What vessel details should be written on page one of a boat logbook?

Page one should list: 1) Vessel name, call sign, MMSI, and registration number; 2) LOA, beam, draft, and air draft in both feet and metres; 3) Engine model, serial number, cruising RPM, and fuel burn; 4) Tank capacities and deck-fill locations; 5) Filter, impeller, belt, and anode part numbers; 6) Through-hull count and locations; 7) VHF Mayday script; 8) Battery capacities and emergency parallel switch sequence; 9) Rigging pin and line sizes; and 10) Home port, insurance policy, and sling marks.

Can I get my boat's name printed on the cover and page one of a Taffrail Press logbook?

Yes. Selecting the Personalised Wire-O coil edition (+$5 US / +£5 UK / +€5 EU) custom-prints your vessel's name and home port on the front cover and opening page, with an emailed PDF proof sent within 1 business day.

10 Things to Write on Page One of a Boat Logbook

Picture two very common moments on board a boat.

In the first, you are approaching a busy marina in a 20-knot crosswind when the harbourmaster on VHF Channel 12 asks for your overall length, beam, and draft in metres—plus your registration number. If you normally think in feet, your brain freezes while your bow drifts toward the fuel dock.

In the second, your engine RPMs sag in a lumpy channel from a clogged fuel filter. You open the engine bay and stare at a spin-on canister whose part number was painted over in engine enamel years ago.

Both headaches disappear the day you spend twenty quiet minutes filling in page one of your ship’s logbook properly. Before you log a single sea mile, here are the 10 essential vessel reference facts that belong at the very front of every boat’s logbook so neither you, your partner, nor a visiting crew member ever has to hunt through lockers under stress.

1. Vessel Name, Call Sign, MMSI, and Official Registration Number

When a guest or crew member needs to make a routine or distress VHF call, they should be able to flip open the front cover of the logbook at the chart table and read the boat’s identity verbatim:

Vessel Name (plus phonetic spelling if it is easily misheard over VHF static).
VHF Call Sign and MMSI (including the separate handheld VHF ATIS/MMSI number if you carry a DSC handheld in the grab bag).
Official Registration / SSR / USCG Documentation Number and hull identification number (HIN).

2. Principal Dimensions in Both Feet AND Metres (Especially Air Draft!)

Whether you normally think in Imperial or Metric, harbourmasters, lock keepers, canal authorities, and travelift operators have a 50/50 chance of asking for the other unit. Write down both side by side:

Length Overall (LOA) including bowsprit, davits, or swim platform (the number marinas charge you for).
Beam and Maximum Draft (laden, in both ft/in and m).
Air Draft / Bridge Clearance above the waterline—including the VHF whip antenna and Windex at the masthead. When you are motoring toward a fixed highway bridge with a tide table in one hand, “I think the mast is about 48 feet” is not a comforting number.

3. Engine Make, Model, Serial Number, Cruising RPM, and Fuel Burn

Engines have a model name on the rocker cover, an internal engine family code, and a stamped serial number hidden behind the heat exchanger where you can only read it with an inspection mirror. Copy all three onto page one once, while your hands are clean:

Engine make, model, serial number, and gearbox/saildrive ratio.
Sweet-spot cruising RPM, maximum rated WOT RPM, and normal operating temperature.
Verified fuel burn per hour (gal/h and L/h) at cruising RPM so anyone on watch can calculate remaining range in ten seconds from the engine-hour meter.

4. Tank Capacities and Deck-Fill Locations

Every boat has a quirk in its plumbing, and nobody wants a well-meaning guest accidentally putting 40 litres of fresh water into the diesel fill—or opening the waste deck plate thinking it is the aft water tank:

Usable capacity of each fuel tank, freshwater tank (port, starboard, bow), and blackwater holding tank in both gallons and litres.
Exact deck-fill locations and cap markings (e.g., “Diesel fill: starboard aft coaming; Water #1: port side deck forward of shrouds; Holding pump-out: port midships”).

5. Filter, Impeller, Belt, and Anode Part Numbers

Don’t keep part numbers locked inside a workshop manual at home. Put a quick-reference spares table right up front:

Engine oil filter and oil grade/capacity (e.g., 4.2 L of 15W-40).
Primary fuel/water separator element (e.g., Racor 2010PM-OR / 30 micron) and engine-mounted secondary fuel filter.
Raw-water pump impeller code (and gasket/O-ring number).
Alternator and water-pump belt codes, plus shaft/prop/saildrive anode sizes.

6. Through-Hull & Seacock Location Map (and Count)

How many underwater through-hulls does your boat actually have? Most owners guess five or six; when they count properly during our autumn haul-out checklist, they find nine or ten hiding under floorboards, inside vanity lockers, and behind the aft cabin berth:

Write down the total count of underwater through-hulls at the top of the box (e.g., 8 total).
List each one by function and locker location (Engine intake — under companionway steps; Galley sink drain — under sink door; Speed transducer — forward of saloon table beneath centre floorboard) and confirm a tied softwood tapered bung is attached to each valve.

