Keeping A Log

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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However... it is by the written aboard marine-log word book that recorded items last for as many years as the boat. Photos of any kind can eventually decay

Yes, we keep a very comprehensive and detailed navigation log. It is a bound book and any vessel movement, even from anchor to the fuel dock and back, goes in the book. Any errors are lined out w/a signature and there are no erasures in, or pages torn out of the log.
We also keep an engine room log, and a vessel maintenance log, both also bound books.
We do not have a guest log.

MurrayM said:

I keep a basic one.

Who's on board.
Engine hours at start & end of day.
Destination/location.
Notable animal encounters.
Maintenance/upgrades.
Fuel purchases.

To keep photographs organized I write the days date and destination in a notebook, then photograph the page...this way I know where the following photos were taken. If I take what I think will be an important photo enroute, I'll take a quick photo of the Navionics display or notes written in the notebook. Photos and notes can't be separated

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Sounds like mine

A log Book. Always keep one when cruising. Maybe not for a few hours going nowhere, BUT always when away. This way the watch stander knows the course, speed, approximate location of the vessel. Keep paper maps as well.

One time the magic chart stopped working, had to figure course, and location by the "old fashioned" way. Luckily we were able to do this for a while. Found our harbor three days later, right on.

For three years now I have not kept a log, but my adventures have all been limited to local day trips. I will keep a digital log once my voyaging begins. But there is one entry that everyone has mentioned - a important one - that I do not know how you do it: fuel consumption. I have no idea how you are tracking it unless on A voyage over several weeks requiring a number of diesel fills against engine hours and/or NMs. For now, I fil er up very sporadically.

Fuel log: x percent remaining at trip start vs. x percent remaining at trip end. Could convert to gallons if desired.

Sunset said:

For three years now I have not kept a log, but my adventures have all been limited to local day trips. I will keep a digital log once my voyaging begins. But there is one entry that everyone has mentioned - a important one - that I do not know how you do it: fuel consumption. I have no idea how you are tracking it unless on A voyage over several weeks requiring a number of diesel fills against engine hours and/or NMs. For now, I fil er up very sporadically.

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For me it is easy. My engines are only 5 years old and have fuel flow sensors. But even for my old 555's I had a flowscan sensor.

I can cross-check against sight gauges on the tanks, in particular the day tanks. After the tanks were made we calibrated the sight gauges when filling the tanks for the first time. I have marks every 100 litres, and can interpolate to within about 20 litres.

As part of my pre-departure check, I use my phone to take a picture of each engine's hour meter and the genset hr meter. I put a P and an S by the engine hour meters so I can tell them apart quicker when looking back at the photos.
Before pulling away from the dock I take a picture of my watch with my home port bridge in the background or some other noteworthy landmark or the GPS screen.
I do the same on destination arrival. Then fill in the logbook at my leisure. The pics between the 2 pictures of my watch jog my memory of what we did and saw.

I fell into this method because I like keeping a detailed log but it can become a chore especially when tired from a trip. This way, I can catch up later.

Although I make a run around Charleston Harbor about 4 times a week I only keep a log when we make an overnight trip. Maybe just habit from School ships, Merchant Ships and Navy Ships but I still do it.

I kept detailed logs from 1986 to 2015 when I retired from my commercial fishing. All vessels were salmon trollers. I still keep a log on my pleasure craft but not as detailed. My logs came into value when the Canadian Government decided to license commercial fishing skippers. They accepted my logs as proof of my sea time. The inspector commented that they were the most detailed logs he had ever seen coming off a commercial trolling vessel.

On the few times that I looked back reviewing my logs I only wished I had included more, not less, information. Often considered writing a book base from the logs but nothing done to date.

It actually ease the sea/river boredom, besides being a compulsory work details for logistical operations. The log also contains names of people on board for safety checks just in case of man overboard.

What more would give an actual picture of your journey if not kept?
Its the ultimate speaker while you're away from the boat of all your acts on the boat.

Interesting how it sums up a whole life.
Ojaxz73.

Ojaxz73 said:

It actually ease the sea/river boredom, besides being a compulsory work details for logistical operations. The log also contains names of people on board for safety checks just in case of man overboard.

What more would give an actual picture of your journey if not kept?
Its the ultimate speaker while you're away from the boat of all your acts on the boat.

Interesting how it sums up a whole life.
Ojaxz73.

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As I said in the OP, I do keep a detailed blog rather than a formal log. Big benefits of that is the photo journal aspect plus the ability to share broadly.

AtAnchor.com | The Voyages Of Sonas And Her Crew.