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March 28, 2006 - KEEPING TRACK OF THINGS
by Al & Beth Liggett

I'm varnishing. Doing the hard wear areas - like around the galley sink rails and around the sink in the head, the grab rails, the places where you lean or touch most often, and the hatch sill. The hatch sill always seems to get heavy duty wear - from feet going in and out, from sails and equipment making the pass through, from none-too-clean hands grabbing a hold of it for balance, and from the hatch hogs. Hatch hogs? We've all got them. Those persons who sit right there on the hatch sill blocking your entry/exit. And the hatch hog sun creams and skin oils degrade the varnish on the hatch sill.

"So, when did we last do this varnish on the sill?" Al asks me as he industriously sands away. I check my little book.

"It was last year in April, while we were in Chagos," I reply. I have a little book where I note the varnish and paint projects that we do - the dates, if the work was stripped first, how many coats were applied, what product was used and what mixture, and how much to use if that is applicable.

A few days later Al added 60 liters of diesel to the big tank. He duly noted the date, engine hours, amount of fuel, and new total amount of liters in the tank. He also wrote down the price per liter. These records are kept in his "Engine Log" notebook. He also writes down the date and engine hours when he transfers fuel from the big tank to our day tanks. In this log are also kept notes on oil changes, filter changes, any engine work that has been done, that sort of thing.

These two notebooks are only part of our record keeping system aboard Sunflower. We learned long ago that our memories are like sieves. Even more so now that we have been living aboard and cruising her for almost 30 years! All those bits and pieces of information that might be useful need to lodge somewhere permanent. So, we have quite a number of useful books to use for memory banks.

Of course we have a regular LOG book - the record of when and where we went, with pertinent navigation details, weather notes, sailing or motoring, and special events - like the 18lb wahoo we just caught while sailing between Phuket and Langkawi!

Another book has very important, but seldom used, information - like the length of halyards and sheets, their size, and when they were last replaced. There are diagrams of some of the electrical installations on the boat. There is a listing of how many amps every piece of electrical equipment aboard draws. There is a diagram about how our instrument lights are hooked up. Ditto for the pumps, how the alternator is set up, and the rheostat for its control. There are diagrams of our sails, with measurements, the fabric, the weight, and when they were built. There is a list of the serial numbers of certain pieces of equipment too. And lots of details concerning the engine, the electrics, the plumbing - well, you get the picture. More than just a few pages are devoted to our 2 LPG tanks - when and where they were filled, and the date of use. Handy to know how much cooking time you can usually count on per bottle.

We have 2 notebooks that have pocketed pages inside. We fill the pockets with manuals, instruction sheets, parts lists, warranty information, and all those papers that come with the equipment you buy.

I have a listing of the major boat work for Sunflower going back to 1985. Some of the years from 1985 to 1995 are sorta lumped together. Guess I didn't remember to note the changes too well then. But the years are pretty specific starting in 1995. That was the year we got struck by lightning in Guam. I guess I thought keeping a record of those repairs warranted special attention. I have just continued to keep track of the 3-R's - Repair, Replace, Refurbish, year by year ever since. Some are just small items; I note that in 2003, item #7 is "new zipper in mainsail cover." However, just below it, #8 rather stoically says, "changed engines." Talk about understatement!

What has been very helpful - to me, and to others making Chagos plans - is a notebook of provisioning lists. How many eggs did I take to Chagos? Look in the red book. How long did the 2 kilos of cheese last? Look in the book. And it is just as important to note what you returned with so you can adjust the quantities next time - buy more tomato juice, forget the canned spinach!

I carry a small diary in my waist pouch and record the money we spend on a daily basis. I started doing this ages and ages ago, so I guess it's just a habit I continue. I used to total all the money up by categories and create a yearly expenditure sheet (or do it by each place visited). I don't add them all up anymore - maybe it's easier to look at them daily than to see the big numbers spent! So I don't know why I continue to keep track of all this. But it is useful when Al asks me if I remember what the battery switch cost, or the sandpaper, or the last propane fill. I don't remember, but the book does. What I have to remember is the approximate time - month and year - for that particular item.

Even though I don't tally up all those notations from my daily expenses, they do come in handy for some overall accounting on a year-by-year basis. This has mostly worked its way into a consolidated list of major expenses for the boat (new set of blocks for the boom vang), items for our general use and living (new digital camera), travel costs (total spent on hotels in Australia last year), and some basic "money in, money out" figures.

Well, you might think I do nothing but sit around all day making notes about expenses, boat gear, provisions, varnish done, etc. I assure you, this is not the case. If you get in the habit as I am, it only takes a few minutes on an occasional basis to keep track of all this stuff. Like now: the varnish is done and I will note the date and what we did in the "Varnish and Paint" book. Al is still "in training" for all this except for keeping his engine log. He says he doesn't need to have all these books -- he has a "BETH"!!

OK. Why don't I put this all on the computer? Some people do. I think I would find it far too tedious. For one thing, the books are already ongoing. Why replicate those with files and spreadsheets of the same thing in the computer too? Also, my computer is not always readily available. And for me, it is far easier to grab a book off the shelf and find that I started using the LPG gas from tank B on January 20th than to get out the computer, boot it up, find the right file, then scroll to what I want to know. So, says one of my friends, in that case just make a print-out of the list from the computer. Isn't that what I already have?