Comparison
Boat maintenance: spreadsheet, paper logbook or app?
Plenty of sailors keep their boat’s maintenance in a spreadsheet or a paper logbook, and plenty of them are right to. This page sets out honestly when that is all you need, where it starts to creak — more people, recurring intervals, knowing what is due — and what a boat maintenance app like KeelBase adds. If you stay with your spreadsheet afterwards, that’s a fine outcome too.
| What you need | Spreadsheet | Paper logbook | KeelBase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Usually free | A notebook and a pen | Free while in beta |
| Getting started | Design your own columns | Open it and write | Wizard proposes parts on maps |
| Knowing what’s due | Only with formulas you build | Leaf back and work out | Next service date per component |
| Sharing with crew | Shared file, no assigned jobs | One copy, one place | Assigned tasks with notifications |
| History when selling | Depends how tidy it is | Buyers like a tidy logbook | Service history per component |
| Parts and spares | Another tab to keep up | Notes at the back | Shopping requests with approvals |
| At the boat | Fiddly on a phone screen | Works anywhere, no battery needed | Phone browser or home-screen app |
When a spreadsheet or logbook is enough
If you own a small boat, do the jobs yourself and have a short list of them, a spreadsheet or a paper logbook does the job. A spreadsheet costs nothing, sorts and filters, and you can shape it exactly the way you think. A paper logbook lives on board, needs no battery or signal, and a well-kept one reassures a buyer.
What matters most is the habit, not the format. A logbook you actually fill in beats any app you never open.
- You’re the only person working on the boat
- A small boat with few systems, such as an outboard and a simple rig
- A handful of jobs a year, mostly at the start and end of the season
- You already keep the record up to date out of habit
Where it starts to break down
Spreadsheets and logbooks rarely fail all at once. They wear down as the boat, the crew or the job list grows, until the record is no longer the place anyone checks.
- Several people: the crew can’t see the logbook, or copies of the file drift apart
- Who does what: a row in a sheet doesn’t tell anyone it’s their job
- Recurring intervals: after every service you update the next date by hand, or someone keeps a formula working
- Knowing what’s due: you scan dates across the whole sheet or leaf back through the pages
- Photos: pictures of a worn part or a receipt end up on someone’s phone, not next to the entry
- Selling the boat: the history is there, but scattered across years of pages or tabs
- Parts lists: what needs buying lives in another tab, a group chat or your head
- On the pontoon: a wide sheet is fiddly on a phone, and the logbook is wherever you last left it
What an app like KeelBase adds
KeelBase is built around the boat rather than a grid. Every component — engine, winches, rigging, seacocks — has its own record with status, priority, location, manuals, notes, last service and next service date, and every service you log joins its history. The components sit as markers on deck, interior and side-view maps of your boat, so a job points at the right winch.
Work becomes tasks you can assign. Each crew member sees their own jobs in My Work and gets a notification when something new is assigned, and open and completed work stay apart. Parts are requested per boat and wait for approval, and sails are logged by bag, maker, sqm, condition and notes.
It is more structure than a spreadsheet, and it won’t do the maintenance for you: the decisions stay with you. In return you get one shared record that the whole crew can open on a phone, a tablet or a desktop.
- Service history and next service dates per component
- Assigned tasks, My Work and notifications
- Role-based access: admins decide who can view and edit each boat
- Runs in the browser and installs to your home screen as an app
Moving over without losing your history
You move across by hand, one part at a time. That sounds like work, but it is also a good moment to check what you actually know about each part. Start with what matters most — engine, rigging, seacocks, safety gear — and fill in the rest as you go.
Your old spreadsheet or logbook stays valid. Keep it: it remains the record of everything before the move, and buyers or surveyors may want to see it.
- Add your boat and run the AI Setup Wizard, or add components by hand with “+ Add Component”
- For each component, copy in the last service date and the next one due
- Put what’s worth keeping in its notes: part numbers, who did the work, quirks
- Keep the spreadsheet or logbook as the archive for older entries
- From then on, log new service in one place only, so nobody has to check two
Questions
Is a spreadsheet good enough for boat maintenance?
Often, yes. For one owner with a small boat and a short job list, a spreadsheet or paper logbook is simple and free. It gets harder once several people share the work, intervals pile up and you need to see at a glance what is due.
Is there a boat maintenance log template I can use?
One line per job is enough: date, engine hours where relevant, the job, parts and part numbers, who did it, notes, and when it is next due. Our engine service log guide goes through each column. A notebook, a spreadsheet or an app all work; sticking with it matters most.
Can I bring my spreadsheet or logbook into KeelBase?
You move it across by hand. Add your boat, let the AI Setup Wizard propose the components from your boat’s drawings, then copy in the last and next service date and any useful notes for each one. Keep the original as your archive for older entries.
What does KeelBase cost compared with a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet is free or comes with software you already have. KeelBase is free while in beta, with every feature unlocked and no card required. The plans show how it will be priced later, and we’ll give plenty of notice before any charges begin.
Outgrown the spreadsheet?
Create your account and tell us the boat model. The AI Setup Wizard proposes its components and places them on the boat’s drawings, or on a schematic KeelBase draws when there are none. Free while in beta, no card required.