T&T: Log books

[TK Allen]

In my business (which has nothing to do with boats), log books are critical.
 My people are required to keep logs with frequent notations of their
observations.  The contractors we work with are also required to keep logs
for most of their activities.  We often review both sets of log books in
excruciating detail when disputes arise.  My point is, I may not have much
experience with boats but I have years of experience with log books and
their uses and abuses.



Some on this list have suggested that bound logs with numbered pages could
be recopied to avoid detection of a removed page.  I don't think this would
fool a careful reviewer or even most casual observers.  An original log will
display the characteristics of normal usage over a period of time.  This
includes things like the following:

 wear and tear to the cover and pages (stains, smudges, small creases and
tears, etc.)

- different writing instruments (ink color, pen tip sizes).  People rarely
use the same pen forever.  Pens get lost, run out of ink, etc.  Besides,
most people just grab the first available pen without regard to whether or
not it was the same one used for the last log entry.

- variations in the "hand".  Even if the log is entirely written by the same
person, the conditions under which the entries were made (low light vs.
bright light, unstable writing surfaces, cold or warm temperature, etc.)
create a lot of inconsistency in penmanship.  Image the different in your
"hand" if you were to write a few sentences on board a boat rolling in
rough, cold weather vs. writing the same sentences written seated at a desk
in a heated office on land.

- editing marks (logs written "in the field" typically have words scratched
out or added after the sentence has been written and squeezed in between
other words or between lines)

- awkward language, inconsistent margins.  People tend to subconsciously
clean this sort of thing up to some degree when they try to copy a log.


All of this (and more) contributes to the "look" a log develops during
normal usage.  It is nearly impossible to duplicate this "look" by taking an
old log and re-writing the entries into a new book.  My point is that a
phony log will, in almost all cases, stand out like a sore thumb when
compared to the real deal.  This is particularly true if there are other log
volumes available from the same "author".

By the way, speaking of logs, I have developed an Excel workbook designed to
log a boat's engine/generator hours and fuel purchases.  These data are then
usage to calculate fuel consumption rates and other metrics.  Results are
automatically graphed over time.  This workbook was developed in Excel
2003.  If anybody would like a copy of this workbook, contact me off-list.
No charge but I would appreciate any feedback that might help make it better
and more useful.

TK Allen