. Plus it connects me with maritime traditions that are a big part of the draw of trawlers in the first place.

My MFD creates a track line of every trip and records all my data including engine data into a file. I have never needed to look at the files. That is as much of a log book as I keep.

Now I keep a very extensive Maintence Log Book. It is subdivided into various sections, fuel log, maintence schedual, part numbers, and maintenance log by systems.

I keep a log of each boat trip and record maintenance performed.

Digital Log

BandB said:

We keep a very detailed electronic log and before we had it, kept it manually. We also keep a journal or diary in that we keep records of what we did on each day. Sights we saw, restaurants, and activities. That we don't always do immediately and sometimes have to remember and go back and detail. Associated with that we also note things we didn't see or do but hope to next time we're there.

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What software/apps do you use to keep your electronic log?
Thx
Lavida

Purchased a rather large, hard bound "official" Marine Log from West Marine. Has many many pages with repeated categories each. Lots of room for entries. We don't necessarily follow the categories as they are listed but rather enter items as and where in log we deem needed at the time.

We keep log at end of each session with occasional entries during session. Basically we enter all items that may be pertinent for future review as well as just some input on good ol' fun times.

In front portion of the log is a group of straight lined pages where I keep a whole bunch of stats and numbers I've learned about the boat for reference. And, in the logged-in dates on pages there are other stats important.

I do quite often refer to pages in the log for many different reasons. All in all this log takes us very little time to keep going and is a good tool for our use to review background when needed.

We have a small, not well detailed log from the original [31 yr. duration] owner. Some items from him are good to know. If/when we sell our Tolly our log should satiate the new owner's need for background on boat's life under our control.

I'd feel remiss not having at least some sort of log for reference.

Looking back at [WWII airplane pilot] dad's extensive log keeping aboard boat - I realize that his need for super accountability and accuracy did not really make him happy to constantly need to accomplish log entries each and every day aboard. Therefore I greatly relaxed his entry format while still keeping an eye on the bouncing ball! :lol:

lavida said:

What software/apps do you use to keep your electronic log?
Thx
Lavida

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We've been using Idea which has been around for a long time. However, they were purchased by Spectec and have a new version on the way and we're not real sure where things stand. Many of the engine builders have very good systems today, CAT and MTU among them. For overall management, now there are Latitude 365, Manage My Vessel, Deep Blue, Triton, and Total Superyacht among others. Even a couple of boat builders have proprietary systems. With NMEA 2000, there are many more like Voyage Recorder, Sealogical, Seahub, and free Open Skipper. Also, prices are coming down. It should be a basic plug in to existing electronics to record everything.

Now for the diary or journaling part, we looked at tons of travel diaries out there. Journal, Penzu, Day One, Diaro, and Bonjournal are some. We ended up putting ours in a simple database simply for the search benefits.

I keep two logs. One maintenance log and one overall boating log. In the Boating log I keep such things as trip distances and times, Fuel used, weather observations and general trip observations and comments about the day. I'll also keep track of guests, food etc. Whatever comes to mind. My wife also keeps a boat diary and she'll ask guests to sign her book and make comments. It's fun to look back over these every so often and can be useful to compare trip notes, engine/fuel use performance etc. The maintenance log seems obvious as it can be a great help in keeping up with the boat and estimating future expenses and I keep all parts replaced, their cost and their part numbers here for future reference.

Kevin

Social media has become my logbook. Every trip that I have taken is documented in photos. No need to write crap down in my opinion.

k9medic said:

Social media has become my logbook. Every trip that I have taken is documented in photos. No need to write crap down in my opinion.

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Make sure you have preserved copies as no social media is guaranteed.