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Old 24-11-2020, 12:35   #16
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

Seems all of us have their own way to do it, and their own list, although many are interchangeable across all boats.


Good news is that we all recognize the importance of recording the import stuff. And often the fun stuff, too!
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Old 24-11-2020, 14:08   #17
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

this may sound a little off, but, I keep the key to start the engine on a snap-ring attached to the oil dipstick . I never forget to check the oil level. may sound dumb to some, but it works.
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Old 24-11-2020, 14:35   #18
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

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Originally Posted by Captain Anthony View Post
this may sound a little off, but, I keep the key to start the engine on a snap-ring attached to the oil dipstick . I never forget to check the oil level. may sound dumb to some, but it works.
Never heard of that but I’ve know a few people, over the years, who kept their ignition key attached to the handle of their cooling water seacock. That ensures you close it when the engine is shut down and open it before you can start the engine.
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Old 24-11-2020, 14:57   #19
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

Some of the things that I did on a regular interval were:
Oil & oil filter change - propulsion & generator diesels
valve adjustment
grease fittings,- windlass & shaft carrier bearings
check hydraulic fluid and air pressure in hydraulic reservoir
open, clean & lubricate winches
check zincs
clean raw water filters
flush heat exchanger coils
..... these things come to mind, but I too kept a maintenance log which I passed to the new owner when I sold my boat in 2017. I'm sure there were other scheduled items, but they don't come to mind,-'that's why I kept the log. I was detailed with my boat, but I had no car or house or employment for my last 16 years of cruising. My days were play or play at caring for the boat!
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Old 24-11-2020, 15:07   #20
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

We use Lightning Calendar add on to Thunderbird email for our planned maintenance system.


It is populated over time and becomes more valuable. Everything that needs regular attention is now on there.
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Old 24-11-2020, 15:39   #21
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

Every morning?
Pump bilge while counting strokes. That’s a leak check. If too many think about the previous days weather and taste the bilge water for salt. Then say blecch and rinse mouth well. (A clean bilge is a happy bilge)
Check engine coolant, transmission fluid, engine oil. All for level and color. Again a mental list.
Morning and evening check battery charge and voltage.
Before casting off do a cursory mk1 eyeball check of the rig(s) and the dink on the davits.
That is a mental checklist.
Go sailing.
For things like winterizing and preventive maintenance I have a specific maintenance logbook. I have photos of most boat systems, and 6 loose leaf binders with all the manuals I have. As well as hand sketches of wiring and plumbing and rigging.
Additional manuals and drawings are on Dropbox.
Hour meter readings go in the maintenance log every few months. Engine hours go in the nav log as well.
Major projects go in the maintenance log.
I use a label maker to create tabs in the hard bound maintenance log.
I don’t consider myself particularly well organized or structured. Every time I try an app I get bored with maintaining it.
What i do know is what I must do to keep on track. My livelihood has depended on that for decades.
The checklists are living documents I add to as I go along.
The manual binders have plastic sleeves that hold the documents. If I replace the VHF I remove the old one and toss it. I put the new one in.
I inherited that system from the PO and it’s fantastically easy to maintain.
Yes I should index the notebooks and label them so I don’t have to go through them all when I look for a manual. But once a month looking through is not bad.
And I do carefully structure the Dropbox folders.
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Old 24-11-2020, 15:46   #22
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

Hmmm.....sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

Pre-departure checklist makes a ton of sense. Weekly honey-do list? Not different from a house or apartment.
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Old 24-11-2020, 15:59   #23
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

Fresh flush water maker every 3 days
Open & Shut all thru hull fittings every month
Polish some stainless steel every 3 days
Check the bilge every day
Clean the filters every month
Check coolant and oil levels before starting trip
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Old 24-11-2020, 17:39   #24
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

I do not have such a list in my own boat, only on the boats I work on.


But I do start the engine here now and then - we have an older engine that gets hard to start if I let it sit too long.


b.
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Old 24-11-2020, 17:50   #25
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

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I've been working on an app to keep me organized and make it easy to do the periodic things you have to do to take care of things around the house. Add salt to the softener every month, replace the air filters, check the septic every two months, replace the fire alarm batteries every year.

I'm looking for examples of the same sort of things on a boat. Check the bilges every other day, wipe down the ceilings every 5 days, replace the water filter every month, etc.

What is your list? What are the things you are checking periodically? Ideally if it's useful I'll throw the app out there, right now I just built it for myself. I'm sure there are apps out there that can do something like this, I'm building this just for fun.
I take no credit for this truly great XLS database which I have purloined (with permission). It works for me. https://mvdirona.com/2018/11/updatin...intenance-log/
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Old 25-11-2020, 01:11   #26
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

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Occasionally I ignore this list and clean the boat and fix stuff.
Haw-haw, Cassidy!
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Old 25-11-2020, 08:26   #27
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

Has anyone mentioned keeping water level up in flooded batteries? Takes no time and batteries live longer.

Since we live aboard some of the maintenance items become regular chores. I've found that designating one day a month for boat honey-do's (in this case the honey being, well, me). So on the last day of each month my calendar reminds me and I have no excuse. Incorporating a schedule or reminder into the app might be useful.
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Old 25-11-2020, 09:33   #28
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

You know what?

I don't have any "regular" item I check on the boat that I need some app etc. to remind me to do to. Most I do as needed etc. or are so common I probably don't even think about them. Things that are based on hours etc I just put a piece of tape on it with a date written on it, or check the maintenance log when I think of it.

Why I understand the "app" thing now days it just seems more work to maintain the list on the app as it takes to just do it. If you need to just make a list and tape to the inside cover of you maintenance log and go on to something important like watching the sunset.
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Old 25-11-2020, 10:29   #29
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

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Originally Posted by sailorboy1 View Post
You know what?

I don't have any "regular" item I check on the boat that I need some app etc. to remind me to do to. Most I do as needed etc. or are so common I probably don't even think about them. Things that are based on hours etc I just put a piece of tape on it with a date written on it, or check the maintenance log when I think of it.

Why I understand the "app" thing now days it just seems more work to maintain the list on the app as it takes to just do it. If you need to just make a list and tape to the inside cover of you maintenance log and go on to something important like watching the sunset.
^^^^ Couldn’t agree more. My normal log book has a section on each page that covers off all the essentials that need to be dealt with before going locally sailing or each day if you use a new page per day on passages. I don’t but each time a new page is started (probably minimum of 3 days), the items are evaluated and ticked off again.

I guess for some boat owners the maintenance schedule and the drive to try to keep an ageing boat new is a part of the ownership process. For me, the price I pay at the time of sale when the value drops due to the lack of saturation maintenance, is a fair trade-off for not being a slave to perfection. My maintenance is aimed at keeping the boat functional and safe, not new. If, in this process, the boat manages to keep looking nice too, that’s a bonus.

Thus I long ago erased the maintenance spreadsheets from my records - at about the same time I stopped keeping spreadsheets detailing stocks/location of food, spares, etc. held on the boat. Remember when that was the done thing? All my logs are kept where they belong - in the logbook. No app required.
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Old 30-11-2020, 07:30   #30
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Re: What are the regular tasks you do on your boat?

I have a spreadsheet with lots of lists of reoccurring items for maintenance. It also holds a wish list of items I need, desire or will get when I can afford. It also has a task list of minor maintenance jobs. (The major ones do get done promptly.) Most importantly my spreadsheet also contains the inventory of spares and tools so I can do the maintenance jobs.
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