Gunfleet
Well-Known Member
What a cracking item. I'm going to adapt it.
DIY log book: any thoughts?
- Thread starter FinesseChris
- Start date
G
Guest
Guest
There are many versions out there .... RYA / Souwester etc. etc.
So it really depends what you want it for. If its for legal recourse and to be official - as on ship then the usual offerings via chandlers / on forums etc. are not suitable. If you want it as personal record and archive - then fine - its as you want.
Official / accepted log-books are bound with pages un-removeable, they have to be so that no-one can change it before the law descends on you ! Any errors must only be crossed out with single line and still be legible. No tip-ex or correction fluids etc. All entries in ink.
I favout at moment a Chief Officers Log-book that is found on many ships .... I only fill in for days actually on boat - missing out tied up days ... so the log-book lasts significant period. I am considering changing to a Page-a-day Diary - which is more asthetic, smaller and more comfortable to use. Text entries instead of columns - so that writing up can be more free-hand style.
For Course / distance / speed / position stuff - I use the auto-log feature of my PC chart plotting software ... which can be printed out later if desired...... OK - this is not accepatble format etc. for a court - but we are BOATING - not Commercial Shipping.
I used to have a loose-leaf file for Decca etc. and gave up with it in the end - holes kept splitting etc. on pages and then developed the idea of fixed bound book.
Finally for true free-hand style and also as a nice shelf display .... get a number of hard-back bound nice plain lined page books and stencil / gold leaf boat name onto spine .... and use pages for free-hand entries .... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
So it really depends what you want it for. If its for legal recourse and to be official - as on ship then the usual offerings via chandlers / on forums etc. are not suitable. If you want it as personal record and archive - then fine - its as you want.
Official / accepted log-books are bound with pages un-removeable, they have to be so that no-one can change it before the law descends on you ! Any errors must only be crossed out with single line and still be legible. No tip-ex or correction fluids etc. All entries in ink.
I favout at moment a Chief Officers Log-book that is found on many ships .... I only fill in for days actually on boat - missing out tied up days ... so the log-book lasts significant period. I am considering changing to a Page-a-day Diary - which is more asthetic, smaller and more comfortable to use. Text entries instead of columns - so that writing up can be more free-hand style.
For Course / distance / speed / position stuff - I use the auto-log feature of my PC chart plotting software ... which can be printed out later if desired...... OK - this is not accepatble format etc. for a court - but we are BOATING - not Commercial Shipping.
I used to have a loose-leaf file for Decca etc. and gave up with it in the end - holes kept splitting etc. on pages and then developed the idea of fixed bound book.
Finally for true free-hand style and also as a nice shelf display .... get a number of hard-back bound nice plain lined page books and stencil / gold leaf boat name onto spine .... and use pages for free-hand entries .... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
webcraft
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
It may be good policy to only use a bound book (necessary if it is ever to be relied on for legal reasons)
[/ QUOTE ] - Don't follow you here I am afraid. A record is a record, and a bound log book can be written up from scratch after the event - a teensy bit more work than merely slipping a fictitious leaf in, but not too much trouble to go to after you've rammed and sunk Mirabella V in a thoroughly blameworthy manner . . .
It may be good policy to only use a bound book (necessary if it is ever to be relied on for legal reasons)
[/ QUOTE ] - Don't follow you here I am afraid. A record is a record, and a bound log book can be written up from scratch after the event - a teensy bit more work than merely slipping a fictitious leaf in, but not too much trouble to go to after you've rammed and sunk Mirabella V in a thoroughly blameworthy manner . . .
BrendanS
Well-Known Member
If used in a legal case, the authorities are very likely to hand over the log to a forensic lab if they think it's been falsified. If it's been written after the event, I think you'll find they pinpoint that almost immediately.
roger
Well-Known Member
Hard back record book
My local stationer (doubt igf they are unique) sells very nice hard covered A4 lined notebooks reasonably cheaply. They go by the name "Collins Ideal".
They suit my cruising very well. I rule columns as needed and use the opposite page for narrative etc. A condenced voyage summary day by day goes at the back for easy reference.
I dont think loose leaf books are satisfactory for legal reasons and in any case I would lose pages. The sequence of these books is my primary record of our cruising. I think the commercial log bookes are pricey and too short.
My local stationer (doubt igf they are unique) sells very nice hard covered A4 lined notebooks reasonably cheaply. They go by the name "Collins Ideal".
They suit my cruising very well. I rule columns as needed and use the opposite page for narrative etc. A condenced voyage summary day by day goes at the back for easy reference.
I dont think loose leaf books are satisfactory for legal reasons and in any case I would lose pages. The sequence of these books is my primary record of our cruising. I think the commercial log bookes are pricey and too short.
Ubergeekian
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Anyone care to suggest what else I need to allow space for?
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't think you need any more than "time", "position" and "event"
Ian
Anyone care to suggest what else I need to allow space for?
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't think you need any more than "time", "position" and "event"
Ian
PhilipStapleton
Well-Known Member
We usae an A4 desk diary. I reserve the top third of the page for the crew list, tide times/heights and weather information plus anything else important like closing times for lock gates, pubs etc. shower codes, whatever
The lower two thirds I rule in columns depending on the type of trip...
day sailing : time/log/location/event (eg, "left mooring", "anchored")
coastal sailing : time/log/course/speed/wind/baro/location event
out of sight of land : as above plus lat,long every two hours
Having had a complete electronics failiure, I like to have enough info in the log to do a DR if I needed to. Otherwise, I thnk you only have to be able to prove where the boat has been if you get boarded by customs etc. A looseleaf piece of paper should do the trick just as well, I'd have thought.
