Log Books?

[Thomas31]

All,
I have read many AS forum threads about lots of people who have transitioned from the boating area to RVs and can not find any specifically that deal with log books. Does anybody maintain a log book? What items do you list and keep track of? Did you make your own or are there commercial log books available? Thanks for your input.
Thomas

[Protagonist]

You can buy logbooks at most RV supply houses, including Camping World, Parts66, Amazon, etc.

My Airstream dealer gave me a freebie, but I don't use it, and already gave it away to someone who does. I figured I'm going to have my Airstream pretty much for the rest of my life, so I'll never need a logbook to demonstrate to a purchaser that I've performed proper maintenance…

[mayco]

I started my own log book when i got my Airstream. I keep an inventory of all maintenance, parts replaced with associated numbers, and modifications. With my memory, or lack there of, its good info to refer back to. We just put it on a flash drive.

[AWCHIEF]

I came from boats to trailers. When I got my first trailer I started keeping a log. It did not last long. Actually seemed kind of pointless like most so called blogs.

[Thomas31]

Thanks all,
Originally thinking about mileage pulling the AS, Electrical usage, solar panel efficiency, water usage, Etc.

[68 TWind]

We keep a log book but it is more of a blog. I am a pilot and in the airplane world you log every flight, every hour in the plane so I guess it was habit. We keep our Airstream log book so that in years to come we can remember which camp site we liked, when did we go where, etc. I do try and keep up with miles on the tires and total nights spent in the trailer. After 4 years with the trailer, the camping trips seem to run together and it is fun to sit under the awning with a glass of wine and remember past trips.

[Denis4x4]

As a boater, I kept a log on all of our trips. Used a loose leaf binder and it was used on all the different boats we owned. Have used the same method on a number of different RV's. Only downside is going back through 27 years of RV logs and realizing how expensive things have gotten over that period of time.

[Janet H]

We keep a log but not of repair and refit items.. instead we keep a list of trips, locations visited and miles traveled. In my estimation this is the true worth of our Airstream - how much adventure we can manage to have in it

[dkottum]

She's a record keeper, I'm not. If you Google RV Log Book there's a few hundred in paper, bound, or computer. Must be quite a few doing it.

[Arcticfox]

Interesting Thread!

I have been looking into printing a custom Log book for our new trailer. It would not be a maintenance log but a trip log.
So with that in mind it would be good to get a little feedback from folks as to what some of the categories should be on each page?

I'll start it off:

Date:
Location:
Occasion:
Camp Ground:
General notes:
Near attractions (if any)

My thinking is to print up a hard cover coffee table size book (good photo of my unit on cover) that will have predetermined blanks that one can fill in and write longhand. I think I can also lay it out so one will have ample room to write but also little room for a small photo collage that can be inserted into a clear sleeve on the facing page. This way you have both a written and visual record of a given entry.

We have kept a log like this at my cottage for almost 3 generations... It it so much fun to spend a rainy day and read all the things that went on over the years. (invaluable)

Cheers
Doug

[SilverGate]

Originally Posted by Thomas31

All,
I have read many AS forum threads about lots of people who have transitioned from the boating area to RVs and can not find any specifically that deal with log books. Does anybody maintain a log book? What items do you list and keep track of? Did you make your own or are there commercial log books available? Thanks for your input.
Thomas

Yes...

Data, logs and notes

Airstream Safari trip notes

[Luigi123]

I bought a commercial "Camping Log Book", I record camp grounds, specific highlights of camp out, people names and emails, and anything I learned or had to do to the AS. Time flies, greT way to recapture the memories in the off season. Sometimes we put pictures in the book.

[webspinner]

We keep a slim 3 ring binder. The first section has printouts of upcoming reservations so that we can just hand them the sheet at the campground kiosk. The second section has the sheets we've used recently, plus a plastic sleeve with a cardstock "log" that I printed up. It has the dates, # of nights, Place, and Notes. I use the "Notes" section for campsite numbers we stayed in, others that look appealing, a few words to jog my memory.

The log helps me track where we went when and also lets me know which sites worked well so that we can book them again or recommend them to friends. I do a total each year of the number of nights we slept in our Tin Pickle. I also make a Shutterfly hardback book each year of where our Airstream took us. That also helps remind me of what happened in which year, since we revisit a number of places annually.

[OilnH2o]

Ours is more like a running narrative log - like Bruce and Rachel, as a pilot I, too, use my notes in my flight log as a memory jogger of the trip experience, not how many gallons of avgas I used or whether I added a quart of oil. But a note on the landing, headwinds, the view out the window, and where we stopped for lunch all bring back reminders of the trip. That's how we use our Airstream log - it's for a running narrative that both my wife and I might scribble a few sentences of impressions of the moment. Sometimes I pick it up to write something to find she has already done a great job. I might add something to it, or maybe not, but I've already gotten enjoyment out of reading her thoughts. We include the basics: when and where we go and stay. The only real statistic is mileage towed. If someone else reads it - or even writes in it - that's okay. If the log only serves as a reminder of times past after our kids put us in the old folks home, that's fine; its purpose has been served.