Your vessel’s log

[Never Grumble]

Having served a dog watch in the RN and operating coded vessels at work I have always kept a log book on our family boats and have found these to be ideal for the reasons stated by Doug. Being coastal and cross N. Sea motor-boaters our trips are measured in hours as opposed to days and we record what is required to meet passage planning obligations (forecast, rides and reference to how we will navigate) as well as half hourly positions, COG, SOG and engine RPM (the latter enabling comparisons of speed and RPM over time as opposed to being necessary for the passage). We also record engine hours and log (mileage) readings so we can see what we have done over a season.

At work we couldn’t find anything that met our needs so like Sandy we designed our own and have them printed.
.

do you or @Sandy have a link for the printers that you use? what format document do you have to send over to the printers?

 

[Muddy32]

I use a spiral bound A4 sized book with sqared paper.
It allows a variety of different ways of using it. Sometimes it has the tidal curve made up by self and other info, on one side, with on the other, hourly information.
However on short days info only so maybe a whole month of entries.

 

[jbweston]

Like many of you, I never found ready-printed log books that suited me. So I created my own sheet over a decade ago and print them out on a laser printer, plastic comb binding 20 of them together with a front sheet and a stiff transparent cover. When I moved from sail to power a year back I revised the format a little as I wanted to record slightly different information.

In addition I keep a fuel log.
I attach copies for anyone that's interested.

 

[Greg2]

do you or @Sandy have a link for the printers that you use? what format document do you have to send over to the printers?

Can’t say that I know as the admin team take care of it. I will ask when we are back at work.

 

[Sandy]

do you or @Sandy have a link for the printers that you use? what format document do you have to send over to the printers?

I use Doxdirect | Online Document Printing | Upload & Print Documents Online

I upload PDF files and have a plastic covers in a spiral binder.

A couple of samples below.

 

[Humblebee]

I find I put less and less in the logbook nowadays, but as I still do passage planning the old fashioned way ie with charts, tide tables, weather forecasts etc my passage plan book contains quite a lot of info. I then compare my paper passage plan with the GPS when we set off and make sure they match, a kind of double check on both.

 

[Roberto]

As a curiosity, on longer passages I keep an additional "weather log", a separate booklet with only weather related information, one page per calendar day.
I start it a few days before the planned start date t, with information for t+24, +48, +72 and +96 hours. The following day, information for (t+1)+24, +48, +72 and +96. And so on. "Weather information" is anything from charts, radiotelex, gribs, expected pressure/wind at given times, routing options subject to this or that, etc
Day after day, each calendar day page records progressively shorter forecasts which I find can give a good idea of what is happening weatherwise, forecast uncertainties and all.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I use the RYA versions, one for the boat which is essentially a navigation and maintenance log with notes which I fill out every 4 hours en route and whenever I do maintenance, repairs or modifications and a separate personal sailing record which is an annual summary of all the sailing I do. Each trip just gets hours and a brief summary. It will last a lifetime I guess but the boat log is about half full after 6 years.
I used to do it professionally when I was flying so it's a habit I'm comfortable with.

 

[Sandy]

As a curiosity, on longer passages I keep an additional "weather log", a separate booklet with only weather related information, one page per calendar day.
I start it a few days before the planned start date t, with information for t+24, +48, +72 and +96 hours. The following day, information for (t+1)+24, +48, +72 and +96. And so on. "Weather information" is anything from charts, radiotelex, gribs, expected pressure/wind at given times, routing options subject to this or that, etc
Day after day, each calendar day page records progressively shorter forecasts which I find can give a good idea of what is happening weatherwise, forecast uncertainties and all.

Interesting.

I have the 0000 UTC Met Office Shipping Forecast emailed to me daily and download the synoptic charts from Wetterzentrale just before and, where possible, during a passage. This serves two purposes:

1. gives me a feel for what is going on; and
2. allows me to check forecast to actual on passage in real time if I am coastal or historically if I am offshore.

