Log Book Pages

My girlfriend makes fun of my log book OCD, but its true, I have logged every dive for the past 10 years since open water checkouts and will continue for the next ten years and so on... however I am sick of "writing" it all down... My log book page has about 25% dedicated to data (bottom time, gas mixes, depth, run time, etc) and the other 75% is just lined for my notes. I look at my log books as more of a personal journal with a bit of dive data sprinkled on top, however I write so much (being an english major and all) I like to write the story of my dive day and events surrounding... so, what I'm getting at is, does anyone have a digital/computer based log book page with about the same data/notes space ratio as I mentioned above that I can simply use as a template... the catch is, I want to be able to click on a box, better yet tab to it, and just type in whatever the data is, including my lines of notes. I am not a wiz with word or excell, so I thought I would fish and see if anyone had one they created or found that was working well. please post the attachment if you do! or PM/email me! Thanks

-Matt

i might as well get really picky in case the page I want exists or you might feel like creating it... I'm looking for a 1/2 sheet size page (so I can print 4 dives per sheet of paper- front and back) and the only data I really care to be on there is: dive number, cave dive number, date, temp (water/air), gases (up to 4 gases, mix, start/end pressure), dive location/site, conditions/weather, dive purpose. Anybody have free time and a master of microsoft programs... give it a whirl!

Try the sensus ultra from Reefnet..... logs all data and has a desktop app.

I used to use half sheet sized logs, but kept data on one side, and the backs purely for my notes(I take lots of notes and even draw silly crap on occassion). It ended up being too much of a hassle and I often still ran out of room for notes.

If notes are important to you, either go completely digital and make backups as not to be confined by a set amount of space...

or... my current method.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg

I can take up as many pages as I like, sure, I have to hand write the data, but it really doesn't take long. I log everything as well.

You guys are too funny! I have over 1000 cavedives in one notebook. I use a half size ring binder, and get about 25 dives per page.

I like my notes! :)

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Originally Posted by FW

You guys are too funny! I have over 1000 cavedives in one notebook. I use a half size ring binder, and get about 25 dives per page.

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That is what; 200 dives/year? :yawinkle:

I was going to say ten dives a year...


:rollguy

I will admit that I suck at logging dives and have not even down loaded one of my VR3's in the last three or four years. If I can find it though I made an spread sheet that will fit exactly what you want. It has more information available for notes if you want to use it in PC form but is set up to print 4 dives per side of a standard sheet of paper and even has room for holes to keep it in a binder. When you use it on the computer the Notes cell links to Access and you can write or attach anything you want within the cell and recall it quickly for review. Tracks gas, stages, mix, O2, CNS, etc on the paper version as well.

The bad part is that it is on a very old computer that is running extremely slow. I am out of work and have more time on my hands than usual so I will take some time and see if I can locate it.

Bobby

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Originally Posted by IowaCaveDiver

My girlfriend makes fun of my log book OCD, but its true, I have logged every dive for the past 10 years since open water checkouts and will continue for the next ten years and so on... however I am sick of "writing" it all down... My log book page has about 25% dedicated to data (bottom time, gas mixes, depth, run time, etc) and the other 75% is just lined for my notes. I look at my log books as more of a personal journal with a bit of dive data sprinkled on top, however I write so much (being an english major and all) I like to write the story of my dive day and events surrounding... so, what I'm getting at is, does anyone have a digital/computer based log book page with about the same data/notes space ratio as I mentioned above that I can simply use as a template... the catch is, I want to be able to click on a box, better yet tab to it, and just type in whatever the data is, including my lines of notes. I am not a wiz with word or excell, so I thought I would fish and see if anyone had one they created or found that was working well. please post the attachment if you do! or PM/email me! Thanks

-Matt

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Guy Bryant wrote a program for dive logs a long time ago and has ported it to Windows. Its set up for cave divers in it is designed for details and lets you include photos, video or downloads of dives if its text. All he asked was a small donation to the Cave Museum. Its in a data base format so its real easy to search and find dives with certain statistics. It is on here somewhere if you search it or send him an e-mail and he will probably send it to you to try with some sort of restriction until you get a key. His e-mail is [email protected]. I'll send him a note and see if he can post a link to his software program again. It is really the only logging software designed for cave divers that I know of so far.

Tom

Here you go.

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Originally Posted by FW

You guys are too funny! I have over 1000 cavedives in one notebook. I use a half size ring binder, and get about 25 dives per page.

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At your age I bet you can't read them anymore:rollguy.

I did not start logging my dives until after I got officially certified. I put a small note in the front of my log book though that I had dove for x number of years but since I could not possibly remember them all I just skipped them and started anew.
And since I am, as I tell people, a 'recovering' journalist, I like to write and I tend to fill up whatever space allotted in my log book.
(I usually try to beat the waitress to finish writing before my BBQ comes at the Alachua Sonny's but I usually don't make it....)
I am careful to log and write about every dive as long as it is over 20 minutes although sometimes I consolidate dives done when I'm working as it is next to impossible to differentiate between dives when you are going up and down a lot in a water tank, etc.
In addition to logging the dives in my dive log I also log them online as well as download them from my Nitek HE. (I confess to sometimes misjudging the dives and missing some when the HE erases over some of the older dives.)
And yes, I do go back and use the information for some of my dives but even if I didn't I still consider it an important part of my dive regime.

