Quote:
Originally Posted by sailingdog
Erps-
A three-ring binder isn't a legally useful document if you get into a problem, since the pages can be added and removed with no way to detect the alteration.  Makes sense for the Maintenance and inventory sections, but not for the Ship's Log. |
I doubt that ship logs for a non-commercial vessel have any bearing in a lawsuit other than it is a documented evidence. A dairy doesn't have to be a bound book, a three ring binder is still a binded document....A binded notebook / log book doesn't have to have page numbers on it, in the end it is what happened and what was recalled - which is why for a recreational sailor it doesn't matter if the log is electronic or on separate 9X5 index cards...or pages in a 3 ring Binder..the mere fact that events can be recalled - the writing down is a bonus and allows one to state this is what I recorded at such and such a time (notebook, napkin, written on your forearm...etc)
Commercially and on military ships - it is different (they have SOPs)... and maybe in a court of law - if one was to get there... it would be recommended but not a judiciary requirement... evidence and recollection in whatever documented form is usually acceptable...besides if a ship goes under - and the log books with... seems a minor point when all said and done...