Saillogger is an automated marine logbook and boat-monitoring service. A device aboard your boat uploads position and sensor data. From that data Saillogger works out when you left, where you went and when you arrived, and writes the log entry itself.
You never start or stop a trip. There is no button to press when you slip the lines and none to press when you tie up. If the device aboard is running, the trip gets logged.
What Saillogger records
For every trip it detects, Saillogger keeps:
- the track you covered, drawn on a map
- distance, duration, average and maximum speed
- wind conditions along the way
- the moorage you left from and the moorage you arrived at, named for you
- your stay in between trips, so the gaps in your season are recorded too
A moorage is a place you stop: somewhere you anchored, picked up a mooring buoy or tied to a dock. Saillogger names the start and end of each trip from where you actually were, so your logbook reads as a list of places rather than a list of coordinates. The time between two trips becomes a stay at that moorage.
On top of the individual logs it builds:
- Statistics across your whole logging history: how far you went this month, this season, and since you started.
- Timelapse video of any stretch you choose, built from your own track.
- Live monitoring while you are away from the boat: gauges for what your instruments report, and a map showing where she is.
- Sharing, so family, friends or the whole world can follow along, if and only if you decide they should.
Public sharing is off by default
Your boat pages are not available to other boaters or public visitors until you turn on Sharing. When you do, review the individual page switches and add an access password if the link is intended for chosen people.
Three ways to feed data to Saillogger
Saillogger does not collect anything by itself. Something aboard has to send it data. There are three supported ways to do that.
| Path | What you need | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| PredictWind tracking link | A PredictWind tracker you already have | Position only: trips, tracks, moorages, stays, statistics |
| Victron GX device | A Victron GX device (Cerbo GX and similar) wired to NMEA 2000 | Position plus instrument monitoring |
| Signal K plugin | The Saillogger plugin on any Signal K server, for example a Raspberry Pi with a PiCAN-M board | Position plus instrument monitoring |
The Victron GX route is the one most boaters take, and it is what the setup pages recommend. The hardware for it costs roughly USD 300 in the United States. If you already run Signal K on a Raspberry Pi, you do not need to buy anything: the plugin is free.
Choosing between them, and the step-by-step for each, is on Connect your boat.
What Saillogger needs from your boat
Two things, and they are not the same thing.
A GPS position. This is required for both trip logging and live monitoring. Without a current position, Saillogger cannot record a route or show the boat's current location. The GPS usually comes from your chartplotter or AIS transceiver over the boat network, which means it may become unavailable when you switch your instruments off.
An Internet connection, but how much depends on what you want.
- Trip logging needs only an occasional connection. The device aboard keeps data waiting to upload and sends it when it next gets online. Reconnect periodically, and remember that data still waiting aboard can be lost if the device or its storage fails.
- Live monitoring needs the boat online right now. If the boat has no Internet, you cannot watch your batteries from ashore, and the monitoring page shows the last data it received.
What it costs
Saillogger is free for 45 days, then USD 7.99 per month.
The 45 days start when your boat first sends data, not when you sign up. If you create an account in February and connect your device in June, your trial starts in June. You do not need a credit card to start the trial.
Billing, cancelling and pausing for the off-season are covered in Subscription and seasonal pause.
On your phone
There are Saillogger apps for iOS and Android. They use the same account, boat and data as the website.
- iOS: apps.apple.com/us/app/saillogger-app/id6479176158
- Android: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.saillogger.app
Two web experiences: Classic and Modern
Saillogger has two versions of its web interface:
- Classic is the default and is what you get unless you change it. It is the interface most of the screens in this guide describe.
- Modern is a newer interface at saillogger.com/app. You opt into it in your settings.
This guide covers both. Where a screen differs between the two, the page tells you which one it is describing. If a page does not say, the screen is the same in both.
Questions boaters ask before they start
Do I have to remember to do anything when I set off? No. Trips are detected from the data, so there is no trip button to press at departure or arrival.
Do I need Internet at sea? Not continuously for logging. The device aboard can keep data waiting and upload it after the connection returns. Reconnect periodically because data that has not uploaded still depends on that device and its storage. You do need Internet for anyone ashore to watch the boat live.
What if my instruments are off? Then there is no GPS position, and nothing is logged. Saillogger needs a position for both logging and monitoring.
Does it work for a motorboat? Yes. Boat type is one of the things you set up, and Motorboat is one of the choices.
Can I see it working before I pay? Yes, twice over: the demo account below, and 45 free days on your own boat with no card.
Look before you sign up
There is a read-only demo account at saillogger.com/demo/. The credentials are filled in for you on that page, so you can sign in and click around a real account with real logs, statistics and monitoring. You cannot change anything in the demo, which makes it a safe place to see what your own account will look like.
What to read next
The guide is written to be read in order if you are new. The first four pages get you from nothing to a working logbook:
- Create your account: signing up, what the fields mean, referral codes, and when your trial actually starts.
- Connect your boat: the most important page. Pick one of the three paths and follow it to the end.
- Check that it is working: where to look to confirm data is arriving, and what to expect in your first days.
- How trips are logged: how Saillogger decides a trip started and ended, and why your first log takes about an hour to appear.
If something is not behaving, Troubleshooting is organised by symptom and begins with safe checks.
For anything this guide does not answer, the community forum is where boaters and the Saillogger team work through problems together, and [email protected] reaches a person.