There are logs of software divelogs availiable on the internet. I like to have downloadable time/date/profile at the least though.

ReefNet's Sensus is a nice cheap time/depth logger and free software that covers the basics. The Sensus divelog is not bad - or it has a paid for upgrade that doesn't add much in the way of tracking gases.

Finding software that handles multiple tanks/gases is pretty rare. I wrote software to extract data from my old Bridge II divelog into a spreadsheet.

Liquivision's X1 / Vplanner Live dive computer and divelog software are extremely nice. It logs almost anything you can imagine automatically, tracks upto 10 gases, etc.

Nothing but the headers from my Bridge divelog export - Blank divelog XLS:

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Originally Posted by IowaCaveDiver

My girlfriend makes fun of my log book OCD, but its true, I have logged every dive for the past 10 years since open water checkouts and will continue for the next ten years and so on... however I am sick of "writing" it all down... My log book page has about 25% dedicated to data (bottom time, gas mixes, depth, run time, etc) and the other 75% is just lined for my notes. I look at my log books as more of a personal journal with a bit of dive data sprinkled on top, however I write so much (being an english major and all) I like to write the story of my dive day and events surrounding... so, what I'm getting at is, does anyone have a digital/computer based log book page with about the same data/notes space ratio as I mentioned above that I can simply use as a template... the catch is, I want to be able to click on a box, better yet tab to it, and just type in whatever the data is, including my lines of notes. I am not a wiz with word or excell, so I thought I would fish and see if anyone had one they created or found that was working well. please post the attachment if you do! or PM/email me! Thanks

-Matt

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At present, since I am still taking training classes, I log every dive. In fact, redundantly, as I'd write a page in my standard log book, and also incorporate the data from my computer (1st a Pro Plus 2 Air integrated), and now an X1. Of course, I keep all my computer logs loaded in it's appropriate DB.

But here's the thing. Paper logging is one thing. Having the paper logs signed, verified etc. by your buddy/DM/Instructor etc. is something different! How many of you still do that????? :D As stated, I still do because I'm taking training (I'm into my cavern program), and will continue to log manual pages with verification for some time, even though I have the X1, which is an excellent logger and prints very pretty pictures of the profile.

Perhaps, once I get through all the training for which I'll need verifiable logs, then I'll revert solely to the computer. But until then............

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Originally Posted by mag3

But here's the thing. Paper logging is one thing. Having the paper logs signed, verified etc. by your buddy/DM/Instructor etc. is something different! How many of you still do that?????

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Nope. Stopped doing that long before I was an instructor.

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Originally Posted by MengTze

That is what; 200 dives/year?

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Originally Posted by Slüdge

I was going to say ten dives a year...

:rollguy

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Ho, Ho, Ho!

FWIW, that is only my most recent logbook, I have 3 older ones.

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Originally Posted by mag3

But here's the thing. Paper logging is one thing. Having the paper logs signed, verified etc. by your buddy/DM/Instructor etc. is something different! How many of you still do that?????

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Having a log book signed by your buddy is not really different. If someone wants to bump up the number of dives they do, how hard is it to forge a signature on a log?

This is Mat's way of keeping "the folder" out of some hackers hands and selling off his secrets. Lol

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Originally Posted by SuPrBuGmAn

I used to use half sheet sized logs, but kept data on one side, and the backs purely for my notes(I take lots of notes and even draw silly crap on occassion). It ended up being too much of a hassle and I often still ran out of room for notes.

If notes are important to you, either go completely digital and make backups as not to be confined by a set amount of space...

or... my current method.

http://images.smarter.com/300x300x15/40/26/1241526.jpg

I can take up as many pages as I like, sure, I have to hand write the data, but it really doesn't take long. I log everything as well.

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I log every dive, but have never had a buddy sign it.

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Originally Posted by mag3

Paper logging is one thing. Having the paper logs signed, verified etc. by your buddy/DM/Instructor etc. is something different! How many of you still do that????? :D

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I never bothered with buddy/DM verification stuff. I suppose my first few OW dives in class were signed by the instructor but I never even thought of it that way. I remember a dive store trying really hard to "stamp" my logbook with their store stamp to verify. It was hard to explain to them that the log only existed in digital form.

I'm a complete data nut. I still wistfully think about transfering more of the old paper logs to electronic format (about hundred or so have still only basic data in electronic form because I haven't fully transcribed the text over). The written pages were often quite wordy. The Bridge software only alllowed 1000 characters of text for "comments" per dive and I was always resorting to a form of shorthand to cram everything in. Even when my divebook was only a few hundred dives it filled a thick notebook binder and stuffed with divesite research pages from Bennet and Elliots, pictures, etc.

