Steve wrote:

My point. I want a log page that is mostly dedicated to routine
simple entries without wasting half the page with blank spaces for
weather observations and engine readings. I think I might design
my own log page, with your suggestions, print and bind it into my
ultimate log book..

How about some suggestions of what you all consider a simple and
effecient log page??

Here is an old post I wrote on this subject:. Hope this helps.
"PeteAlbright" wrote ...

I am interrested in what others are doing for log keeping.
Do you keep a formal log for your boat?
Do you keep a separate engine/maintenance log?
Do you use custom boat logs, or just plain ledger bound books?

: Pete Albright
: s/v Nancy Ross
: Tampa, FL

In addition to the good ideas suggested by others, (separate maintenance and
machinery logs), you may find something helpful in an earlier Kerry Deare
post (below). It's a little wordy, but you get the idea.

Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat (remove 'BOAT')
http://kerrydeare.tripod.com


Frederick Stonehouse wrote: ...looking to develop my own logbooks, one
for cruising and other for maintenance. Can anyone offer any suggestions
for topic and layout?

Thanks for this question. It's an opportunity to re-evaluate what we've
been doing lately in this area, always a good thing.

As you know there are a number of pre-printed logs available. However they
often do not meet everyone's preferences, so for a number of years we have
been using standard "Record" books for the ship's log. By "record book" I
mean a hardbound volume with lined and numbered pages and no text. We have
refined the process a bit over the years as follows.

The first five books (1980 to 1997) were 8.5" x 14" in size and
approximately 500 pages (depending upon supplier). This sounds large, but
we have been underway 365 days a year for some time now, and the pages get
used (more about book size later). The idea behind the record book was that
it should contain not only the deck log (course, speed, nav info,
operational data, etc.) but also serve as a cruise journal. From the
beginning, all on board were encouraged (sometimes partially forced) to make
entries about the cruise, the weather, the food, the captain, opinions,
likes and dislikes, etc. The only restrictions were (1) that my god
daughter would eventually be reading what they wrote and they should let the
style of their entries reflect that fact, and (2) that they had to use a
black ink pen. The entries provided some good fireside reading later.

As time passed, I got tired of writing "course" and "speed" and "lat" and
"lon" so I had a rubber stamp made at a stationery store. I'm not going to
try to duplicate it here, but it's about 2" square and has printed lines for

Course/Speed, Lat/Lon, TD1/TD2, Barometer/Engine Hours, and a few other
items. I just stamp the left side of the page I'm working on (in colored
ink for higher visibility) and make entries. In inshore waters and
waterways, entries are made quite often, depending on conditions. When
offshore, entries are normally made once an hour. On passage this often
slips to every 2 hours (or more, quite honestly). Whatever you like, I
guess. After a passage the highly visible nav and piloting data make it
easy to re-construct the cruise and evaluate noon-to-noon, average speeds,
etc. I sometimes plot the passage on a sailing or general chart afterwards
for an overview.

There is a separate loose-leaf book with pre-printed pages for
astronavigation. These are forms I developed and printed myself, but there
are many others available. What usually happens is that the scratch math is
done in the log book, and appropriate entries are transferred to the
celestial form. Plotting is done, of course, on regular plotting sheets. I
won't kid you on this one, though. We still carry 2 sextants and all the
associated gear, but with 3 GPS units on board the sextant doesn't get much
of a workout these days. That's a separate subject, and I'm sure that in
true newsgroup style it will be covered elsewhere.

You mentioned a maintenance log. When I started with this system I put all
maintenance and repair data directly into the log book. However after a
while this proved inconvenient, since it was a pain to find and check the
last oil change, turnbuckle inspection, etc. To remedy this, I started a
separate machinery log, also in a record book, but a much smaller record
book. The machinery log is about 17 or 18 years old by now, and has
recorded work on 2 diesel engines. It still serves the purpose.

About book size. The original large log books are quite heavy, and when
they go flying across the cabin (always at the wrong instant) they tend to
get banged up, ripped, and in fact bang up things a little themselves. All
5 have been repaired along the spine with West epoxy at least once. After
the first 5, I switched to an 8.5" x 11" 300 page model. Easier to handle
and stow. Still quite expensive, by the way.

Well, those are the 3 separate log books we've been keeping. A few years
ago we started with a computer-based system that has pretty much changed
everything. We've been using a PC-based nav/piloting/record
keeping/charting system called The Capn. I discussed it in an earlier
posting to this newsgroup and it's off the topic of your inquiry, so I won't
linger on it. But it's keeps pretty good records, alerts me to the next oil
change, etc., and does just about anything else I ask. I'm a single handed
sailor, and the help is well appreciated.

Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.tripod.com

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Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/