Your Log

I find very often that with a boat moored in a river with a strongish tide the log becomes entangled with weed or sometimes a mollusc or two, if left with the paddle wheel in place whilst the boat is at rest. More often than not, the discovery is made after leaving the mooring and when one is about to set the sails. So someone has to go down below, lift the sole, withdraw the paddle wheel, put in the blanking plug, clean the clogged log and then put it back in. All rather tedious, so why not remove the log at the end of a trip and this will remove the need for a clean? If you are not the only user of the boat, it is important to leave a note on the chart table to say that the log has been removed just as a reminder to the next skipper to come on board that if he wishes to navigate, the log will have to be put back in. A well found boat will have an old toothbrush kept with the log and blanking plug so that the paddlewheel can be quickly cleared of debris.
Log

I was reading of a boat owner, who, despite having a clean log with a freely spinning paddlewheel, still found that whilst getting a reading on the instruments, it was clear that there was a definite under reading. On pushing out the retaining pin holding the impeller in position, the owner found an encrustation. On cleaning this off the log was found to be working correctly.
For those of you who sail in the Solent and would like to carry out a check over a measured mile, there are the marker posts on the SW side of Southampton Water between Fawley Refinery jetty and Hythe Village Marina. But remember to plan your checks as near as you can to slack water and make three runs to work out your average log reading.