What do you keep your Boat Documents In???

[RealityCheck]

What do you keep your boat documents in while cruising, taking to Immigrations & Customs and just general storage on the boat. Not talking about anything except those needed for inspections and presentation to "officials" or to sale the boat.

I know I have had many different "systems" most proved marginal to inadequate.

In smaller boats that I did not international cruise, it was simply an envelope sometime semi water resistant.

When international cruising, I have used about everything from the generic manila envelope to zippered doc bags acquired when I got the boats re registered. These usually required all documents to be folded which grows into a problem as you add more and more documents.

While in Customs offices with other people checking in... I see everything from someone with a hand full of papers to those with soft and hard brief cases. I kinda like the idea of the soft brief case where full size paged don't have to be folded maybe in a clear sleeve to keep them protected and separated.

What are you using? Any recommendations on things you are using that work well? About to head back out to the carib in a few weeks and still have time to get something better.... just not sure what is better.

[Tartan34C]

I use large zip lock bags and offshore I use two bags to be sure of being watertight. I use copies for as much stuff as possible and keep originals with a friend back home. He can send paperwork as needed during a trip.
All the best,
Robert Gainer

[Rockter]

Don't store them on the boat long term, in case it gets stolen.

[Valiente]

To me this sounds almost simplistic, but I've heard more than one traveller to the smaller sort of republic talk of using an "official boat stamp" that is wielded on an as-needed basis to endorse various documents, both received and given, to port officials.

Apparently, officialdom responds to officialdom.

[RandyonR3]

All our origionals we keep in a ditch bag with the other goodies and is accessable to grab on the run, and we hope we never have to ues it.
Coppies are kept at the nav. station in a clear envelope.. And I believe the wife keeps a coppies in a file somewhere on the boat..

[max-on]

One thing you can do is to copy the documents - boat docs, passports, etc. - onto the clear plastic sheets / mylar used for the 'old style' overhead projectors, I do not know what they are called, but the ones with the light underneath and the magnifier overhead. My aunt and uncle who cruise Newport, Bermuda, and Carib, did this as a backup for important documents and keep the sheets in the liferaft and grab bag. For everyday, the two ziplock bags is good enough, you could always get a fancy waterproof pouch too.