# Check that it is working

Where to look to confirm your boat's data is arriving, what each status means, and what to expect over your first days.

You have linked a device. This page helps you confirm that data is arriving and understand what normally appears during the first few days.

Almost everything you need is on one screen. Reading **Status** together with **Last Contact** usually shows whether the next step is to wait, check the GPS or check the connection.

## The health panel: Settings, Boat

Open **Settings** > **Boat**: [saillogger.com/settings/?tab=boat](https://saillogger.com/settings/?tab=boat). This is the health panel for your connection. (The older `/boats/` address now redirects here, so an old bookmark still works.)

It shows these rows:

| Row | What it tells you |
| --- | --- |
| **Name** | Your boat's name, as sent by Signal K. |
| **Status** | The headline verdict, with a colour and a sentence. See below. |
| **Photo** | Your boat's photo, used across the site and in e-mails. |
| **Type** | Sailboat, motorboat and so on. |
| **MMSI** | Your MMSI, as sent by Signal K. |
| **Make & Model** | Your boat's make and model. |
| **Integration Type** | Which of the three paths this boat uses. |
| **Collector ID** | The credential your device sends with. |
| **Plugin Version** | The Saillogger plugin version your device is running. |
| **Monitoring Device** | The hardware Saillogger sees, for example a Victron GX. |
| **Last Contact** | How long ago data last arrived. |

**Last Contact** and **Status** are the two you will come back to. **Plugin Version** matters when a feature described in this guide is missing from your account: an old plugin is a common reason.

## What each status means

**Status** is one of six things. The exact wording of each is below, because the difference between two of them is easy to miss.

| Status | Colour | What it means |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Not Linked** | Red | "Your boat is not configured for Saillogger yet". No device has ever sent data with your Collector ID. |
| **Offline** | Yellow | "Your boat has been offline since ... but it is configured for Saillogger, things should be fine when she comes back online". |
| **No GPS positions** | Red | The device is reaching the Internet, but it is sending no position at all. |
| **Online** | Green | "Your boat is online". Everything is working. |
| **Online** | Yellow | "Your boat is online but we have not received enough information for trip logging yet. This should auto-resolve in a few hours." |
| **Paused** | Red | Collection has stopped because the subscription is not active. |

Three of these are worth dwelling on:

**Offline usually means the boat is switched off.** Saillogger has not heard from the device recently, which is what happens every time you shut things down. Data waiting aboard normally uploads after the next connection. Reconnect before resetting or replacing the device, because unuploaded data still depends on its storage.

**Online in yellow means setup is still completing.** Data is arriving, but Saillogger does not yet have enough of the right kind for trip logging. It normally turns green within a few hours. If it remains yellow, continue with the checks below or contact us.

**No GPS positions in red needs a GPS check.** The device is reaching Saillogger but is not sending a position. Confirm that the GPS and instruments are powered, the position timestamp is current and the monitoring device is connected to the boat network.

## What "Online" actually measures

**Online** means data arrived recently, not that the boat is connected this very second. A device with Internet reports continuously, so a healthy boat clears that bar with room to spare.

The consequence worth knowing is that the status lags reality by a few minutes: a boat that has just lost its connection still reads **Online** for a short while. That is why **Last Contact** is worth reading alongside the status rather than instead of it. The status tells you the state, **Last Contact** tells you how current that state is.

## A GPS position is required

A GPS position is required for both monitoring and trip logging. An Internet connection by itself is not enough; without a position, the boat cannot log trips or show current monitoring.

If your GPS comes from the chartplotter, switching the instruments off also makes that position unavailable. Leave the monitoring device and GPS source running after arrival when you want the trip to appear promptly.

## Checking from the Signal K side

If you have a Signal K server, including a Victron GX, its dashboard shows the Saillogger plugin's connection status and whether data is waiting to upload.

On a boat with Internet, the last connection should remain recent. A low or zero waiting count can be healthy because it may mean the collected data has already been sent. If the last-connection time keeps growing, check the device's Internet access, then compare it with **Last Contact** on Saillogger.com.

## What to expect in your first days

The first records normally appear in this order:

1. **Data starts arriving.** Within minutes of linking, **Last Contact** starts updating and **Status** goes to **Online**.
2. **Monitoring populates.** The monitoring page begins showing what your instruments report. If you have a Victron GX or Signal K, expect gauges. With PredictWind, expect position only.
3. **Your first trip appears about an hour after you arrive.** Not while you are underway, and not the moment you tie up. Saillogger waits to be sure the trip has ended before writing it up.
4. **The logbook and journal start filling.** Each subsequent passage adds a log, and the moorages and stays between them build up as you cruise.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Your first trip normally appears about an hour after you arrive. Leave the monitoring device, its Internet connection and the GPS source running during that time so Saillogger can confirm the arrival.

If the device was switched off at arrival and the trip has not appeared, power it on again at the same place and leave it connected for a while. The trip normally completes after another position report.

## Before you leave the boat

Three things worth doing:

- Leave the monitoring device powered and the instruments on for a while after you arrive, so the trip can finalise.
- Check **Status** reads **Online** in green before you go.
- If you want to watch the boat while you are away, leave her Internet connection up. Without it, monitoring shows only the last data received.

Shutting everything down as you leave is fine. Your trips are still logged, they appear once the device is next online, and there is no live monitoring while she is off.

## If nothing arrives after an hour

Work through these in order:

1. **Is the device powered and online?** Confirm at the device itself, not from ashore.
2. **Is the Collector ID correct?** Compare it character by character with the **Collector ID** row in **Settings** > **Boat**. A trailing space counts as wrong.
3. **Is a GPS source set in the plugin?** It should be empty unless you deliberately set one. A wrong value here makes Saillogger ignore every position, and the symptom is exactly this: nothing logged.
4. **Are the boat electronics and the GPS switched on?** The monitoring device sees a position only if something on the network is producing one.
5. **Restart the Signal K server.** This is a safe final check before moving to the more specific troubleshooting steps.

If you get through all five and **Status** is still not green, [Troubleshooting](https://saillogger.com/docs/troubleshooting.md) goes deeper, and the [community forum](https://community.saillogger.com) has boaters who have met most setups.

## If monitoring works but no trips are logged

If the monitoring page shows live values but no trips ever appear, the device is connected but Saillogger may not be receiving a usable track. The troubleshooting page has a checklist for that specific case.

Go to [Troubleshooting](https://saillogger.com/docs/troubleshooting.md), which covers this case specifically.

> [!NEXT]
> Read [How trips are logged](https://saillogger.com/docs/automatic-trip-logging.md) to understand how Saillogger decides a trip started and ended.