Computer downloaded dives are a lot more "verified" than "signed" logs. Much harder to fake, crammed with info even before one starts to add comments and dive pressures. A single dive computer these days could retain a year of underwater dive activity in memory (as in the Sensus can be left in the water for a year and you come and pick it up and download the data).

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Originally Posted by Slüdge

I log every dive, but have never had a buddy sign it.

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Can Al even write?

my log book is simply for me... I use it as a reference at times, but mostly for memories. During my divemastering days at Olympus and in the Keys I rarely wrote much about the actual dives, moreso I wrote about what happened, the people and the events that made the memories for me. I'm only 28 and 1000+ dives later I can usually remember just about everyone because of the story I wrote.
I like the idea of being able to type my "stories" because I type much faster than I write and I'd still like to be able just print out the pages and toss them in my binder. I have several of the smaller 1/2 sheet size 3 rings I keep the log pages in... however a digital backup would be a nice benefit. I've been photo copying the same generic page I bought a pack of down in the keys back in high school... time to move on.

I've used the download feature on various computers. I'm pretty content with all that I've used, details are there and plenty of space to write. Now, if I could just figure out a way to import my dive logs from Suunto's Dive Manager to my Uwatec dive log program....

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Originally Posted by FW

Ho, Ho, Ho!

FWIW, that is only my most recent logbook, I have 3 older ones.

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Yeah, I heard that your oldest log is just that. A log that you carved your dives in with your flint points.

And NEVER write anything down. Then you won't have to testify at the inquest.

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Originally Posted by brokenbones

Having a log book signed by your buddy is not really different. If someone wants to bump up the number of dives they do, how hard is it to forge a signature on a log?

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Not hard. But then again, I started doing it (getting pages signed/verified) when one of my former instructors raked my log pages over the coals, and questioned what he thought was a pattern that seemed "at issue" to him..... Why he went that far, I have no idea. :smt079 I guess maybe to see how gullible I was (and willing to buy either more training or gear). But I never used him again.

Now that I have the X1 (and I'm doing only tech/cave training), I really don't need the paper logs since I can write notes about each dive in the log itself. Perhaps I'll stop paper logging after I reach a nice round number of dives, and go strictly with the X1 computer logs (which I can save to PDF).


I guess it depends on what future verifications I might need and who's doing them. Perhaps for something where I'll have to show proof of 100 cave dives (like those awards, or diving with a guide at an "advanced" site) or some such thing.

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Originally Posted by Gary

I never bothered with buddy/DM verification stuff. I suppose my first few OW dives in class were signed by the instructor but I never even thought of it that way. I remember a dive store trying really hard to "stamp" my logbook with their store stamp to verify. It was hard to explain to them that the log only existed in digital form.

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I did get some stamps in places I thought were "once in a lifetime" (ie. that I might not see again - Bora Bora, Palau, Belize etc.). And the instructors in Bora Bora actually have signature stamps with their instructor numbers on them. So that's what gets stamped on the log page. And, of course, I have my little "Blue Grotto" stickies etc. :)

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Originally Posted by Gary

I'm a complete data nut. I still wistfully think about transfering more of the old paper logs to electronic format (about hundred or so have still only basic data in electronic form because I haven't fully transcribed the text over). The written pages were often quite wordy.

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So am I. It's my profession. :D I don't need to transfer the electronic logs to paper, as all of them to date are duplicated in paper. Believe it or not, the 1st 100 dives (in paper) are actually laminated. I figured since the book would be on boats etc. and subject to getting wet, I should protect them. Actually, the 1st 7 are in a separate book (my OW qualifying dives I did on Bora Bora). The rest are in a regular log book (like the kind you can get at scuba.com).

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Originally Posted by Gary

Computer downloaded dives are a lot more "verified" than "signed" logs. Much harder to fake, crammed with info even before one starts to add comments and dive pressures. A single dive computer these days could retain a year of underwater dive activity in memory (as in the Sensus can be left in the water for a year and you come and pick it up and download the data).

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Very true. As stated elsewhere, I'll probably stop the paper logs after I reach the next major milestone and go with the X1 database. As long as those that need to verify in the future will accept that.

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Originally Posted by mag3

I don't need to transfer the electronic logs to paper, as all of them to date are duplicated in paper. Believe it or not, the 1st 100 dives (in paper) are actually laminated.

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Ya' know it only just occured to me I can scan those incomplete dives (or all my old paper dive logs) to PDF! :-)

try diverecord.com .... free, easy, online backup and storage of your log and, to date, I have never had any byproduct problems from the site

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Originally Posted by Gary

Ya' know it only just occured to me I can scan those incomplete dives (or all my old paper dive logs) to PDF! :-)

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Cool. Whatever works! :yawinkle:

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Originally Posted by FW

Can Al even write?

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:rollguy