The Cruiser's Daily Log Book
The Cruiser's Daily Logbook
A Ship's Log for the Discriminating Boater
By Steve Deligan
Welcome to “The Cruiser’s Daily Logbook”, a ship’s log for pleasure cruisers!
This logbook is aimed at cruising boaters, both motor or sail, who take multi-day cruises and normally tie up or anchor each night.
Each day is spread over two pages. The day’s details on the left, and meals, water and notes on the right. There are entries for sixty days. Then there are pages for eight fuelings, six emergency radio entries (only the USCG required ones, not normal radio uses), and a miscellaneous log for pumpouts, cooking fuel, and water filling.
Every sailor has their own particular information that they wish to track. There are some very minimalist logbooks out there that are really just journals, and there are some very complex ones mostly aimed at professional mariners who must track a great deal more than pleasure boaters. Our version is more of a middle way… I wanted to record many of the important bits of information to keep a record for the boat, but also wanted enough journal space to keep a record of our adventures. This two-page version works well.
Some of the items in our log give a nod to the old ship’s logs of the 18th and 19th centuries when they did regular watch entries for weather, seas, tides, etc. While they entered hourly observations, I’ve only included four. Those old logbooks are also where I found use of the phrase “Record of the Miscellaneous Events of the Day” title for the notes portion, the captain’s or designee’s signature, and the reference to the all-important “amount of potable water” available (for those of us without a watermaker).
In addition to much of the normally expected logbook information, we’ve included battery voltage. Tracking house battery bank voltage is useful for those of us who like to anchor at night and use onboard DC battery power. Those of us without a generator, or unwilling to use one when around other boats, must monitor our battery status while on the hook. When tracked over time, you may also be able to monitor the health of your battery bank.
We wish you fair winds, calm seas, and wonderful times on your cruising adventures!
MSRP $25.95
ISBN 979-8-9905255-0-4
Fine Edge Publications