Aluminum Log Cover
Typical Screws and Posts
Log Books
It is required to keep a log at sea, but there are lots of ideas about what exactly is required or useful. Finding a flexible, affordable, weather resistant solution is also not easy. The first boat we bought had a huge log that they had religiously kept from the day she was launched forty years earlier. It had a screw-post binder which allowed it to grow over time by adding more pages. The one trouble with that log book was that experiential anecdotes were mixed in with maintenance notes and voyaging notes - it was very difficult to find specific references.
So for Phoenix we created two screwpost log books, one for maintenance and experiential anecdotes with a index on each page, and a second Ship's log for voyaging notes. Both are screwpost books and both are filled with pages that can be printed on any printer.
Resources to Download and Customize (all in Word, doc format)
Ship's Log | Ship's Log Table Of Contents | Journal / Daily Log | Daily Maintenance Checklist
Ship's Log
This is what we use underway. We try to add an entry each hour, but at least at the beginning of each person's shift. Note that the full page has a page number so that it is clear no pages were torn out. I print them by sets of ten, adjusting the starting page number for each print set. I also keep a table of contents page that lists the page number of the begninning of each major leg of the voyage.
Journal / Daily Log
<snip>
This is where we write our thoughts, memories and keep notes on what we fixed. In order to make it easier to find notes on what we did, there is an index along the bottom of each page with the major systems (see above). By circling the system that is discussed on that page the log is much easier to visually search later. I also leave a large outside margin for adding dates, notes etc.
Notebooks
Acrylic Screwpost Binders
FInding the right material for the cover of a screw post portfolio cover was a little challenging. First I tried a conventional hardback cardboard binding, but this warped in just a season or two. So I have two suggestions - acrylic or aluminum. These aren't particularly easy to find but here are some sources:
- Aluminum Screwpost Portfolio Cover (Machina) Portfolios or (Pina Zangaro) Dickblick.com
- Acrylic Screwpost Portfolio Cover (Vista) Portfolios