7. VHF Emergency Script & Crew Muster Notes

In a real emergency—especially if the skipper is injured or incapacitated—a non-sailing partner or guest shouldn’t have to remember VHF protocol from memory. Having a calm, six-line Mayday / Pan-Pan call script printed right alongside the vessel’s MMSI, call sign, hull colour, and liferaft/flare locations turns panic into a clear radio transmission.

8. Battery Bank Capacities, Chemistry, and Emergency Parallel Switch Sequence

Modern boats mix AGM starter batteries, lithium (LiFePO4) house banks, DC-DC chargers, and bow-thruster banks:

Record the chemistry, amp-hour (Ah) capacity, and install date of each bank.
Write down the exact sequence for the emergency parallel / cross-over switch (and where the main high-amp ANL/Class-T fuses and spare fuses live) so you never accidentally flatten the house bank into a shorted starter cell.

9. Rigging Pin Sizes, Halyard Lengths, and Reefing Marks

If you sail, add your key deck-hardware measurements:

Clevis pin and split-pin sizes for the forestay, lowers, and boom gooseneck.
Halyard and sheet diameters (mm) and lengths (m / ft).
Where your reefing marks are on the main halyard and reef pendants so any crew member can pull down Reef 1 to the exact clutch mark on a dark night.

10. Home Port, Marina Berth, Insurance Policy Number, and Sling Marks

Round out page one with the administrative numbers you always need when calling a yard or marina office from the cockpit:

Home port, marina name, pontoon/berth number, and gate/shore-power code.
Hull insurance company, policy number, and 24-hour claims/tow helpline.
Displacement weight (crane weight) and where the travelift sling stickers sit relative to the keel and prop shaft.

Built Into Every Taffrail Press Logbook (Plus Personalised Covers)

Drawing on more than 10 years of experience advising and designing logbooks for the merchant fleet, we brought bridge-grade vessel identification and watch-keeping structure directly into our leisure range—so you don’t have to cram these ten lists onto the inside cover of a blank notebook. Across the Taffrail Press logbook collection—including our Regional Sailing Logbooks (like the San Francisco Bay Sailing Log; maps are for trip logging and illustration only, not for navigation; © OpenStreetMap contributors), the Boat Maintenance Log (/products/boat-maintenance-ownership-log), the Motorboat Cruising Log, and the Charter Skipper’s Log—the opening Vessel Particulars & Ship’s Systems pages are laid out with dedicated boxes for these exact specifications.

Make Page One Even Better: Personalised Boat-Name Editions (`+$5 / +£5 / +€5`)

If you order any Wire-O flat-opening coil edition on taffrailpress.com (US) or via our TaffrailPress Etsy shop (US, UK & EU), you can select Edition: Personalised for just +$5 US / +£5 UK / +€5 EU:

We custom-print your boat’s name and home port on the front cover and on the opening title page.
You receive a PDF proof by email within 1 business day to approve before we print and bind your copy on 100 gsm cream paper.

Canonical Prices & Where to Order

Regional Sailing Logbooks (184 pp): Shopify US Coil $39.99 ($44.99 Pers.) · Etsy Coil $39.99 US / £34.99 UK / €47.99 EU (+$5 / +£5 / +€5 Pers.) · Amazon Paperback $24.99 / £21.99 / €26.99 / A$37.99 · Hardcover $34.99 / £29.99 / €36.99.
Boat Maintenance Log (160 pp) & Motorboat Cruising Log (144 pp): Shopify US Coil $34.99 ($39.99 Pers.) · Etsy Coil $35.99 US / £29.99 UK / €43.99–€44.99 EU (+$5 / +£5 / +€5 Pers.) · Amazon Paperback $21.99 / £19.99 / €22.99 / A$34.99 (Maintenance) & $19.99 / £19.99 / €22.99 / A$34.99 (Motorboat) · Hardcover $32.99 / £25.99 / €31.99 (Maintenance) & $29.99 / £25.99 / €31.99 (Motorboat).
Charter Skipper’s Log (160 pp): Shopify US Coil $32.99 ($37.99 Pers.) · Etsy Coil $35.99 US / £27.99 UK / €45.99 EU · Amazon Paperback $19.99 / £17.99 / €22.99 (€23.99 IT/IE) / A$32.99 · Hardcover $27.99 / £23.99 / €29.99.
US Holiday Offer: US shoppers on taffrailpress.com get 10% off all products with code CHRISTMAS10 (no minimum, combines with free US shipping over $65). (UK, EU, and Australian readers can order coil editions on Etsy or Paperback/Hardcover editions on Amazon.)