Paper and Water
Sitting just 4 feet in front of me, in our over-crowded-with-boat-stuff bachelor-sized apartment, is a box of paper. This particular box doesn’t contain papers that I want. Rather it is filled to overflowing with ones that I believe I am supposed to keep. Purchase receipts, previously paid bills, older government tax forms, etc. etc. etc. In a house or an office, having a box or two of old files like this lying around isn’t too much of a hardship. On a boat? Forget about it!
What boat papers are we are supposed to keep on board? I once had a nice detailed list that someone prepared but sadly I can’t find it. Perhaps it is in the previously-mentioned box?
- passports
- visas
- boat registration papers
- crew lists
- inventories
- health records
- etc.
As you can probably imagine, the complete list will be fairly large!
We need to find a place to keep these important documents onboard that will keep them safe but also have them accessible.
For those of you who have access, there is a great thread on this subject titled Tackling the Cruiser’s Paper Tiger on the Seven Seas Cruising Association forum that is worth checking out.
One related tip that I was recently reminded of is to scan important documents and then email the files to yourself. We have used this in the past when traveling for our passports. In the worst-case scenario where the original is lost or stolen, which fortunately we have never had occur, a printable copy could still be retrieved anywhere we have access to the internet.
On a totally different topic, isn’t this the makings of a beautiful bucket? Not quite done, but getting there. Perhaps I could store my papers in it?
Another possibility is a service like this. You can scan all your document and store them. http://www.gotomyfiles.com/howitworks.html
As for boat stuff,we have an expandable plastic file case that has everything for the boat,including owners manuals for everthing installed in the boat,registrations,GPS chips etc. We keep copies of boat title,bill of sale,insurance in there too.
Good lookin’ bucket! Can I place my order now,and do I get a discount from the $500?:-)
I have a ton of webspace that I already pay for (for this website and others). I could do as you suggest and upload the files there.
As for the bucket, I would be happy to give you the “frequent blog commenter” discount of 10% (off the previously advertised price of course). A 10% deposit will get me started on your bucket. 😉
Mike,
In addition to emailing to ourselves, we scan onto a thumb drive, key drive, whatever it’s called and store it in a safe place in case we do not have email access but do have the ability to download and print.
Kirk
Good idea. Those things are so cheap these days, and very handy.
You could buy a scanner like this one:
http://neatco.com/products/neatreceipts-for-mac
and then scan all your receipts and email them to yourself, as well as keep electronic records in what looks to be a very cool filing software program that comes with the scanner.
Alternatively, as you already have a camera, you could photograph your receipts and keep them as jpeg files. Then you could use the folder system on your Mac to create a central receipt folder and then subfolders for all the different categories for your receipts. Just remember to have a back-up of this folder (as per Kirk’s suggestion) in case of computer malfunction – as I also recommended for your images!
That neat receipts app looks very cool!!! The photo thing would of course be cheaper, because as you mentioned we already have a camera(s), but the search and scan functions on the other thing looks very handy!
Thanks Michele.
Good tips on the filing situation, I think everyone should live like they are living on a boat even if they never do. Have you weighed one of those file safes like the one you have pictured? Pretty heavy, I’d go for the thumb drive if I were you, and lots of zip-log bags. Nice bucket, get a grommet setter if you don’t already have one. You could have a sewing machine on board if you DON’T have the safe… they weigh about the same.
I’m definitely not going to get one of those safes. It was just a pic I found on the net. The ideas presented here are much better.
As per the directions in the book I am actually going to try to hand sew grommets on the bucket. Actually, it really doesn’t give instruction on HOW to do it. It just tells you to do it. I have had to do some googling to come up with the process. For normal usage I am sure a good grommet setter would be useful.
And yes, I would love to have a nice sewing machine!