I am planning to visit Ireland in summer 2025 and need to set up the same thing for Meto Eireann.

 

[magicol]

Thank you everyone who responded to this thread. Really interesting and helpful. It has confirmed for me, the benefits of keeping a log. There are certainly safety reasons and notes for maintenance and repairs are particularly useful but I also think a record of passages, crew, visits and incidents will entertain and inform us in years to come.
I also think there is definite benefit in personalising a log book to suit our own needs and we will explore creating a template for the future.

 

[Steamkettle]

Having served a dog watch in the RN and operating coded vessels at work I have always kept a log book on our family boats and have found these to be ideal for the reasons stated by Doug. Being coastal and cross N. Sea motor-boaters our trips are measured in hours as opposed to days and we record what is required to meet passage planning obligations (forecast, rides and reference to how we will navigate) as well as half hourly positions, COG, SOG and engine RPM (the latter enabling comparisons of speed and RPM over time as opposed to being necessary for the passage). We also record engine hours and log (mileage) readings so we can see what we have done over a season.

At work we couldn’t find anything that met our needs so like Sandy we designed our own and have them printed.
.

I think this is a critical yet often overlooked aspect. In the aftermath of an incident we may well be required to prove that our passage was actually planned and a log book, even when just filled with the basics, is the easiest and most effective means of doing so. I've often been lazy on 'milk run' trips but like Greg2 always complete the basics regardless of the trip. Litigation is creeping into every aspect of our lives and it could be argued that that's a compelling reason to keep a logbook in itself. I tried electronic logbooks but found them tiresome, demanding masses of detail that was irrelevant or distracting. However, in addition to the logbook I've taken to running a 'TimeZero' plot on the iPad that constantly records position, speed etc and which lets me add phots or comments. This serves as an accurate and immediately available backup independent of the main plotter which also provides a visual record to look back on later and analyse as required.

 

[Greg2]

I think this is a critical yet often overlooked aspect. In the aftermath of an incident we may well be required to prove that our passage was actually planned and a log book, even when just filled with the basics, is the easiest and most effective means of doing so. I've often been lazy on 'milk run' trips but like Greg2 always complete the basics regardless of the trip. Litigation is creeping into every aspect of our lives and it could be argued that that's a compelling reason to keep a logbook in itself. I tried electronic logbooks but found them tiresome, demanding masses of detail that was irrelevant or distracting. However, in addition to the logbook I've taken to running a 'TimeZero' plot on the iPad that constantly records position, speed etc and which lets me add phots or comments. This serves as an accurate and immediately available backup independent of the main plotter which also provides a visual record to look back on later and analyse as required.

We use Time Zero at work but I wasn’t aware of something that would work on an iPad so a quick search on the App Store revealed TZ iBoat - is that what you use? There isn’t a price shown, just that in-app purchases can be made so wondering how much it costs?

The functionality appears to be greater than my current Navionics app so I am wondering whether a change might be in order.

 

[Roberto]

I think this is a critical yet often overlooked aspect. In the aftermath of an incident we may well be required to prove that our passage was actually planned and a log book, even when just filled with the basics, is the easiest and most effective means of doing so. I've often been lazy on 'milk run' trips but like Greg2 always complete the basics regardless of the trip.

I do not know specifically about the UK, but in several countries for a logbook to be brought as proof in a court, loose leaf format is definitely not accepted, pages should be numbered, no unreadable erasures, no ripped sheets, etc etc.
Commercial navigation systems can provide a valid electronic logbook -at least from reading MAIB reports-, I doubt a personal electronic device with, essentially, its thousands of NMEA messages would be of any significant help.
Before leaving port, did you log that a crew member suffered from this/that medical condition?
Did you log the fact that one crew member had been vomiting for hours and hours, hence considered risk of dehydration? Did you log the deterioration of crew attitude and well being during a prolonged bad weather period at sea?
Did you log that engine started each time only after several attempts, or that it had had to be primed as many times? How did you deal with that thereafter?
Did you log that batteries were at the end of their lives, hence electronics and autopilot were at risk of becoming unusable? What did you do thereafter?
Fwiw, all these aspects were brought into court in a few cases of leisure boating serious accidents, the skippers could not provide any evidence of having considered them, which surely contributed to the final court assessment.