The lower two thirds I rule in columns depending on the type of trip...
day sailing : time/log/location/event (eg, "left mooring", "anchored")
coastal sailing : time/log/course/speed/wind/baro/location event
out of sight of land : as above plus lat,long every two hours
Having had a complete electronics failiure, I like to have enough info in the log to do a DR if I needed to. Otherwise, I thnk you only have to be able to prove where the boat has been if you get boarded by customs etc. A looseleaf piece of paper should do the trick just as well, I'd have thought.
Ships_Cat
Well-Known Member
I print loose leafed sheets of my own and keep them in a ring binder (despite comments that they should be bound for legal reasons, I know of nowhere where it is even a legal requirement for pleasure vessels to keep a log, let alone keep a bound one - and during discovery of documents during litigation or criminal charge loose leafed documents seem to hold as much weight as bound ones in my experience).
The columns are Date UTC, Time UTC, Log, Course True, Wind, Barometer, Temperature Sea & Air, Sea, Position, Notes. Each page is headed with the boat's name and the page number. I do not religiously fill out every column, just those I think useful at the time (eg temperatures only get added if of some value, which is infrequent).
As an aside my ECS also keeps 2 electronic logs - a detailed log containing all instrument data (wind, heading, position, depth, speed, etc), warnings, alarms, etc with all of those added to the log approx every 2 seconds as well as any manually added notes, and also another less detailed log. I periodically delete these unless there is something of particular personal interest in them.
John
The columns are Date UTC, Time UTC, Log, Course True, Wind, Barometer, Temperature Sea & Air, Sea, Position, Notes. Each page is headed with the boat's name and the page number. I do not religiously fill out every column, just those I think useful at the time (eg temperatures only get added if of some value, which is infrequent).
As an aside my ECS also keeps 2 electronic logs - a detailed log containing all instrument data (wind, heading, position, depth, speed, etc), warnings, alarms, etc with all of those added to the log approx every 2 seconds as well as any manually added notes, and also another less detailed log. I periodically delete these unless there is something of particular personal interest in them.
John
jamesjermain
Well-Known Member
Three things are important in a log book.
1) It might have to be used as a legal document
2) SOLAS regulations require you to have a passage plan
3) Its great fun reading back through old log books and discovering how far out our memory is from the recorded reality.
If you have to produce the log of a passage in court and it is disputed, I suspect a loose-leaf file will be quickly discredited.
SOLAS passage planning requirements are pretty minimal, but you should have space to show that you have worked out roughly where you are going, what the tides are like and that you have listened to the forecast.
Do leave plenty of space for comments, drawings, aides memoire etc, and a bit of a running narrative. I actually keep a separate log - ie notebook - for the 'story' of a passage.
1) It might have to be used as a legal document
2) SOLAS regulations require you to have a passage plan
3) Its great fun reading back through old log books and discovering how far out our memory is from the recorded reality.
If you have to produce the log of a passage in court and it is disputed, I suspect a loose-leaf file will be quickly discredited.
SOLAS passage planning requirements are pretty minimal, but you should have space to show that you have worked out roughly where you are going, what the tides are like and that you have listened to the forecast.
Do leave plenty of space for comments, drawings, aides memoire etc, and a bit of a running narrative. I actually keep a separate log - ie notebook - for the 'story' of a passage.
snowleopard
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Three things are important in a log book.
1) It might have to be used as a legal document
2) SOLAS regulations require you to have a passage plan
3) Its great fun reading back through old log books and discovering how far out our memory is from the recorded reality.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have always regarded the log as an essential part of navigation. In the past it was the basis of DR, today it is the backup if the GPS fails. Without that, you might as well just keep a diary.
Three things are important in a log book.
1) It might have to be used as a legal document
2) SOLAS regulations require you to have a passage plan
3) Its great fun reading back through old log books and discovering how far out our memory is from the recorded reality.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have always regarded the log as an essential part of navigation. In the past it was the basis of DR, today it is the backup if the GPS fails. Without that, you might as well just keep a diary.
ShipsWoofy
Well-Known Member
Me too on the desk Diary.
I have tried all sorts of laid out forms. I can not keep to them, much easier to jot down things as you go, as long as my crew an I can both understand and keep to some kind of organisation then we should be fine.
As each passage is different it allows you to alter the formula for each specific event. For example, sailing around the Solent where you are always within sight of land, do you really need 30 minute plots?
I have tried all sorts of laid out forms. I can not keep to them, much easier to jot down things as you go, as long as my crew an I can both understand and keep to some kind of organisation then we should be fine.
As each passage is different it allows you to alter the formula for each specific event. For example, sailing around the Solent where you are always within sight of land, do you really need 30 minute plots?
Ships_Cat
Well-Known Member
...do you really need 30 minute plots
I agree no. In fact it has to be unusual for me to log any enroute position - if poor visibility or something makes me want to note positions I do it on the chart (if paper) or on a sheet of paper, not in the log.
Most small commercial vessels, in my experience, don't keep logs (or plots) at all.
John
I agree no. In fact it has to be unusual for me to log any enroute position - if poor visibility or something makes me want to note positions I do it on the chart (if paper) or on a sheet of paper, not in the log.
Most small commercial vessels, in my experience, don't keep logs (or plots) at all.
John