DeckVaktElectronic deck log for a yacht on passage
A deck log that is still blank at dawn is a deck log that will be invented at breakfast. The only record that is true is the one written as the watch happens: handover, acknowledgement, the call-out, the fix. An electronic deck log is useful only if it is easier than the paper book at three in the morning.
Why the log exists
Handovers, insurance, the conversation after a near-miss, the hours-of-rest pack, the story you tell the next skipper. A yacht deck log is not a legal diary for its own sake. It is how a tired crew proves what they thought they were doing.
Most logs fail because they are a chore. The watch that should write them is the watch that does not want to go below and find a pen. If the board in front of them is also the log, the entries happen. That is the design of DeckVakt’s record: the sailing watch app writes as it runs.
What has to be in it
Ship’s time, who was on, who took over, the standing-order acknowledgements, weather and sail in whatever form you actually use, positions or fixes you care about, and anything that changed the watch rota — seasick, landfall, a clock change. Sights if you take them. MOB drill if you ran one.
You do not need a novel. You need a timestamped list that a stranger could reconstruct the night from. “47 entries by day three, none of them typed twice” is the product claim because the board already knew the watch change.
When it gets written
At handover, not at breakfast. When you mark a crew member unavailable. When you wake the skipper. When you apply a clock change. Those are the moments the paper book is downstairs. The phone is already in the cockpit.
If you only open the log at noon sights you will have a noon book, not a deck log. Fine for a harbour hop. Not fine for a crossing you may have to explain.
The passage log PDF
At the other end you want one file: the passage, the crew, the watches stood, the night hours, the acknowledgements, the exceptions. Per-person summary cards if you are kind to the crew. Rest-hours from the same source if you need them — see the hours of rest app.
Paper still prints. Some surveyors and some owners want a wet-ink book. An electronic deck log that cannot export is a toy. DeckVakt includes the PDF on every passage, free; optional support never changes the record or export.
Offline, or it is not a sea log
A log that waits for a satellite is a log that will be backfilled. Backfilled logs are how you get tidy totals and untrue nights. DeckVakt stores the record on the phones holding the passage — the whole system is usable on mobiles. The desk app is extra, for a wide screen and the extra numbers if you want them. Sharing a passage is a code in the saloon, not an upload.
Questions skippers ask
Is an electronic deck log legal on a yacht?
For most private yachts the requirement is good practice and insurance, not a prescribed book. Commercial and coded vessels should confirm what their flag and coding authority will accept. A PDF plus a paper backup is the usual cautious answer.
What should a yacht passage log include?
Who was on, when, what changed, positions you care about, acknowledgements of standing orders, and anything that affected rest or command.
Can DeckVakt replace the paper logbook?
It can write the same facts as you go and export a passage log PDF. Some skippers still keep a paper book for the owner or the surveyor. Nothing stops both.
Does the crew have to type entries?
Most entries come from the board: handovers, unavailability, clock changes. You are not re-typing the rota into a diary.
What if a phone is lost?
Every crew phone that joined holds the passage. Hand the log off to another phone and keep going.
Handovers, acknowledgements and the changes you made at 03:00, already in the log, exportable when you arrive. Fully usable on the phones. The desk app is extra.
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