 

[doug748]

I do not know specifically about the UK, but in several countries for a logbook to be brought as proof in a court, loose leaf format is definitely not accepted, pages should be numbered, no unreadable erasures, no ripped sheets, etc etc.
Commercial navigation systems can provide a valid electronic logbook -at least from reading MAIB reports-, I doubt a personal electronic device with, essentially, its thousands of NMEA messages would be of any significant help.
Before leaving port, did you log that a crew member suffered from this/that medical condition?
Did you log the fact that one crew member had been vomiting for hours and hours, hence considered risk of dehydration? Did you log the deterioration of crew attitude and well being during a prolonged bad weather period at sea?
Did you log that engine started each time only after several attempts, or that it had had to be primed as many times? How did you deal with that thereafter?
Did you log that batteries were at the end of their lives, hence electronics and autopilot were at risk of becoming unusable? What did you do thereafter?
Fwiw, all these aspects were brought into court in a few cases of leisure boating serious accidents, the skippers could not provide any evidence of having considered them, which surely contributed to the final court assessment.

Got it covered. Here is an extract from the ship's log:

Archie never showed up
Sailed round the breakwater singlehanded, git
4 knots SW, Pissed down vertically
Handle fell off the kettle
Considering a trip to the Galapagos

.

 

[Poignard]

Conciseness is always desirable when writing up a log.

For example :

"At 12 Mr Byng was shot"

 

[Steamkettle]

Greg - Yes, 'TZiBoat' is what I use as a backup. ‎TZ iBoat – Marine Navigation gives the prices as £40/year for all UK charts with a weather add-on if you wanted it. I use the full-fat version of TZ for passage planning and its useful that the courses are then automatically tx'd to the iPad version - and vice versa. It provides an up-to-date plot of where I am that's independent of the MFD and boat's battery; just got to remember to keep it charged!

 

[Greg2]

Greg - Yes, 'TZiBoat' is what I use as a backup. ‎TZ iBoat – Marine Navigation gives the prices as £40/year for all UK charts with a weather add-on if you wanted it. I use the full-fat version of TZ for passage planning and its useful that the courses are then automatically tx'd to the iPad version - and vice versa. It provides an up-to-date plot of where I am that's independent of the MFD and boat's battery; just got to remember to keep it charged!

Very helpful thanks. I have downloaded the TZ iBoat and compared it with Navionics and it transpires that functionality is similar but the TZ app is a little easier to use and some functions appear to offer a bit more. I will be considering a change when my current Navionics subscription expires as the pricing is virtually the same.

 

[Frogmogman]

Conciseness is always desirable when writing up a log.

For example :

"At 12 Mr Byng was shot"

Poor old Byng, he really did not deserve that.

Cold comfort that his execution provided us with one of Voltaire’s most iconic observations (in Candide).

“dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres.”

(For non French speakers “in this country, it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time, to encourage the others”)

 

[jbweston]

Poor old Byng, he really did not deserve that.

Cold comfort that his execution provided us with one of Voltaire’s most iconic observations (in Candide).

“dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres.”

(For non French speakers “in this country, it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time, to encourage the others”)

My French isn't up to understanding fine shades of meaning. I wonder if 'encourager' has the same ambiguous meaning as 'to encourage' does in English? That is, both to give them courage and to (as it might be said today) incentivise them.

This Byng incident shows, and probably reinforced, the British public's opinion from then until the mid 20th century that the British navy could and should always knock the spots off 'Johnny Foreigner's lot' as matter of course. It's not possible to untangle cause and effect, but the British admirals during the Napoleonic wars were set (and set themselves) a very high standard and largely lived up to it. Jellicoe was still being judged by the same standard 150 years after Byng.

 

[Buck Turgidson]